Todd Looby

Award-winning and mostly self-taught filmmaker, Todd Looby was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago.  Shortly after receiving his MS in Environmental Sciences in Civil Engineering in 1999, Todd returned to Chicago and began taking classes at Chicago's "iO" (formerly Improv Olympic).  The following year Todd acquired at DV camera and began making films.  Initially making rudimentary documentaries and comedic shorts, Todd began tackling feature film work in late 2005 while working full-time as a commercial construction manager.  His first narrative feature, THE SITE, premiered at Henry Jaglom's Iowa Independent Film Festival in 2007 and screened at Chicago's Facet's Cinemateque as part of IFP's "Meet the Filmmaker" series in the Spring of 2008.

LEFTY is Todd's second narrative feature.  It had a successful run at Chicago's prestigious Gene Siskel Film Center and screened at several fests across the country, winning "Best Feature" at the Iowa Independent Film Festival. The film was also given "4-1/2 stars" and named among "The Top 10 Movies of 2009..." by the Chicago Tribune's Metromix.  The Kansas City Star also named the film the "...favorite drama of the [Kansas International Film] fest..." adding "...The acting is excellent...the movie has a genuinely lived-in feel."  LEFTY DVDs can be purchased at www.obrigadoproductions.com and rented via 30-day stream at Indieflix, Inc. (www.indieflix.com)

Todd is currently showing "Son of None", a Liberia, West Africa-shot docudrama, on the festival circuit.  "Son of None" won the "Special Jury Award" at the Slamdance Film Festival 2011 and "Best Short" at the Boston Film Festival.  Todd also shot a six-part web-distributed documentary about Liberia Mission, Inc. - an organization that was founded shortly after the 2003 Liberian civil war cease-fire and is now widely considered one of the best institutions in Liberia - www.liberiamission.com.

Todd is currently adapting the non-fiction book, A Saint on Death Row, by New York Times Bestselling author, Thomas Cahill, into a dramatic feature film. Todd is also in post-production on a feature-length documentary in Honduras, Solo Madres: Stories of the Families Left Behind about the impossible plight of impoverished single mothers in a politically unstable environment.  

Todd's work often blends off-beat humor and drama in character studies that aim to entertain, inform and challenge audiences.

Website for DVDs:

http://www.obrigadoproductions.com/LEFTY.html