Director Spotlight: Paul Sapiano
Paul Sapiano is an independent filmmaker known for blending sharp social insight with humor and heart. His cult classic, The Boys & Girls Guide to Getting Down, explores modern relationships with wit and style. While his most recent short film, Love at Poor Sight, brings a darkly comic take to the idea of love being blind — quite literally. In Driving While Black, Sapiano shifts into powerful documentary storytelling, examining race, profiling, and the everyday realities of being Black behind the wheel in America. Collectively, these films highlight his versatility, moving from lighthearted and challenging to profoundly human, while also demonstrating his dedication to narratives that ignite discussion.
Paul Sapiano & Dominique Purdy
A look into our creative world.
Love at Poor Sight is a short film directed by Paul Sapiano and starring Ronnie Chism and Dominique Purdy. It stands apart from other documentaries or films about relationships involving visually impaired individuals, such as Blind Love or Blind Loves.
Driving While Black is a 2015 American Black comedy film directed by Paul Sapiano and starring Dominique Purdy. Inspired by Purdy’s real-life experiences, which he co-wrote into the screenplay with Sapiano, the film follows a Black man navigating racial profiling in Los Angeles, California.
Here’s a pic of us playing around at some film festival or other. Cant remember which one - honestly it all a bit of a blur
In Driving While Black the main character Dominique’s character is named Dmitri a young Black man who delivers pizzas, pursues his art, and deals with frequent racial profiling and police stops in Los Angeles.
"Below is a list of the festivals we were featured in and the awards we won. It was a while ago and some of these were smaller festivals so it might be difficult to verify if you feel you need to - but we have the trophies and photographs to prove it. I remember what a fun year it was: Dom and I spent the summer touring the US and getting standing ovations in random small towns. Our distribution strategy was to forego any advertising and just enter as many film festivals as we could - and remember this was a few years before BLM and audiences, especially at film festivals were crying out for a movie like this. “ ~Paul Sapiano
The Boys & Girls Guide to Getting Down
This outrageous comedy follows a wild night of partying in Los Angeles, offering tongue-in-cheek guidance on which substances should never be mixed, how to approach potential hook-ups, avoid unwanted encounters, and ultimately enjoy the night without completely self-destructing.