Listen to more at 👉 [ Ссылка ]

At a young age Sam began to "create" movies to entertain his friends. Horrifying his mother, he would cut up books, stringing together the pictures and rolling them up. He would then put the roll into a box with a cut out window, shine a flashlight from behind, and manually pull the roll, revealing the pictures through the window in sequence.

Sometimes he would plan a special show in which his sister narrated the "film" based on a script Sam would concoct, and his father would accompany on the violin. As he grew up he found a hobby in photography and by high school had turned his bedroom into a darkroom where he would earn pocket money by developing pictures for his friends.

After serving three years in the Israeli army, Sam came to the US in 1971, began to study and work in films, and culminated his studies with “One More Chance," the graduate film thesis which turned into a feature-length film.

"After Golan bailed us out, our film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1981, then went on to become the official US entry at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival   in Switzerland, and won a Silver Plaque at the 17th Annual Chicago Film Festival. This film became my calling card, and launched my career." recalls Sam.

By then Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus had acquired Cannon Films. They hired Sam to direct “Revenge of the Ninja." Sam knew nothing about martial arts, but learned quickly and the film, which starred Sho Kosugi, was shot in Salt Lake City, Utah. Distributed by MGM to a great box-office bonanza, it set the stage for Sam's next directing assignment, “Ninja III - The Domination," also starring Kosugi. The film was shot in Phoenix, Arizona and was also tremendously successful.

Both Ninja films directed by Sam were sequels to the highly successful “Enter the Ninja” directed by Golan. "Then came a pleasant opportunity," Sam smiles. "Golan wanted me to direct ' Breakin 2 - Electric Boogaloo," another sequel, which then made me the king of sequels, but also gave me a break from directing Ninja action films."

In fact, each of the sequels directed by Firstenberg resulted in better reviews and box office draws than the originals. “Breakin 2 - Electric Boogaloo " was a musical that featured major dance production numbers, filmed in Los Angeles. Distributed by TRI-STAR it was critically acclaimed; and a box office success, one of the reviews hailed it as "The most exuberant musical of the decade."

With the creation of Nu Image, principles Avi Lerner and Danny Dimbort recruited Firstenberg to direct their first production, "Cyborg Cop," and then the sequel, "Cyborg Soldier," both sci-fi action flicks with David Bradley. In addition, Firstenberg completed with Bradley and Frank Zagarino the action picture "Blood Warrior." Next came “Operation Delta Force” a military style action / adventure with Ernie Hudson, Jeff Fahey, Joe Lara, Frank Zagarino, and Hall Halbrok.

1997 brought Firstenberg to explore new directorial areas; “McCinsey’s Island” is a comedy for children, a treasure hunt movie with Hulk Hogan, Robert Vaughn, and Grace Jones, and “Motel Blue” with Sean Young, Soleil Moon Frye, and Seymour Cassel, is a psychological thriller with two women in the lead.

Sam and I had an amazing conversation about all things Cannon Films, Ninjas, Break Dancing and 80's action films. Enjoy!

Buy Rise of the Filmtrepreneur: How to Turn Your Indie Film Into a Moneymaking Business
👉 [ Ссылка ]

Access IFH Academy's Film Distribution Blueprint Course
👉 [ Ссылка ]

You can listen to my podcast on any platform!
iTunes: [ Ссылка ]
Sticher: [ Ссылка ]
Spotify: [ Ссылка ]
Sound Cloud:[ Ссылка ]

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel! [ Ссылка ]

Need more filmmaking inspiration? Check out my book Shooting for the Mob (Based on the Incredible True Filmmaking Story) [ Ссылка ]

#americanninja #filmmaking #cannonfilms

свернуть