Charlie Sweeney

His latest work, The Vow, is a narrative short depicting the struggles of a cross-cultural domestic relationship.

To date, The Vow has screened at over 40 film festivals worldwide and garnered 22 awards, including best short film, best director, best cinematography, and best actress; and the prestigious Montelupo Film Festival 2021 special award for women’s issues and domestic violence themes.

The Vow was also picked up by public television’s WMHT TV for its short film showcase TVFilm.

Viola, the 2018 story of an elderly birdwatcher who sees visions of people from his past along a lonely stretch of dunes on the edge of New York City, was selected for broadcast on WMHT TV and received a special mention from San Francisco Shorts.

His other shorts continue to garner selections at festivals in Europe and North America, and invitations for inclusion in curated film exhibitions.

Charlie is currently at work on a feature film about a young woman fresh out of jail who goes on an epic journey on a budget bus from New York City to the tip of Florida in search of her estranged young daughter.

Charlie spent a year at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute Acting Conservatory. His credits include the recent feature film We Are Living Things, and several short films by indie filmmakers from around the world.

As a musician Charlie’s projects include BLKSN, a post-rock, instrumental, ambient/soundscape ensemble with rotating players from several genres.

Charlie performs and records soundtrack music and sound design for his films under the name Blankwave, an experimental project using voice, guitar, keyboards, drums, found sounds, audio clips, and field recordings, often fed through a loop station.

In 2002 Charlie recorded and released an album of 18 songs under the name

deadstarlight, a one-man band in which he played and recorded all the instruments- including guitar, drums, piano, bass, organ, and percussion— an 18-song effort called ‘Her Veil’.

As a prose writer, Charlie has published dozens of short fiction pieces, including a novel excerpt in a print anthology called ‘A Generation Speaks.’

His short story “Emily” was published on the site Paradiseburning.com.

Sections of the prose poem “The Garden of Disease” haver appeared on the site ‘The Literary Rogue.’

As a reporter on daily newspapers in his hometown of New York City and the capital region, Charlie has published hundreds of pieces on crime and legal issues.

Charlie has also worked as a television producer and video editor and has consulted and performed research for a 10-hour prime cable series about the intersection of terrorism, organized crime, and the FBI.

Charlie holds an undergraduate degree from SUNY Albany in English and journalism and an MFA in filmmaking from Cityfilm at CCNY.

Charlie provides production and consultation services through Blankwave Films, a company he founded in 2017.

Born-and-raised in Brooklyn, NY, and transplanted to Albany in the mid 90s, Charlie also studied at the New York Film Academy, St.John’s University, and St. Francis College, where he concentrated on journalism, literature, music theory, history, and filmmaking.