Josef Kubota Wladyka was born the youngest of three sons. His Japanese mother and Polish father share a deep passion for dance, photography, and film. They influenced him to start experimenting with filmmaking as early as high school. Since then, his short films and commercials have been shown at festivals around the world and on Jet Blue airlines; this earned him a nomination for the Young Director's award and a Porsche student advertising award. Wladyka is a teaching fellow and a recipient of the Spike Lee Fellowship Award at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. "Manos Sucias" [2014] is his debut feature film. When not working, Josef can be found on the basketball courts of Brooklyn, where he usually loses to teenagers.

Wladyka holds an MFA from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he received the Spike Lee Fellowship. "Manos Sucias" won two SFFS/KRF filmmaking awards and the Canon Camera Award.