Adobe MAX 2025 Creativity Award Honoree — Personal Video

‹ 2025 Honorees

Howard Mitsakos

Filmmaker and creative director

Spin Cycle

Featured products

Spin Cycle explores the emotional limbo people experience when they’re stuck between the lives they lead and the lives they quietly long for. The laundromat serves as a metaphor for that suspended state, a liminal space of waiting, repetition, and quiet reflection. The goal was to build a surreal yet grounded atmosphere that captured this “in-between” feeling, blending realism with psychological metaphor.

Artist bio

Howard William Mitsakos, or Howey, is a filmmaker and creative director based in Upstate New York. With over twenty years of experience in commercial cinematography and storytelling, he leads Novel Studios, producing award-winning commercials, films, music videos, and branded content for regional and national clients. His personal work explores surreal, psychological, and emotional themes of the human condition.

novelstudios.com(opens in a new window)

Team member names and roles

  • Writer, Director & DP (Director of Photography): Howey Mitsakos
  • 1st Assistant Director: Jim Pudish
  • 2nd Assistant Director: Dan Esposito
  • 1st AC (Assistant Camera): Dave Maslyn
  • Gaffer: Patrick Tuohey
  • Key Grip: Bill Morgan
  • Casting: Annie Fabiano
“Spin Cycle” film
Alternative of the image - view caption below
Poster artwork for Spin Cycle: bold typography overlaid on a surreal image of a laundromat and a young boy shrouded in darkness.
Alternative of the image - view caption below
A still frame from Spin Cycle: a man sits alone in a laundromat, bathed in harsh fluorescent light, staring into the spinning machines.
Alternative of the image - view caption below
A still frame from Spin Cycle: close-up of a woman leaning forward in an office setting, her eyes intense and searching, as the protagonist begins to snap back to reality from the dreamlike laundromat.
Alternative of the image - view caption below
Behind-the-scenes photo: while framing up the shot, the film crew adjusts the lighting on the office set.
Alternative of the image - view caption below
Behind-the-scenes photo: director Howard Mitsakos takes a selfie on set with the film crew and cast.