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SJ Main Muñoz
Born	Summer Joy Main (Muñoz) San Luis Obispo, California
Alma mater	European Graduate School (PhD) Columbia University School of the Arts (MFA) University of California, Los Angeles (BA)
Occupations	Film director Screenwriter Producer
Years active	2000–present
Spouse	Derek Classen ​(m. 2011)​
Children	2

Summer-Joy "SJ" Main Muñoz is an American filmmaker primarily known for directing television and award-winning short films often of the Western genre or featuring Latino themes.

Early life

Main Muñoz was born in San Luis Obispo, California to a Costa Rican mother (Muñoz) and Russian/Irish father (Main) and was raised in Cambria, California. At the age of eleven, Main Muñoz was featured on Star Search as a member of the dance group "Short 'n Sweet." Main Muñoz worked as a model for surf photographer Dan Merkel in the Maldives. Main Muñoz also modeled for Seventeen at the age of 17. Main Muñoz attended the UCLA Theater Department where she studied directing and acting for the theater. While attending UCLA, Main Muñoz interned at DreamWorks SKG in the Feature Development (Amblin Entertainment), Story and Casting departments.

Early professional career

While completing a master's degree in directing at Columbia University, Main Muñoz worked for directors, producers and production companies including Michael Hausman of Cinehaus, and Ismail Merchant and James Ivory (director) of Merchant Ivory Productions. She has served as a Script Reader at Walden Media and Radical Media, and for other New York-based production companies. She was Executive Assistant to director Stanley Donen. Upon receipt of her master's degree in Film Directing, Main Muñoz moved to Los Angeles where she worked as a writer, director, producer, line producer, and unit production manager. Main Muñoz established the film and media production company Tica Productions in 2007.

Awards

Main Muñoz's film La Cerca (The Fence) (narrated by Edward James Olmos) won Best Cinematography from Rhode Island International Film Festival and Temecula Valley International Film Festival, among other awards. It was named Best Film Honorable Mention from the Rhode Island International Film Festival and was a nominee of the Imagen Awards. Main Munoz's follow-up Western short film Requiescat also garnered awards, including the Clairmont Camera Filmmaker Grant.

Other

Main Muñoz completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree (summa cum laude) at the Media and Communications Division of the European Graduate School of Switzerland. Her doctoral dissertation presents philosophy for cinema production and the role of the American Movie Producer of narrative commercial cinema.

Main Muñoz's great-grandfather is the Costa Rican musician José Daniel Zúñiga Zeledón, composer of "Caña Dulce" and other Costa Rican national folk songs.

She was formerly a regularly contributing writer to The Huffington Post on the subject of Latino Film.

Main Muñoz was the only Latina narrative director invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in June 2020.

Filmography

Television

•  Fear the Walking Dead (AMC)
•  Manifest (Netflix)
•  The Cleaning Lady (Fox)
•  American Horror Stories (Hulu)
•  9-1-1: Lone Star (Fox)
•  The Rookie (ABC)
•  Ordinary Joe (NBC)
•  Chicago P.D. (NBC)
•  Chicago Med (NBC)

Short films

References

1. Central Coast Filmmaker Gets "Luck"y. Linn, Sarah. SanLuisObispo.com The Tribune 27 August 2009
2. LUCK OF THE DRAW comes to AFI DALLAS 2008. "Director SJ Main interviewed for American Film Institute Dallas International Film Festival." Dallas International Film Festival Film Society. Accessed: 2 January 2015
3. Dan Merkel Media. Accessed: 22 December 2014
4. Dan Merkel — Behind the Lens. Dick-Read, Alex. Surfer's Path. 10 January 2012
5. IMDb.com. Trivia. Accessed: 29 December 2014
6. Out of Darkness. Toussi, Sam. University of California Los Angeles Daily Bruin. 4 March 1998
7. Photo: Director SJ Main featured at the Crystal & Lucy Awards. Crystal + Lucy Award 2014. Women In Film (WIF). Event date: 24 June 2014
8. Film Independent Talent Guide featuring FIND Fellows. Film Independent. Accessed: 23 December 2014
9. The Hero's Guide to Film Finance by Jeff Steele & S.J. Main. Film Closings. Accessed: 11 December 2014 "For the past ten years, S.J. (Summer-Joy) Main has..."
10. Tica Productions [us]. IMDb.com Accessed: 1 January 2015
11. RI International Film Festival News. Rhode Island International Film Festival. 13 August 2013 "La Cerca – Best Short Honorable Mention; Best Cinematography Grand Prize"
12. My Big Fat Independent Movie best feature at Temecula. Morgan, Nesta. FilmFestivals.com 19 September 2005 "La Cerca – Best Short Honorable Mention; Best Cinematography Grand Prize"
13. IMDb Awards for "La Cerca" (2005) movie. IMDb.com Accessed: 15 January 2014
14. Imagen Award nominees. Variety. 17 August 2006
15. RIFF Award for "Requiescat" (2018) movie. Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival. Accessed: 3 November 2022
16. Clairmont Camera Award for "Requiescat" (2018) movie. IMDb.com. Accessed: 3 November 2022
17. S.J. Main, Ph.D. The Huffington Post. Accessed: 7 January 2014
18. José Daniel Zúñiga Zeledón. Universidad de Costa Rica; Archivo Histórico Musical. 28 April 2012
19. "Editus music group performs Caña Dulce." Editus. 20 May 2013
20. "Latinos In Film" on The Huffington Post. Accessed: 10 January 2015
21. Academy Invites 819 to Membership. Oscars.org. 30 June 2020
22. Meet SJ Main Muñoz, the Only Latina Director to Be Invited Into the Academy. BeLatina.com. 2 July 2020

External links

• S.J. Main Muñoz at IMDb
• Huffington Post profile
• Director Robert Rodriguez Talks Moviemaking Outside of Hollywood: The Road Less Traveled

• Living people
• Film directors from California
• American women film directors
• UCLA Film School alumni
• 1978 births
• Western (genre) film directors
• Columbia University School of the Arts alumni
• American people of Costa Rican descent
• 21st-century American women