Palm Springs

Josh Cohen, born in 1986, is a multi-disciplinary director, writer, photographer, and artist living between Los Angeles and New York. Josh was raised in central New Jersey with access to all things suburban, including but not limited to parking lots, strip malls, backyards, and runoff creeks before moving and spending the majority of his adult life in New York City. Initially studying animal science and marine biology, he took a hard turn to study design at the School of Visual Arts in New York. A self-taught filmmaker, Josh evidenced a sense of playful irreverence and whimsy in his work as well as in his life as a coping mechanism for the difficulties of being human. 

Your background is in animal science and marine biology. Can you tell us about that?

JOSH: I was an obsessive animal kid growing up. I had a little creek in my backyard and would spend most of my free time turning over rocks and catching minnows. That turned into taking care of my own animals, then a job working at an exotic pet shop in high school, and then studying marine biology for my first couple years of college. I think my attraction to animals was cultivated in aesthetics, behavior, and escapism, which didn't help me much in organic chemistry, nor did my challenging learning disabilities. 

You studied design at the School of Visual Arts in NY. How has that background led you to filmmaking?

JOSH: "Form ever follows function" is a quote from the architect Louis Sullivan that one of my design teachers Michael Ian Kaye drilled into us. That logic carried over, sometimes with a bit too much rigidity into any creative project that required communication. In college and working as a graphic designer and art director throughout my twenties I often had the creative impulse to make videos, and at first, they were mostly visual storytelling that hit singular conceptual ideas. Eventually, after a few of those videos hit and got a bit of press, creative directors and companies would reach out which led to commercial directing and more recently led to more explicitly narrative. 

You have worked on multiple short films so far. Do you have one you are most proud of?

JOSH: I think I learn each time I create. One of the most satisfying and fun pieces I've made recently actually just started as goofing around with my little cousin that turned into a full blown MTV cribs parody video https://joshcohenjoshcohen.com/MTV-Crib-Cribs . I'd love to work more with kids.

Your film "New York is Expensive, Melinda is Cheap" is a cute comedy short. Was it inspired by your time in NY? 

JOSH: Being a broke twenty something living in NYC was the main inspiration for this film. Collectively New York has a ton to offer, but it takes a lot of trial and error as well as some creativity to do it on the cheap. Hopefully it can also provide a couple of tips and tricks for the financially challenged currently living there. 

Your most recent film “Drumming Makes You Happy” is a quirky comedy. What was your inspiration for this story?

JOSH: The seed of this idea came from a what-if. You look at an object and think to yourself, what if I hit this object and it doesn't make the sound I'm imagining it would make? I'm a big tapper so I'll try and find sounds from a lot of the objects around me. Everything sort of snowballed from there, building this cultish character as our guide.

How do you go about casting your films?

JOSH: I follow the comedy world and am lucky to have a bunch of comedic actors I'm buddies with, like Chloe Troast, who recently joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. I start with that internal list and if there's not a match, I'll ask comedian buddies for recommendations. So far, outside of commercials, I haven't had to use any casting directors for my films. 

Your films have been traveling to festivals. Can you tell us about that experience?

JOSH: It's been great, I'm pretty new to the narrative/festival world. It has been awesome meeting other filmmakers, producers and folks in the world for both collaboration and inspiration. 

What will you be working on next? 

JOSH: I probably have too many projects in the works to juggle myself. I'm writing a feature about teenage security guards working on an apple orchard, a series about my time working at the pet shop, and a documentary where I attempt to "find myself".

Stills from “Drumming Makes You Happy”

Stills from "New York is Expensive, Melinda is Cheap"

Interview by Vanessa McMahon