Elliot V Kotek


Elliot V. Kotek is an Australian award-winning producer, filmmaker, photographer and the co-founder and former content chief of Not Impossible Now, and former executive director of The Not Impossible Foundation. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of Beyond Cinema magazine.

Project Daniel

In 2013, Kotek and founder of Not Impossible, Mick Ebeling, launched "Project Daniel." The mission established the first 3D printing prosthetic lab in the Nuba Mountains and successfully built a prosthetic arm for Daniel, a Sudanese boy who lost his limb in the war. "Project Daniel" debuted at CES 2014 in Las Vegas alongside Intel. Of the project, TIME's tech journalist Harry McCracken wrote, "it’s hard to imagine any other device here doing more to make the world a better place.”
Project Daniel has been featured in TIME, WIRED, Business Insider, BBC The Guardian, Globo, The Independent and CNET.
Other Not Impossible projects Kotek has produced include Don's Voice, The Brainwriter and The Robot Walker.

Career

A former M&A/Biotech lawyer in Australia and New York, Kotek has a Law Degree and a BS in Pharmacology & Toxicology, both from Monash University. After moving to the U.S. in 2000, he studied at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York and completed UCLA’s Professional Program in Screenwriting. Kotek is the founder and editor-in-chief of Beyond Cinema magazine, the former editor-in-chief of both Moving Pictures and Celebs.com.

Film and documentary

Kotek co-produced the feature documentary 140, the first ever user-generated film made utilizing social-media. In 2015, Kotek produced the documentary “Queen Mimi," about an 89-year-old homeless woman, her 20+ years of living in a laundromat and her unlikely friendship with "The Hangover's" Zach Galifianakis. Current documentary work includes “The People Sign,” which highlights the work of music interpreters for the hearing impaired. Wrote and directed short film "Little Larry," which was a 2011 Director's Guild of Canada nominee for Best Short Film.
Has served on the juries of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Middle East International Film Festival, Bahamas International Film Festival, Sonoma International Film Festival, HATCHfest, BendFilm, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival as well as the Cinequest Screenwriting Competition and Newport Beach Film Festival's Volcom Award.

Art

A published poet and exhibited photographer, Kotek has had solo exhibitions at the Helen Gory Gallery in Melbourne, and group shows at the Copro Gallery at Bergamot Station and the Hibbleton Gallery in Fullerton alongside work by Ed Ruscha, Shepard Fairey, Don Bachardy and other LA-resident luminaries at the Venice Art Walk. Elliot's polaroid photography is also reproduced in the book "Still Developing: A Story of Instant Gratification," published by ISM and edited by Kevin Staniec.

Awards and appearances