My name is Nicky Belgrad. I am a writer/director born and raised in Los Angeles. After attending the University of Pennsylvania where I studied philosophy and film, I am back residing in LA.
My love of storytelling manifests in various media spaces. My foremost passion is for narrative film, but I also am energized by documentary, books, podcasts, anime, manga, video games, and history. Yet, I'm also a purist of the first degree.
Do visit my personal page to see a list of everything I've ever watched, read, or loved — and yes I really mean that, at least from the age of about 14 to now — or to just obsess over A Brighter Summer Day or Annie Hall or Twin Peaks or Berserk or Dostoevsky or J.D. Salinger together (:
Saving Sight, Part 2 (forthcoming)
A documentary focused on global eye impairment and in particular the essential role that eye banks play in combatting blindness worldwide
TOMORROW, YESTERDAY
A young corporate professional navigates her family history in search of clarity for her own upcoming decisions.
"Tomorrow, Yesterday" is an upcoming film directed and co-written by Nicky Belgrad. The story is that of Sloan, a young corporate professional who lives in the suburbs of New York City. Sloan is disillusioned and detached, due to upcoming announcements at work. Sloan speaks with her grandmother, journals, and reflects on her mother's past in order to gain some insight into how to face her own decisions.
The project aims to capture the introspective process of people in their mid 20s/30s, who are consecrating their meaningful life decisions, many of which cannot exist at the same time. It also hopes to bring out the inevitability of generational divide, and the "coveredness" of all the different things which push and pull us in tiny ways all sorts of directions. In many ways, this divide exists between all individuals, as many of the small, personal details which push us one way or another often get lost in everyday conversation with even friends and family. The film is heavily inspired by the visual style and themes of Taiwanese director Edward Yang, who often focuses on urban environments and the both complicating and alienating nature of relationships within this context.
VERTIGO - JOSEON
Music video directed by Nicky Belgrad and Julian Deck
Pine Street
Graduating college seniors cling onto their last days of freedom.
"Pine Street" is a story of celebration with the knowledge of an encroaching ending. It's about dreams and anxiety, and buying into the moment and enjoying the moment and believing in the moment.
The short follows a group of roommates hosting one of their final parties of college for their close friends. There's Norm, responsible and anxiety-ridden, who mainly stresses over the logistics of the affair. Cass, on the contrary, is hardly concerned with the fiesta around him, staying focused on steak, weed, women, and his guitar. Meanwhile, Dre endures a tricky and confusing situation regarding his girlfriend Drew and another girl named Andrea?
"Pine Street" is meant to communicate the heart of friendship and celebration, and the nostalgia of reflecting on past times (and how to enjoy those moments with that knowledge). Nicky is eternally grateful for his friends, the making of this short, and the moments that inspired it all. <3
Saving Sight
Captures the inspiring and selfless story of Dr. Anthony Aldave, an ophthalmologist who performs and teaches sophisticated cornea transplants in impoverished countries worldwide.
"Saving Sight" tells the story of a doctor that otherwise would never be heard. Dr. Anthony Aldave is a cornea specialist at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA. Let me tell you his story from my perspective and what inspired me to accompany him on one of his trips to hospitals in Vietnam.
I first met Dr. Aldave as a child, as I unfortunately had some eye issues that needed attention across several years. As I got to know him more, my mother, him, and I bonded over our love of the Texas Longhorns. But as I grew older and more aware, I soon learned that Dr. Aldave takes dozens of international trips each year to impoverished countries to teach cornea transplants to local doctors. These are sophisticated surgeries which requires expensive equipment and which are mainly taught in western countries. Without doctors such as Dr. Aldave, these surgeries would likely never to be taught to doctors who lack the infrastructure, equipment, and money to learn these surgeries and cure blindness. So, most of Dr. Aldave's weeks involve working 80+ hours at one of the most renowned and busiest eye institutes in the world, driving directly to the airport, traveling across the world, driving straight to the hospital, teaching, performing, and instructing surgeries and seeing patients on the weekend, and then traveling back to UCLA to do that all over again. Dr. Aldave is truly an inspiration. I could go on and on about his humor, his ability to present difficult concepts in a streamlined and simple fashion, his ability to interact with and bring hope to patients, but I hope that this very brief summary of his actions provides the greatest indicator of how great a man Dr. Anthony Aldave is. I hope you learn more about his tremendous efforts.
Please consider visiting and/or donating to his organization — Visionaries International: https://visionaries-international.org/.
Goesting
Semi-autobiographical short about a college student navigating social pressures and traveling abroad
"Goesting" was the first narrative short film directed, written, and produced by Nicky Belgrad. The film follows a disillusioned college student who travels abroad after a near-fatal accident. While traveling, he contemplates his direction and purpose with an unmoored and clear mind.
The short was produced in Leuven, Belgium and Philadelphia, PA. The star of the film, Evan Light Rake, is Nicky's best friend, and the pair of them traveled to Leuven together in the Spring of 2022. (We hope to make many, many more films together! What's better.)