Janet Grillo

Janet Grillo is an award winning, critically acclaimed filmmaker, Emmy Award winning producer, former Senior VP of Production/East Coast at New Line Cinema, and an Associate Arts Professor at NYU Tisch School of the Arts Kanbar Institute of Film and Television.

Janet directed JACK OF THE RED HEARTS, starring Famke Janssen and AnnaSophia Robb, winning Jury Prize for Best Film at the 2015 inaugural BENTONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL, founded by Geena Davis to promote Women and Diversity. It won the Audience Award and Director’s Prize for Best Young Actress at Woods Hole Film Festival, screened at Montreal Film Festival, Rome Film Festival, Catalina Film Festival, Golden Door International Film Festival, Virginia Film Festival and FilmColumbia, co-founded by James Schamus and Peter Biskind.

In 2008, Janet won an Emmy as Executive Producer of the HBO documentary AUTISM: THE MUSICAL.  In 2011, FLY AWAY, a feature she wrote, directed and produced, premiered as 1 of 8 in Dramatic Competition at SXSW Film Festival. It won Special Jury Award for Best Performance at the ARIZONA Intl Film Festival, opening theatrically to excellent reviews in the NEW YORK TIMES, HUFFINGTON POST, NEW YORK OBSERVER and LA TIMES, which sited it as one of four independent films “most overlooked for an Oscar.”

Janet wrote and directed a short film, FLYING LESSONS, starring Dana Delany (BODY OF PROOF, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, CHINA BEACH), which debuted at Palm Springs Intl. Short Film Festival, won Best Dramatic Short at First Glance Hollywood, and Silver Lei at the Honolulu Film Festival.

At NEW LINE, Janet oversaw the HOUSE PARTY series, and cultivated scores of filmmakers including Reginald Hudlin, Alan Taylor and Ted Demme, and Executive Produced David O. Russell’s first feature, SPANKING THE MONKEY, launching his illustrious career.

Janet was a Board member of CURE AUTISM NOW, which merged with AUTISM SPEAKS. She is the mother of a son on the Autism Spectrum.