Billy Corben
VRP
Biography:
http://www.rakontur.com/journal/2008/7/1/billy-corben.html
Billy Corben was born in Florida and graduated with honors from the University of Miami where he majored in political science, screenwriting, and theater. As a young actor, Corben worked with Ron Howard, Roger Corman, Steve Martin, Hilary Swank, Cloris Leachman, Judd Hirsch, Corey Feldman, Alan Thicke, Joe Pantoliano and Christopher Meloni. He retired from acting at age 15 and began work on the other side of the camera. His feature documentary directorial debut, Raw Deal: A Question of Consent, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001, making him one of the youngest directors in Sundance history. Examining the alleged rape of an exotic dancer at a fraternity house at the University of Florida, the film utilized extensive clips from videotape footage of the alleged assault. Considered by critics to be “one of the most controversial films of the modern day” and “one of the most compelling pieces of non-fiction ever produced,” (Film Threat Magazine), Raw Deal has been seen all over the world.
Following that success, Corben and producing partner Alfred Spellman founded rakontur, a Miami Beach-based content creation company, and took on another Florida true-crime story, this one closer to home. The New York Times called Cocaine Cowboys, “a hyperventilating account of the blood-drenched Miami drug culture in the 1970s and 1980s.” The film tells the story of how the drug trade built Corben’s native city of Miami through firsthand accounts of some of the most successful smugglers of the era and the deadliest hitman of the cocaine wars.