Peter Sollett

Peter Sollett
Peter Sollett at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	(1976-01-01) January 1, 1976 (age 41) Brooklyn, New York City
Occupation	Screenwriter, film director, film producer, cinematographer, film editor
Nationality	American
Alma mater	New York University
Notable works	Raising Victor Vargas (2002) Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)

Peter Sollett (born January 1, 1976) is an American film director and screenwriter known for his feature films Raising Victor Vargas (2002) and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008).

Sollett's first film was Five Feet High and Rising, a 26-minute short film about the growth and coming-of-age of teenager Victor Vargas. He and Eva Vives wrote Five Feet High and Rising as their thesis film in 1998 at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and he served as the film's director, cinematographer and editor. After he had the opportunity to work with professionals in the film industry at the Cannes Residence Programme, the short film went on to screen on the festival circuit and won a number of awards at the Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Aspen Shortsfest, Valencia International Film Festival, South by Southwest Film Festival and Cinema Jove International Film Festival. Two years after the release of Five Feet High and Rising, Sollett and Vives reunited to collaborate on a follow-up project that became Raising Victor Vargas, originally named Long Way Home. While Sollett says that Five Feet High and Rising was purely autobiographical and based on the Italian-Jewish neighborhood he grew up in Brooklyn, he and Vives decided to create another film directly about the experiences of the main characters Victor and Judy, continuing on two years after the film left off. Using the same cast as the original short film, he wrote an action-and-dialogue screenplay which he did not give to any of the actors to encourage them to improvise and create a feeling of spontaneity and authenticity.Raising Victor Vargas earned Sollett three Independent Spirit Award nominations in the categories of Best Film, Best Director and Best First Screenplay, as well as other awards and nominations at the Viennale, San Sebastián International Film Festival, Online Film Critics Society Awards, Deauville Film Festival, Gotham Awards and the Humanitas Prize.