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Visiting Filmmakers
Faculty and guest lecturers of NMFI represent a cross-section of successful and innovative professionals who have contributed their skills and talent to many critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies. Throughout the year-long intensive program, students are surrounded by opportunities to become part of New Mexico's burgeoning film industry and connect with vital local, national, and international filmmakers. Our faculty and presenters know how to succeed in a competitive field and are eager to impart their knowledge and extensive experience to the next generation of filmmakers.
NMFI's 2008 Visiting Filmmakers:
Thursday, January 31 - Writer/Director/Producer TOM MUSCA (Stand and Deliver, Melting Pot, Money for Nothing, Tortilla Soup)
Thursday, February 7 - Writer/Producer KIRK ELLIS (John Adams, Anne Frank, Hell on Wheels, 1776, Shadow Ball, The Grass Harp, The Beach Boys: An American Family, Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, The Three Stooges, American Tabloid)
Thursday, February 14 - Director JEFF STANZLER (Sorry, Haters; Jumpin’ at the Boneyard) & Producer KAREN JARONESKI (Sorry, Haters; Another Gay Movie, Gypsy 83, Edge of Seventeen, Intern, Somewhere in the City)
Thursday, February 21 - Casting Director TRICIA WOOD (Evan Almighty, Live Free or Die Hard, Disturbia, television series Dexter and The Shield)
Thursday, February 28 - Director of Photography MAURICIO RUBINSTEIN (The Cross, Wind With the Gone, Casa de los Babys, Sorry, Haters; Puccini for Beginners, Doris & Bernard)
Thursday, March 5 - Video Artist, Co-Founder, Perpetual Art Machine AARON MILLER
Wednesday, March 12 - Producer FORREST MURRAY (Five Corners, Dead Man Out-HBO, Dennis Leary’s No Cure for Caner- SHOWTIME, The Spitfire Grill, Islander)
Thursday, April 3 - Producer Crossroads Films R. PAUL MILLER (Snow Angels, A Love Song for Bobby Long, Prozac Nation, The Secret of Roan Inish)
Thursday, April 10 - Producer/ President, Little Magic Films KIKI MIYAKE (Spun, Vigo: A Passion for Life)
Thursday, April 24 - Senior Programmer, Sundance Film Festival CAROLINE LIBRESCO
Thursday, May 8 - Production Designer BRYCE PERRIN (Isabelle Eberhardt, Anacondas, Dungeons and Dragons, Five Dollars a Day)
Thursday, May 1 - Director HOKU UCHIYAMA (Rose, Prelude #2). Screenwriter DUNCAN NORTH (The Tao of Steve, Hell Can Wait)
Tuesday, May 27 - Director of Photography JURG WALTHER.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Thursday, January 31 - Writer/Director/Producer TOM MUSCA
Tom Musca's most recently produced screenplay, Tortilla Soup, is the third highest selling Latino-themed DVD in history. He first captured attention as the producer and co-writer of Stand and Deliver. Starring Edward James Olmos, who earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination, Stand and Deliver won 6 Spirit Awards, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay. With director Ramon Menendez, Musca produced and co-wrote Money For Nothing, (John Cusack, Benicio del Toro, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman). He made his directorial debut with Race, (Cliff Robertson). Other produced film credits include the award-winning Flight of Fancy for Showtime.
Thursday, February 7 - Writer/Producer KIRK ELLIS
Santa Fe-based television and feature film-writer/producer Kirk Ellis co-Executive Produced and wrote the HBO miniseries, “John Adams,” which won an unprecedented 13 Emmy Awards. He also received an Emmy nomination and won the Writers Guild of America and Humanitas Awards for the ABC miniseries "Anne Frank." Kirk was the recipient of the Western Writers of America's Golden Spur Award for Best Drama Script for "Hell on Wheels," an episode of the Emmy and golden Globe-nominated TNT/Dreamworks miniseries "Into the West," on which he served as supervising producer and writer. In addition to the Golden Spur award, Ellis received the Wrangler Award for Best Television Feature from the National Western Heritage Museum, and a Critics' Choice Award, for his work on the miniseries
Following "John Adams," Ellis will continue his association with David McCullough and the American Revolution as writer and co-executive producer of "1776," based on McCullough's book. The project is slated as a six-hour HBO miniseries, to be produced like "John Adams" with Tom Hanks' Playtone Co. For the screen, Ellis' upcoming feature projects include "Blood and Thunder," an epic drama of westward settlement, for Steven Spielberg/Dreamworks, and "Shadow Ball," the story of the remarkable partnership between Jackie Robinson and Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey. Robert Redford will play Rickey, and produce with "Ray" producers Howard and Karen Baldwin.
His other credits include his debut feature "The Grass Harp," based on the coming-of-age novel by Truman Capote, and the award-winning ABC miniseries "The Beach Boys: An American Family," "Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows," and "The Three Stooges." His additional work for HBO includes an adaptation of James Ellroy's "American Tabloid."
A Texas native, Ellis graduated from the University of Southern California 's School of Cinema and Television with degrees in both film production and history/criticism, and began his professional career as a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter. In 1985, at the age of 24, he was named the trade paper's international editor. Seven years later Ellis was
named Editor-in-Chief of the London-based European trade magazine Moving Pictures and simultaneously formed Shadow Catcher Productions, an independent production banner under which Ellis develops his own independent productions and documentaries.
Thursday, February 14 - Director JEFF STANZLER & Producer KAREN JARONESKI
Jeff Stanzler’s film credits include: SORRY HATERS starring Robin Wright, Abdel Kechiche, Sandra Oh (Nominated for Independent Spirit Awards for best screenplay and best actress, released by IFC, Toronto and AFI film festivals), JUMPIN' AT THE BONEYARD (Sundance Competition; Twentieth Century Fox) starring Tim Roth, Samuel Jackson and Alexis Arquette, as well as the shorts MOCKING THE COSMOS starring Tim Roth (Venice Film Festival, IFC) and Love Gets You Twisted (Woodstock Film Festival, IFC).
As a writer, Jeff has optioned several feature film scripts to such producers as Paul Schiff, Roger Paradiso, Frank Pierson and Mark Waters.
Jeff's theater credits include PISTOLS AT DAWN (starring Julianna Margulies) which he wrote and directed for the Vanguard Theater of Los Angeles. He is a co-founding director of the acclaimed A.R.C. players, who were selected as "New Yorkers of the Week" for March 10, 2000.
Currently, Jeff is preparing "Blindsided" for Watermark Pictures, and developing an HBO series with James Gandolfini and Attaboy Films.
Karen Jaroneski has produced a number of independent feature films -- and is proud to admit that each of them have received some form of theatrical release. Jeff Stanzler's feature SORRY,HATERS was released by IFC and stars Robin Wright, Abdel Kechiche and Sandra Oh. Karen has collaborated with award-winning filmmaker Todd Stephens on ANOTHER GAY MOVIE, GYPSY 83 starring Sara Rue and Karen Black and EDGE OF SEVENTEEN (1999 Sundance Film Festival). She co-produced the comedy INTERN (2000 Sundance Film Festival) starring Dominique Swain, Peggy Lipton and Joan Rivers and Ramin Niami’s SOMEWHERE IN THE CITY starring Sandra Bernhard and Bai Ling.
Karen has a well-rounded production background as a line producer, production manager, post production supervisor and assistant director. She is a founding partner of Staccato Films, an Amsterdam-based production company. Notable Staccato projects: THE EMPEROR'S WIFE starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Paula van der Oest's MOONLIGHT, the 2002 Cannes surprise hit PAULINE AND PAULETTE and Alejandro Agresti's BUENOS AIRES, VICE VERSA.
Thursday, February 21 - Casting Director TRICIA WOOD
Working in the motion picture industry since the early 1990's as a casting director and consultant, Tricia Wood of Aquila/Wood Casting has been involved in the casting of feature films including Untraceable, Evan Almighty, Live Free or Die Hard, Disturbia and the critically acclaimed television series Dexter and The Shield. Tricia has been nominated for the Casting Society of America's Artios award for her work on Dexter (Best Dramatic Pilot Casting), The Dead Girl (Best Independent Feature) and House of Sand and Fog (Best Casting for Feature Film Drama).
Thursday, February 28 - Director of Photography MAURICIO RUBINSTEIN
Mauricio Rubinstein, director of photography, was born and raised in Mexico City. He studied film at West Surrey College of Art in England and after graduation went to live and work in Amsterdam where he was an acclaimed still photographer and began his career in cinema. In 2003 he moved to New York.
Mauricio worked for many years with director Alejandro Agresti including the films THE CROSS, Cannes International Film Festival- Un Certain Regard 1996, and WIND WITH THE GONE, winner San Sebastian International Film Festival 1998. His first collaboration with an American director was CASA DE LOS BABYS from director John Sayles in 2002. Other recent films include SORRY,HATERS from director/writer Jeff Stanzler (2007) which is nominated for 2 Spirit Awards including best lead actress for Robin Wright Penn; PUCCINI FOR BEGINNERS from director Maria Maggenti which is in current release and DORIS & BERNARD from director Bob Balaban starring Susan
Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes that has been acquired by HBO and will premiere later this year.
While Mauricio loves shooting on film (35mm and 16mm) he has vast experience on various digital and HD formats. He has appeared on many panels about digital and HD and throughout his career as DP, Mauricio has continued to make use of the evolving film and digital technology and their applications both on the set and in post-production.
Thursday, March 5 - Video Artist, Co-Founder, Perpetual Art Machine AARON MILLER
Aaron Miller is an artist specializing in real-time, interactive, and generative art. His work merges intuitive and emotive actions with personalized hardware and software technology. He is interested in expanding the electronic interface by creating new audio/video instruments for performance, installation, and recorded work. He is co-founder of the Perpetual Art Machine, an online video art community and database as well as an internationally traveling installation.
Perpetual Art Machine, presents a new model for media distribution. While Aaron is not a 'filmmaker' per se I think he is working in an arena that provides a cutting edge and illustrative exploration of the convergence of fine art and moving image and the future prospects for entertainment/art delivery.
Wednesday, March 12 - Producer FORREST MURRAY
Forrest Murray has been making movies for forty years, The last twenty as a producer. Among his early credits, Murray produced Tony Bill¹s indie classic, FIVE CORNERS, starring Jodie Foster, Tim Robbins and John Turturro. Years later he reteamed with actor turned director, Robbins to produce the political mockumentary. Other independent award winners Murray produced include DEAD MAN OUT FOR HBO, DENIS LEARY¹S NO CURE FOR CANCER FOR SHOWTIME, AND THE SPITFIRE GRILL, starring Ellen Burstyn, Marcia Gay Harden and Alison Elliott. Most recently, Murray produced ISLANDER, an independent feature shot on HD starring Thomas Hildreth and Philip Baker Hall.
He has been a longtime faculty member at the American Film Institute and The School of Visual Arts in New York City. In its inaugural year, Murray served as Producing Faculty for the New Mexico Filmmakers Intensive at the College of Santa Fe.
Thursday, April 3 - Producer Crossroads Films R. PAUL MILLER
Paul Miller currently heads Crossroads Films’ Feature Division in New York City. Miller’s recent production Snow Angels is currently on release by Warner Independent Pictures. The film was written and directed by David Gordon Green (“All the Real Girls,” “Undertow,” “George Washington”) and adapted from the novel by Stewart O’Nan, and stars Sam Rockwell, Kate Becksinale, Michael Angarano and Amy Sedaris. At Crossroads Paul also produced A Love Song For Bobby Long, written and directed by first-timer Shainee Gabel and starring John Travolta and Scarlett Johansson, which was released theatrically by Lionsgate in December 2004.
A graduate of the National Film and Television School in the U.K., Miller first teamed up with Maggie Renzi to associate produce John Sayles’ feature The Secret of Roan Inish (1993). After producing and co-writing his own animated/live-action documentary about the work of diarist Peter Beard for Channel Four, London, entitled Holier Than Thou (1994), Miller re-teamed with Maggie Renzi to produce John Sayles’ Oscar-nominated feature Lone Star (1996) and his Golden Globe-nominated Men with Guns (1998), shot entirely in Mexico and Spain. In 2001, Miller also produced Prozac Nation, directed by
Erik Skjoldbaerg’s (‘Insomnia’) and starring Chistina Ricci, Jessica Lange and Anne Heche.
Other Crossroads releases include Igby Goes Down, Jawbreaker, Le Chateau, First Love Last Rights and The Big Split. Projects in development include The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum, to be directed by Pete Travis, The Forgotten Kingdom, written and to be directed by Andrew Mudge, After Silence, written by Jeff Lieber (‘Tuck Everlasting,’ ‘Tangled,’ ‘Lost’), All Souls to be directed by Ron Shelton (‘Bull Durham’) and We’re Here to Help to be directed by Alex Winter (‘Fever’), to name a few.
Thursday, April 10 - Producer/ President, Little Magic Films KIKI MIYAKE
Little Magic Films is a New York-based independent acquisitions and production company founded by President/Producer, Kiki Miyake. Little Magic acquires rights in all media - predominantly at the script stage - for Japanese distributor Showgate, Inc (formerly known as Toshiba Entertainment and Amuse Pictures, since its inception in 1990) as well as consulting for other companies in the entertainment business.
Recent acquisitions of upcoming titles include the thriller Passengers starring Anne Hathaway and Patrick Wilson, Evening featuring a star-studded ensemble cast headed by Claire Danes, Vanessa Redgrave and Meryl Streep, the runaway independent hit Once, critically acclaimed French literary adaptation, Lady Chatterley, Kenneth Branagh¹s The Magic Flute, as well as the English-language remake of Korean hit, My Sassy Girl directed by Yann Samuell. Other acquisitions include the epic soccer trilogy, Goal!, Terry Gilliam¹s The Brothers Grimm, Roman Polanski¹s The Pianist and Oliver Twist, and Finding Neverland starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet amongst many others.
Previous highly acclaimed pre-buys at the script stage include Resident Evil starring Milla Jovovich; Christopher Nolan¹s Memento; The Machinist starring Christian Bale; Stephen Frears¹ Dirty Pretty Things; The Gift directed by Sam Raimi, Mary Harron¹s American Psycho and Quentin Tarantino¹s Pulp Fiction. Our long history of acquiring award-winning art house films includes Mike Leigh¹s All or Nothing, Michael Winterbottom¹s In This World, Magdalene Sisters directed by Peter Mullen and many more.
Little Magic also engages in international feature film co-production. Credits include Spun, the feature debut of MTV Award-winning music video director, Jonas Akerlund starring Jason Schwartzman, Brittany Murphy, and Mickey Rourke; and Vigo: A Passion For Life, a love story based on the life of controversial French filmmaker Jean Vigo, directed by Julien Temple. Other producing credits include Ile Aiye: The House of Life, a music documentary shot in Bahia, Brazil and directed by David Byrne, Tokyo Melody, a documentary about Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Academy Award-winning composer of The Last Emperor, and The Magnum Eye, a series of eighteen socio-political documentaries shot by photojournalists from the Magnum Photo Agency.
Little Magic continues to serve as a bridge between the West and Japan/Asia by both developing properties in a creative capacity and arranging financing for international co-productions. Making full use of its unique position as a US-based company that also maintains strong relationships in the film and entertainment industries of Asia and Europe, Little Magic is actively pursuing a number of projects with partners and talent from across the globe.
Thursday, April 24 - Senior Programmer, Sundance Film Festival CAROLINE LIBRESCO
For the last six years, Caroline Libresco has been Senior Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival, where she selects features in all sections of the Festival, focusing on documentary and international, oversees international programs and develops Sundance’s producing initiatives. She produced and curated the inaugural season of “Sundance Institute at BAM” in 2006. Prior to joining Sundance, she was a programming and communications specialist for the Independent Television Service (ITVS). She was also associate director of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, senior publicist for the San Francisco International Film Festival and development director at U.C. Berkeley and the Library Foundation of San Francisco.
She co-wrote and produced the gritty independent feature FANCI’S PERSUASION, directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld, which was released in 10 cities and aired on Britain’s Channel 4. She also produced BARRIER DEVICE, an award-winning featurette starring Sandra Oh, and the feature documentary, SUNSET STORY, which aired on PBS’s “Independent Lens,” and won the Los Angeles Film Festival’s Audience Award and jury prizes at the Tribeca and Miami Film Festivals. Recently, she associate produced Harris Fishman’s CAT DANCERS, an HBO documentary which won the 2007 SXSW Special Jury Award.
Caroline holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.A. in History of Religion from Harvard and an M.F.A. from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. She has served on juries at the Seattle International Film Festival, LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, OutFest and SilverDocs and has appeared widely on panels at such venues as AFM, WGA, Binger Institute, Women in Film, and the Miami Film Festival. Caroline founded “Planet
Cinema,” an organization that mobilizes film to stimulate environmental change, annually presenting a sidebar of new films about the natural world at the Seattle International Film Festival.
Thursday, May 8 - Production Designer BRYCE PERRIN
Spanning more than 20 years and 17 countries, Bryce Perrin¹s extensive design experience features work in motion picture, television and commercial production and corporate events.
A visual storyteller, Perrin¹s career illustrates a dedication to illuminating the ways people live and what that might say about the time, place, society and individual. Across periods and genres, Perrin¹s exhaustive research brings visceral historical and cultural accuracy to a
film. A few examples are the rich and textured sets of Peter O'Toole's turn-of-the-century colonial office in Isabel Eberhardt (Tunisia), the 10th Century Viking longhouse built of whale bone, sod and driftwood featured in The Viking Sagas (Iceland) and the remote military outpost in Ravenous' 1850's Sierra Nevadas built both on stage (Prague) and location (Slovakia). Perrin's attention to detail in his design, fabrication and decoration also serve to reveal a character¹s personality and humanity. Illustrating this point is the hero¹s houseboat in Anacondas (Fiji) which resonates as a floating found-object sculpture that visually communicates the character¹s ingenuity, isolation and lack of material comfort and resources.
Since moving to New Mexico in July, 2006, Perrin has designed the much anticipated directorial debut of Brad Isaacs, West Texas Children¹s Story Five Dollars A Day, a father and son road picture starring Christopher Walken, Alessandro Nivolo and Sharon Stone and most recently Spoken Word directed by Victor Nunez (Ulee's Gold) .
Throughout his eclectic career, Perrin has proven his ability to hear a director's vision, a producer's concerns and a studio/client's requirements to deliver an aesthetic, cohesive design on time and within the budget. Perrin prides himself on embracing challenges, experimenting with materials and their applications and developing creative and innovative solutions. It is not surprising Perrin's talent is celebrated, among other things, for his ability to make silk purses from sows' ears.
Perrin earned his Fine Art Degree in Sculpture at Phillip Institute of Technology in his native Australia. He is currently a member of the Art Directors Guild, IATSE 800 and IATSE 480.
Thursday, May 1 - Director HOKU UCHIYAMA & Screenwriter DUNCAN NORTH
Before graduating from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Hoku Uchiyama directed eight short films, two documentaries and three spec spots collectively winning over nine festival awards worldwide, including 2nd place at the Cannes Young Directors Awards.
The Cannes Young Directors Award winning spec spot, PRELUDE #2 has toured around the world with Heather Henson¹s award winning puppet film showcase HANDMADE PUPPET DREAMS.
His latest short film, a fairy tale, fantasy entitled ROSE has played twenty six festivals and showcases internationally and has won awards at twelve.
Hoku is currently developing two features. Both are fairy-tales. Duncan North was a kindergarten teacher until the year 2000, when he began writing full-time. His work includes (and is almost entirely limited to) a romantic advice column (The Tao of Love), some magazine articles, two screenplays (Sundance winner, The Tao of Steve & Hell Can Wait) and numerous apology notes.
NMFI's 2007 Visiting Filmmakers:
Wednesday, January 16th - Editor STEVE KEMPER (Face Off, MI:2, Punisher)
Wednesday, January 23rd - Screenwriter KIRK ELLIS (John Adams, Anne Frank, Life with Judy Garland: Me & My Shadow)
Wednesday, January 31st - Director TODD DARLING (A Snow Mobile For George, Laguna Beach, MTV's The Real World)
Wednesday, February 7th - Filmmakers HANK ROGERSON & JILANN SPITZMILLER (Shakespeare Behind Bars, Homeland)
Sunday, February 11th - Casting Director VICKIE THOMAS (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, The Astronaut Farmer)
Wednesday, February 21st - Producer BILL TEITLER (The Polar Express, Jumanji, Hurricane)
Friday, March 2nd - Producer/Acting Teacher MILTON JUSTICE (Losing Chase, Down and Out in America, Nobody's Child)
Wednesday, March 7th - Academy Award-winning Composer DAVE GRUSIN (The Firm, The Milagro Beanfield War, The Fabulous Baker Boys)
Wednesday, March 21st - Film Curator BRENT KLIEWER (Programming Director of The Screen, former Curator at CCA and The Jean Cocteau Theater)
Wednesday, March 28th - Writer/Director KEITH GORDON (The Singing Detective, The Chocolate War, A Midnight Clear)
Guests on the horizon: DIRECTOR ALEX COX (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy) who will bring his latest film, Searchers 2.0 filmed on location in fifteen days; ACTOR FISHER STEVENS who has appeared in more that 60 feature film and television shows including Sam The Man and Flamingo Kid and who's producing credits include A Prairie Home Companion, Uptown Girls and Pinero, PRODUCER'S REP/INDIE DISTRIBUTOR RICHARD ABRAMOWITZ and CINEMATOGRAPHER AMY VINCENT (Black Snake Moan, Hustle & Flow, Caveman's Valentine) and more....
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
January 16th - Editor STEVE KEMPER
While working as an assistant editor for Michael Kahn on Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Steven Spielberg gave Steve Kemper his first editing position on the Amazing Stories television series. Kemper was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the episode entitled The Mission, which was directed by Spielberg. His first feature film credit came on New Jack City for Warner Brothers. Kemper's other editing credits include Time Cop, Sudden Death and End Of Days for Universal Studios, and The Relic for Paramount Pictures. His successful collaboration with John Woo's includes the director's biggest hits Face/Off and Mission Impossible 2, as well as Windtalkers. Kemper has taught graduate level film editing as an adjunct professor at U.S.C.
January 23rd - Screenwriter KIRK ELLIS
Santa Fe-based television and feature film-writer/producer Kirk Ellis received an Emmy nomination and won the Writers Guild of America and Humanitas Awards for the ABC miniseries Anne Frank. Most recently, he received the Western Writers of America's Golder Spur Award for Best Drama Script for "Hell on Wheels," an episode of the Emmy and golden Globe-nominated TNT/Dreamworks miniseries Into the West, on which he served as supervising producer and writer. In addition to the Golden Spur award, Ellis received the Wrangler Award for Best Television Feature from the National Western Heritage Museum, and a Critics' Choice Award, for his work on the miniseries.
Ellis is currently co-executive producer and writer of the seven-hour HBO miniseires John Adams, which begins shooting in February. Following John Adams, Ellis will continue his association with David McCullough and the American Revolution as writer and co-executive producer of 1776, based on McCullough's book. The project is slated as a six-hour HBO miniseries, to be produced like John Adams with Tom Hanks' Playtone Co. For the screen, Ellis' upcoming feature projects include Blood and Thunder, an epic drama of westward settlement, for Steven Spielberg/Dreamworks, and Shadow Ball, the story of the remarkable partnership between Jackie Robinson and Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey. Robert Redford will play Rickey, and produce with Ray producers Howard and Karen Baldwin.
His other credits include his debut feature The Grass Harp, based on the coming-of-age novel by Truman Capote, and the award-winning ABC miniseries The Beach Boys: An American Family, Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, and The Three Stooges. His additional work for HBO includes an adaptation of James Ellroy's American Tabloid.
A Texas native, Ellis graduated from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema and Television with degrees in both film production and history/criticism, and began his professional career as a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter. In 1985, at the age of 24, he was named the trade paper's international editor. Seven years later Ellis was named Editor-in-Chief of the London-based European trade magazine Moving Pictures and simultaneously formed Shadow Catcher Productions, an independent production banner under which Ellis develops his own independent productions and documentaries.
January 31st - Director TODD DARLING
Todd Darling brings his just completed documentary, A Snow Mobile For George to the NMFI.
A Snow Mobile For George looks at the Bush Administration's environmental policies. The film explores four different stories in which Bush's policies have had a profound impact. Viewed from the perspective of a cross country trip, A Snow Mobile for George is the occasionally wry, frequently sobering tale of a petroleum Huck Finn blasting across America.
Todd Darling worked as a director and editor on the pilot of the popular reality series, Laguna Beach: The Real OC and directed on three subsequent seasons.
Darling's other television credits include, USA's The Great American Christmas, Fox's Murder in Small Town X, and MTV's The Real World.
February 7th - Filmmakers HANK ROGERSON & JILANN SPITZMILLER
NMFI is pleased to present filmmakers Hank Rogerson and Jilann Spitzmiller and their award-winning documentary Homeland. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Northern Plains, this rich and engaging documentary weaves together the stories of four Lakota Indian families from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Shot over the course of several years, the film provides an inspiring and intimate portrait of contemporary Native American life as well as a unique and compelling depiction of the strength and vitality of Native culture. Ultimately, the film balances the many troubles that beset the reservation system with the resilience and fortitude of Lakota culture and spirituality. In doing so, it invites the viewer to reconnect with the power of family, the spirit of the natural world, and the healing power of humor and faith.
AUDIENCE AWARD - DOCUMENTARY American Film Institute AFI FEST
BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY - Fargo Film Festival
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY - Nashville Independent Film Festival
BEST INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING Native American Music Awards
Selected Festival Screenings:
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE, Native American Film and Video Festival
ABORIGINAL VOICES FESTIVAL, Toronto Canada
TERRES EN VUE FESTIVAL, Montreal Canada
AMERICAN INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL, San Francisco
TAOS TALKING PICTURE FESTIVAL, Taos NM
SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
DENVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH International Film Festival, Lincoln Center, NYC
SEOUL KOREA HUMAN RIGHTS FESTIVAL
FEBIOFEST, Prague, Czech Republic
VERMONT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Hank Rogerson is a director, writer and actor who works both in fiction and non-fiction film. His film Shakespeare Behind Bars had its world premiere in the Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, its international premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and won 10 awards on the festival circuit. Hank also co-produced, directed and edited Homeland, an award winning documentary, as well as Circle of Stories, a multi-media project at pbs.org. He is a two-time Sundance Institute Fellow, and has taught film production at University of Southern California. As an actor, Hank has done film, television and theater in Los Angeles, and he performs improv. Twice a Sundance Institute Fellow, Hank currently teaches filmmaking in the Moving Image Arts department at the College of Santa Fe, and has taught film production at University of Southern California.
Jilann Spitzmiller is a Producer, Director and Cinematographer who enjoys exploring the mysteries of life through documentary filmmaking. Producer of the award-winning Shakespeare Behind Bars which premiered at The Sundance Film Festival in 2005, Jilann has directed and produced several documentaries including the award-winning Homeland which aired on National PBS in 2000 and Circle of Stories, a multi-media documentary web site hosted by PBS. Jilann's other directing credits include two seasons on the documentary series Medical Diary for The Discovery Health Channel and her work as a producer/director for the NBC series Life Moments. Jilann is an adjunct professor of Film at the University of Redlands in California, and at Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy. When she's not making films or teaching, you can find her in painting in her studio.
February 11th - Casting Director VICKIE THOMAS
Veteran Hollywood casting director, Vickie Thomas, will speak to the NMFI community about her early days working with new and innovative filmmakers including Alex Cox (Repo Man, Walker), Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood) and David Byrne (True Stories) that led to extraordinary individual performances and ensembles and a successful career that now includes large studio credits such as Blood Diamond and Last Samurai for director, Ed Zwick as well independent features including the Polish brothers' latest film, The Astronaut Farmer. Vickie will discuss how a casting director first approaches a script, the business and creative decisions related to casting a picture and current trends in the role of cast in greenlighting a picture.
February 21st - Producer BILL TEITLER
William Teitler's recent producing credits include: Zathura, starring Tim Robbins, directed by Jon Favreau, for Columbia Pictures, based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg; Empire Falls, starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Ed Harris, Helen Hunt, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright Penn, directed by Fred Schepisi, for HBO, which won the Golden Globe and was nominated for 10 Emmy's, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book by Richard Russo; and The Polar Express starring Tom Hanks, directed by Robert Zemeckis, for Warner Bros, based on the Caldecott Award book by Chris Van Allsburg.
Other producing credits include The Hurricane, starring Denzel Washington, directed by Norman Jewison, based on the life of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, which garnered a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for Mr. Washington; Jumanji, starring Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt, directed by Joe Johnston, based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg; Mr. Holland's Opus, starring Richard Dreyfuss, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance, directed by Stephen Herek; Looking For Richard, starring Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder and Kevin Spacey, directed by Al Pacino, which received the DGA Award for Best Documentary Feature; Tuck Everlasting, starring Ben Kingsley, Sissy Spacek, William Hurt, and Alexis Bledel, directed by Jay Russell, based on the award-winning book by Natalie Babbitt; How To Deal, starring Mandy Moore, Alison Janney, Peter Gallagher and Trent Ford, directed by Clare Kilner, based on the book by Sarah Dessen; Picture Perfect, starring Jennifer Aniston, Jay Mohr, Kevin Bacon, and Olympia Dukakis, directed by Glenn Gordon Caron; and Unforgettable, starring Ray Liotta and Linda Fiorentino, directed by John Dahl.
March 2nd - Producer/Acting Teacher, MILTON JUSTICE
After graduating from Yale, Milton began work as an assistant director at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He then continued his New York theatre work, producing the Broadway premiere of Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carre, Jack Heifner's Vanities (which became the longest running play in off-Bway history) and Das Luscitania Songspiel (written by and starring Sigourney Weaver and Christopher Durang - selected as one of the 10 best plays of 1981 by the New York Times). For his New York Theatre work he received two Drama Desk nominations.
After studying for many years with Stella Adler, he was selected by Miss Adler to be Artistic Director of her theatre in Los Angeles. The Company received seventeen local critics' awards and in 1995 Milton was invited by NYU to teach as part of their acting curriculum where he taught at the Stella Adler Conservatory.
For his work as a film and television producer, Milton has received an Oscar (for documentary), an Emmy, a Cable Ace and five Golden Globe nominations. His most recent venture Losing Chase (directed by Kevin Bacon and starring Helen Mirren and Kyra Sedgwick) for Showtime, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won a Golden Globe award for Miss Mirren.
March 7th - Composer DAVE GRUSIN
"As an artist, I am signed as a pianist first and foremost," Grusin says. "Therefore, I'm able to choose between recording albums of all original material, and doing these great tribute collections. It's been an interesting double life, doing both film scoring and jazz recordings, with the chief difference being that in film you have parameters based on how the music will function with the images. With my own albums, it's like a blank canvass, absolute freedom to create from scratch, and that presents its own set of challenges."
Grusin planned for a career in academia when he moved to New York in 1959 and enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music, but he soon found himself touring behind Andy Williams, moving to Los Angeles in the process. In Williams' band, he met drummer Larry Rosen, who became Grusin's partner nearly two decades later in launching contemporary jazz mecca GRP Records. He launched his recording career in the mid-60's with two jazz trio albums, Subways are For Sleeping and Piano, Strings and Moonlight, which drew upon the influences of Art Tatum, Bill Evans and Red Garland.
Inspired by those like Mancini and Andre Previn, Grusin left his music director gig with The Andy Williams Show in 1964 and scored the Norman Lear/Bud Yorkin comedy Divorce American Style the following year. This marked the beginning of his career as a premier film composer, with over 30 scores to his credit. Among his Academy Award-nominated work over the years have been scores for Heaven Can Wait, The Champ, On Golden Pond, Tootsie (he co-wrote the Stephen Bishop hit, "It Might Be You"), The Milagro Beanfield War (which won the 1988 Oscar), Havana, The Fabulous Baker Boys and The Firm. Other well known films include The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Three Days of the Condor, The Goodbye Girl, And Justice For All, Reds, and Tequila Sunrise. In 1987, Grusin released Cinemagic, a compilation of new versions of his classic scores. Grusin also penned the theme songs for Lear-produced '70's sitcoms Good Times and Maude, as well as the TV series Baretta and St. Elsewhere.
Launching GRP as a production company in the late '70s, Grusin and Rosen created what became one of the most popular labels of the New Adult Contemporary genre, with popular artists like The Rippingtons, Spyro Gyra, David Benoit, Lee Ritenour and Tom Scott. Grusin's own hits for the label include Night-lines (1984), Harlequin (a duet album with Lee Ritenour in 1986), Sticks and Stones (a duet with brother Don in 1987), The Fabulous Baker Boys (a double Grammy winner in 1989), Migration (1989), and the tributes The Gershwin Connection (1991) and Homage to Duke (1993). He also participated in GRP all-star projects, Super Live, the NY/LA Dream Band and the three GRP All Star Big Band albums.
March 21st - Film Curator BRENT KLIEWER
Brent Kliewer is an internationally known film curator who spent ten years building the film program at the Center for Contemporary Arts. He also founded the Jean Cocteau Theater in Santa Fe. Kliewer has served as the film and book critic for The New Mexican. He currently teaches critical studies in the Moving Image Arts Department at The College of Santa Fe and is the Director of Film Programming for The Screen, New Mexico's premier cinematheque.
Wednesday, March 28th - Writer/Director KEITH GORDON
While he began his professional life as an actor, Keith Gordon always sought to get back to his first dream; film-making. He utilized his experience acting for directors such as Brian DePalma, Bob Fosse and John Carpenter as a kind of paid apprenticeship.
Gordon appeared in leading roles in Carpenter's "Christine", De Palma's "Dressed To Kill and "Home Movies", the comedy "Back To School", as well as supporting roles in numerous films including Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz". He simultaneously performed extensively in New York theater both on and off Broadway.
As a stepping stone behind the camera, Gordon starred in, but also co-wrote and co-produced the independent feature "Static", which earned Gordon the Best Actor award at the 1987 Madrid Film Festival, and, more importantly, the chance to direct his first film.
In 1989 Gordon wrote and directed "The Chocolate War", adapting Robert Cormier's classic novel. The film won critical acclaim, and Gordon received an IFP/Spirit Award nomination for best first feature.
Next, Gordon adapted and directed "A Midnight Clear" from William Wharton's autobiographical anti-war novel, starring Ethan Hawke and Gary Sinise (in his film debut). In addition to landing on a large number of year-end "10 best" lists, the film got Gordon his second IFP/Spirit Award nomination, this time for Best Screenplay.
In 1996 Gordon produced and directed "Mother Night", starring Nick Nolte, from the classic, blackly comic Kurt Vonnegut novel. It was named one of the 10 best films of the decade by critic David Sterrit of the Christian Science Monitor.
In 2000, Gordon's feature adaptation of Scott Spencer's mysterious, romantic novel "Waking the Dead" was released. It starred Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly, and was executive produced by Jodie Foster. The film received a IFP/Spirit award nomination for best screenplay, and was praised by the Los Angeles Times as "impressive and satisfying, a rich and provocative experience" and by the San Francisco Chronicle as "one of the most powerful romances of recent years."
In 2003, Gordon directed "The Singing Detective", starring Robert Downey Jr., Mel Gibson, Adrien Brody, and Robin Wright-Penn. An update of the classic BBC series, it was adapted for film by the original writer - the legendary Dennis Potter - just before his death. The comedy/drama/musical/period noir thriller/expressionist/ surrealist character study was called 'ambitious, intelligent, and admirable' by the New York Times, 'Truly memorable. Dark and twisted and damned entertaining.' by London's News of the World, and ' Remarkable. A moving experience' by Roger Ebert
Gordon has also directed occasional odd and adventurous television pieces, including Oliver Stone's "Wild Palms" mini-series, and episodes of Barry Levinson's "Homicide", Paul Attanasio's "Gideon's Crossing", Showtime's award-winning film-noir anthology series "Fallen Angels", the anthology series "Night Visions", "House", and most recently Showtime's dark and funny "Dexter"
Gordon has taught and mentored for the AFI, IFP/Film Independent, the Sundance Film Institute and USC. He's written articles and interviews on film for various magazines including 'Details', and 'Reel', and hosted a film -themed show for National Public Radio.
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