GRANT CIHLAR, CEO/President

Grant Cihlar founded 1171 Production Group as a music video and commercial company, in 1989. In its fifteen plus years, he has overseen the evolution of 1171 into a full-fledged production house for independents, documentaries, television, and in 2006 added digital content to its roster.

Born and raised in Chicago and the suburbs of Illinois, Grant at an early age discovered his passion for the arts with an active involvement as a guitarist and budding filmmaker. Grant focused on and enhanced his film making skills at Northern Illinois University (NIU) where he graduated with a double major in Business and Film. For the next eight years, Grant returned to his music roots and played lead guitar in numerous bands. As well as performing, he also was the acting manager. He arranged tours that carried the bands across the United States and Japan. His bands also performed on numerous USO tours. As the lead guitarist for Tim Scott (Geffen Records), Grant was thrust into the music industries limelight.

As the next logical step in Grant’s career, he moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and marshaled his sound and music editing skills plus film making talents to open 1171 Productions. Through 1171 Productions, Grant has successfully produced award winning music videos for Def Leppard, Eminem, 50 Cent, Counting Crows, Godsmack, Deftones, MXPX, T.A.T.U, Pantera, ZZ Top, Smokey Robinson, and Celine Dion. He also produced domestic and international commercials for the Bellagio, Toyota, Sankyo with spokesperson Nicolas Cage, and Lux with spokesperson Catherine Zeta-Jones as spokesperson.

Grant’s recent career highlights include feature-length documentary Infamy, which made its worldwide premiere at RESFEST 2005 (distributed on DVD by Image Entertainment).

Grant’s passion for film and music continues with production of music videos, commercials and documentaries, while continuing the growth of 1171 Production Group with several projects in development for television and theatrical release.

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