"Michael Muchnij is an award winning writer, director and composer. A Phoenix-born Brooklynite, Muchnij was originally incubated as a storyteller writing musical scores. Hybridizing his passion for composition with his love of writing and photography, Muchnij soon stepped into directorial roles.
His formal debuts as a filmmaker were award-winning short films “Shutter” - a taut, time-bending study on voyeurism - and “Sweet Tooth” - a sugar-coated fable on one man’s stunted growth. Hosted on respected online horror outlet ALTER, the two films collectively aggregated over 4 million views, receiving 55K viewer “upvotes” in less than a year. Boosting ALTER’s viewership, both films merited Muchnij two top-ten “most viewed” slots in the platform’s history.
While his influences are wide-ranging, Muchnij cites the complex, challenging work of David Cronenberg, Stanley Kubrick and Terrence Malick as influential pillars of his visual and narrative approach. Prioritizing narrative nuance and thematic duality, Muchnij refuses “truisms” and twists the tropes of traditional horror in his commitment to fresh, vital storytelling."