Diocesan News

Bayside Brothers Behind the Camera on Mission to Provide Wholesome Media

The Odd Brothers crew traveled to Greece to film Father Aristidis Garinis who narrates the upcoming project “ICON: A Documentary Film.” Father Garinis is a priest at the Flushing parish where the Condoleon brothers have been lifelong members — St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Shrine Church in Flushing. (Photo: Odd Brothers Productions)

BAYSIDE — In the mid-1960s, Steven Spielberg and the Coen Brothers were child moviemakers producing 8mm adventure films with friends and neighbors.

Roughly 30 years later in Bayside, Michael and Pete Condoleon were just tykes when they used their dad’s VHS video camera to tape swashbuckling tales featuring neighborhood pals wielding toy lightsabers.

While Spielberg and Coen are household names, the Condoleon brothers are looking to make their own mark with the mid-March launch of “ICON: A Documentary Film.”

Five years in the making, their first feature-length film explores ancient Byzantine iconography and the artists who pursue it today. Their aim is to create more faith-based programming typically ignored by secular entertainment companies.

“We’re dedicated to producing media that is safe and wholesome and that educates and inspires the family,” Pete said. “That’s the mission. That’s the work, and we’ve decided that we’re going to do it well.”

The Condoleon brothers and their family are lifelong members of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Shrine Church in Flushing. Michael said their parents are hardworking “blue-collar” people. Their dad, James, is a city worker, and their mother, Kelly, is a dog groomer.

Michael, 31, said their parents went to great lengths to nourish the artistic gifts of the brothers and their younger sister, Nia, who paints.

Pete, 28, is a professional composer who earned his high school diploma from the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria. He went on to become a songwriter for Warner Music Group and Broadcast Music, Inc.

Michael earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. Subsequently, he became a “jack of all trades” in the film industry: directing, composing background music, and editing.

Brothers Pete (left) and Michael Condoleon (right) are co-founders of Odd Brothers Productions, a Queens-based multimedia company specializing in faith-based programming typically ignored by secular entertainment companies. (Photo: Luis Feliciano via Odd Brothers Productions)

For several years, Michael edited at the children’s music giant Kidz Bop, which repackages adult-oriented hits with child singers and substituting profane or explicit lyrics with more child-friendly words.

Michael said he ultimately left the role because he “didn’t think some of these songs needed a child’s version.”

Shortly before the pandemic, Michael joined Pete to form Odd Brothers Productions and made a number of commercials for national brands, including Coke Zero, Cole Haan, Dunkin Donuts, and Vogue.

However, Pete felt their talents should also focus on a higher calling.

“I was going to church on a daily basis and considering, at one point, the priesthood,” Pete said “But I couldn’t strip away the talents that the Lord gave, and so, I decided to say, ‘Look, I can do both.’ ”

Father Aristidis Garinis, a priest at the brothers’ parish, approached them in 2021 about making a short promotional video for the artist Dionysios Bouloubassis — a renowned iconographer from Greece who is currently based in Baltimore.

Click on this image to reach the link. The trailer is in the section titled “work.”

Pete said Bouloubassis’ work — which he called “honestly beautiful” — is what led them to create “ICON: A Documentary Film,” which is about “the art of finding faith” through iconography.

“It’s a 2,000-year-old art form that artists are still pursuing today,” he said. “I wanted to know why.”

Father Garinis narrates the film, describing his own iconography journey, which included inspiration from Bouloubassis.

He also traveled in 2009 to a monastery at Mount Athos in northeastern Greece to learn iconography. The brothers accompanied him there for the documentary.

“He is a humble priest,” Michael said. “But we follow his story in order to help us tell the story of iconography. He’s kind of our navigator through this adventure.”

Michael said that at the start of the project, he was not as spiritual as his brother, but that changed with his deep dive into the subject.

“This project has become my spiritual journey as well,” Michael said. “It has brought me closer to faith as a result.”

Now, as the film’s launch date looms, the brothers are searching for distributors. Michael noted that “it’s an uphill battle” to obtain funding for films with spiritual messages. Still, the brothers said they have faith their higher purpose will prevail.

“We have to leave all of our trust in the Lord,” Pete said. “I just have to do my part and work as hard as I can. If he wants it, it’ll happen.”