Josh Safdie

Director

April 3, 1984 (42 years)

New York City, New York, USA

Biography

Joshua Henry Safdie (born April 3, 1984) is an American filmmaker and screenwriter, best known for his work with his younger brother, Benny Safdie, as one half of the acclaimed Safdie Brothers. Together, they developed a reputation for raw, urgent storytelling in films such as Heaven Knows What (2014), Good Time (2017), and Uncut Gems (2019). In 2024, it was reported that the Safdie Brothers would no longer co-direct and would instead pursue solo projects. Josh's first feature since the split, …

Filmography

7.4

Marty Supreme

Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.

7.2

Uncut Gems

A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.

7.2

Good Time

After a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Connie Nikas embarks on a twisted odyssey through New York City's underworld to get his brother Nick out of jail.

6.5

Heaven Knows What

A young heroin addict roams the streets of New York to panhandle and get her next fix, while her unstable boyfriend drifts in and out of her life at random.

6.6

Daddy Longlegs

After months of living a solitary existence, Lenny, 34, picks up his kids from school. Every year he spends a couple of weeks with his sons Sage, 9, and Frey, 7. Lenny hosts his kids within a midtown studio apartment in New York. During these two weeks, he must figure out if he wants to act as their father or be their friend. Ultimately, their trip upstate results in complete lawlessness taking over their lives.

6.1

Adam Sandler: Love You

Adam Sandler hits the stage for a thrillingly unpredictable comedy special featuring songs, jokes, party-crashing dogs and plenty of love.

5.5

The Back of Her Head

This is a story about a man, who lives above an older Hindi man, who lives above a delinquent British man, who lives above a girl. It is the back of her head that he is in love with.

6.5

The Black Balloon

While escorting a group of children through New York City, a harried man loses hold of a bouquet of one hundred balloons. Among them, a single black balloon drifts free, seemingly lifeless, only to revive and embark on a strange journey through the city. Searching for companionship, it drifts among the highs and lows of human life, discovering both joy and despair along the way. Conceived as a children’s tale but emerging as a surreal urban fable, The Black Balloon follows the haunting odyssey of a balloon that longs to belong.

8.0

Solid Gold

A short observational piece by Josh and Benny Safdie, Solid Gold follows a gold-painted “living statue” (performed by Benny Safdie) working the streets and subways of New York—a compact study of street performance and the struggle to be seen, featured online via NoBudge in 2013.

5.6

The Pleasure of Being Robbed

A curious and lost Eleonore looks for something everywhere, even in the bags of strangers who find themselves sadly smiling only well after she's left their lives. They owe her their thanks.

N/A

The Ralph Handel Story

Co-directed by Benny and Josh Safdie, this deadpan mock-documentary follows Ralph Handel, a buttoned-down office worker who spends his nights bombing on the open-mic circuit. Staged as cinéma vérité that edges into performance art—Safdie performed the disastrous sets in real clubs—the film channels Andy Kaufman’s anti-comedy and the self-reflexive diary mode of David Holzman’s Diary to sketch a sly portrait of a life quietly coming undone.

8.0

Question & Answer

The Safdie brothers go undercover to record an interview with Adam Sandler, the star of their film UNCUT GEMS.

N/A

Trophy Hunter

Trophy Hunter (2012) is a short mock-documentary created by Josh and Benny Safdie for the Turtle Conservancy. It explores the illegal wildlife trade through a satirical lens, featuring the late New York cultural icon Glenn O’Brien as he visits an eccentric Chinese collector.

6.8

Lenny Cooke

In 2001, Lenny Cooke was the most hyped high school basketball player in the country, ranked above future greats LeBron James, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Carmelo Anthony. A decade later, Lenny has never played a minute in the NBA. In this quintessentially American documentary, filmmaking brothers Joshua and Benny Safdie track the unfulfilled destiny of a man for whom superstardom was only just out of reach.

4.7

We're Going to the Zoo

This is a story about a real life brother and sister and their journey to the zoo. On their way, they accidentally pick up a hitchhiker.

5.0

John's Gone

John sells things online, cheats off dollar stores, needs friends but settles for strangers, has roaches. He is punch drunk, not with love but something far more strange and lost. One can only say John's gone.

N/A

Lose Her Island

A 5-minute found-footage collage by Josh Safdie that overlays narration from an old Jacques Cousteau documentary about fighting elephant seals onto a broadcast of George Foreman vs. Evander Holyfield, reframing the prizefight as a nature spectacle and blurring lines between sports viewing and wildlife observation.

N/A

I Think I'm Missing Parts

When her station wagon conks out by a secluded house in the woods, a woman peers from the window and watches a string of peculiar goings-on next door. Josh Safdie’s 11-minute short turns a simple breakdown into a quietly absurd, deadpan set-piece.

N/A

Toback Vs. Mailer: The Incident

Directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, this punchy short features James Toback recounting a bizarre, years-long rivalry sparked by a drunken argument with Norman Mailer over bourbon versus Scotch—an ego duel that escalates from boozy barbs to a tense Jets–Browns stare-down and a few jabs to the gut. A brisk, first-person tale of bravado, celebrity circles, and the fine line between literary legend and street-corner scuffle.

6.0

Lethargy

An early high-school short by Josh Safdie and David Gelb, Lethargy follows a drifting New York teenager—shot in black-and-white with color dream bursts—whose path crosses a park-bench “animal therapist” (a cameo by Robert Downey Jr.) and other fleeting figures, including Edward Burns, in a wry, post-modern sketch of youthful inertia.