JAMES SPIONE is an independent filmmaker

based in New York.  His first documentary feature, American Farm, detailed his family's struggles on their fifth-generation homestead in central New York State.  The film played theatrically from New England to the Midwest, and was subsequently released on DVD by Passion River Films.

In conjunction with the Barrier Island Center, Spione next created the poignant documentary portrait film Our Island Home, about the last surviving denizens of a vanished settlement off the coast of Virginia.  The movie is part of a planned trilogy on the Eastern Shore region, and the director is currently in post production on the second film in the series.

Jim Spione has also made a number of fiction films.  Perhaps his best-known work was the eerie Sundance favorite Garden, a suspenseful drama starring Oscar® winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) and veteran character actor Matt Malloy (Six Feet Under); the film screened at festivals worldwide.  His next movie, The Playroom, starring Pamela Stewart (The Reception), was shown at New York’s Walter Reade Theatre and was featured on the national cable program Reel Street. 

His first film Prelude earned a Student Academy Award® from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and was seen at numerous international film festivals.  Mr. Spione also produced the acclaimed independent feature Parallel Sons (Sundance '95), directed by John G. Young. 

Jim works frequently as a film, video and television editor; credits include God's Open Hand, an independent documentary about the first presidential election in Afghanistan, Darien Sills-Evans’ X-Patriots, and the PBS series Life 360.