Justine Raczkiewicz
Producer / Writer / Director
Justine’s career in the film began at The Weinstein Company where she worked on communications campaigns for Todd Hayne’s I’M NOT THERE and Woody Allen’s VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA. Shortly after, she moved to physical production where she worked on a number of award-winning films including Rob Marshall’s NINE, Stephen Daldry’s THE READER, John Hillcoat’s THE ROAD and Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS.
Under the Dimension Films label, Justine traveled to Arizona to work as an Associate Producer on PIRANHA 3D, alongside director Alexandre Aja. Since then, she developed and associate produced a wide range of projects with Aja. MANIAC, the daring point-of-view thriller starring Elijah Wood, and directed by Franck Khalfoun, played in the Official Selection at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and was released by IFC Films. HORNS generated a lot of hype at Fantastic Fest in Austin and at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival, where it played in the Official Vanguard Selection. HORNS, an edgy supernatural thriller with a darkly comedic twist, is based on the bestselling novel by Joe Hill. Aja directed this refreshing rock ’n’ roll take on the devil myth, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Max Minghella and Juno Temple. It was released by Radius in 2014.
Justine also worked with FOX International on two different films. She executive produced, THE PYRAMID, an adventure horror film set in an ancient Egyptian pyramid, directed by Gregory Levasseur and released by FOX International in 2014; THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR, a haunted house possession thriller set in India, directed by Johannes Roberts was released in 2016.
Justine also worked as a Co-Producer on, THE 9th LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX, a poignant family drama and a Hitchcockian thriller based on the book of the same name, directed by Alex Aja, written by Max Minghella and starring Jamie Dornan (FIFTY SHADES OF GREY), Aaron Paul (BREAKING BAD) and Sarah Gadon (TRUE DETECTIVE). The film was shot on location in Vancouver and released by Miramax in 2016.
In 2015, Justine started her own production company, “Building J” under which she produced a series of films, including DICHTERLIEBE: POETLOVE a modern musical adaptation of the 19th century German composer, Robert Schumann’s art-song cycle set in New York. She also produced her directorial debut, WASTE adapted from a short story by Amelia Gray. With a keen eye for spotting up and coming talent, Amelia went on to write on the hit shows MR. ROBOT and the Netflix show MANIAC soon after. WASTE screened at over 25 film festivals including Fantasia, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Newport Beach, Berlin, Stockholm, Paris, Brussels among others. It won Justine the “Best Female Director” award at the Hollyshorts Film Festival in 2017, the “Best Short Film” award at IFS, and was a finalist at the USA Film Festival. It was also nominated for “Best Art Direction” at Paris Lift-Off in 2017 and “Best Short Film of 2018 “at NewFilmmakers LA.
Justine also produces and directs music videos for a diverse range of artists such as Grammy nominated hip-hop rappers, LGBT+ activists, Ugandan duos, and Bollywood legends. The video MUJJE, which she directed for NSIMBI made the SXSW 2019 playlist where they debuted last year, and her video DUNIA NI MATEMBEZI was nominated for a UK Shiny Award in 2019 and also featured on KCRW. On DHADKANE, Justine worked with legendary Sufi singer Rahat Ali Fateh Khan, and the video she directed garnered 2.2 milion views online. SENZA PENSIERI, another music video which she produced for Italian singer, Fabio Rovazzi reached 25 million views online. Justine’s last music-video TOP KNOT TURN UP, which she directed for feminist-activist singer and drummer- Madame Gandhi. The music video won an honorable mention at the Andromeda Film Festival, and played at the 2021 London Music Video Festival, Tokyo International Short Film Festival, Toronto Film Awards, Venice Shorts, Los Angeles Lift-Off and Oxford Film Festival. The music video premiered on NYLON magazine in 2019 and was also featured on REFINERY29 and BILLBOARD.
As a director and producer Justine is developing a slate of projects including: NOSTOS: a magical-realist film that is a personal story about memory loss and nostalgia set in Poland during WWII which was awarded a development grant through the Polish Film Institute; MUSIC OF CHANGES: a gay love story and biopic about the avant-garde composer John Cage and his life-long partner and dance choreographer Merce Cunningham; COMPLICITY a psychological thriller about the #metoo movement inspired by a true story and set in Italy; PROTOKOL: a cold-war TV series, which is an adaptation of an espionage novel; WASTE, a surreal culinary TV show, which will explore the insatiable desires of the foodie underworld; and an Irish folk-horror film: MAIDENSANDS with Picture Locked Pics which was awarded a development grant through Northern Ireland Screen.
As a writer, Justine’s feature film script NOSTOS was a “Finalist” at Cannes Films Unlimited, placed as a “Semi-Finalist” at the 2021 Shore Script Competition, and took part in the 2021 Stowe Screenwriting Lab, and the 2022 Torino NEXT Film Lab. Justine’s feature film script COMPLICITY was a “Finalist” in the 2022 Scriptapalooza Competition, and MUSIC OF CHANGES was in the first round of the Sundance Screenwriting Lab.
Originally from Warsaw, Poland Justine’s passion for storytelling has taken her from stage to script and across the globe. She graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University and also trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris and the Parsons School of Design. She is fluent in Polish and French, and is pursuing a masters in philosophy at the European Graduate School. Justine is also an active member of the Producers Guild of America, Women in Film, Women in Media, Women Independent Producers and a board member of the Alliance of Women Directors.
Justine also teaches directing as an Instructor at UCLA Extension and provides script consultations through Roadmap Writers.