Tisch Alums and Students Score Big at Sundance, Award Shows

By Richard Pierce

    Every year at this time the film industry is awash in award ceremonies. It begins in early January with the Golden Globes, given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and followed closely by the Sundance Film Festival, the Directors Guild of America, and the Screen Actors Guild awards. The frenzy didn’t end until the Oscar telecast on February 24 when the Academy Award winners were announced to millions of viewers around the world.

      This is the Tisch School of the Arts’ (TSOA) 15th year at the Sundance Film Festival, and the school celebrated a record-tying 57 films in the festival with an NYU affiliation. This year also saw a record-breaking 170 alumni, students, and faculty who were attached to Sundance films as directors, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers, and editors, among others. Lastly, of the more than 200 films screened at 2008 Sundance, 17 were directed by alumni.

     

Sundance Film Festival

The 2008 Sundance winners were announced on Jan. 26 at a closing night awards ceremony hosted by William H. Macy in Park City, Utah. One student and five alumni from TSOA were among the winners. They were:

American Teen — Directing Award, Documentary: directed by Nanette Burstein ’94 & ’04 director, screenwriter, producer.

Sleep Dealer — Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for outstanding achievement in writing: co-written by David Riker ’96. The film also won the Alfred P. Sloan award for an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character.

Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired — Documentary Editing Award: presented to Joe Bini ’86.

Choke — Special Jury Prize, Dramatic, Work by an Ensemble Cast: Clark Gregg ’86 director, screenwriter, and cast. Executive producer Mike S. Ryan ’92; cast members Heather Burns ’96, Allison Karman ’05, Jordan Lage ’86, and       Erin Anne Williams ’03; dolly grip Melissa Guimaraes ’00; production       coordinator Joshua Huffman ’04; and assistant to executive producers AliciaVan Couvering ’05.

Sikumi (On the Ice) — Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking: directed and written by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean, MFA student. Director of photography Cary Fukunaga, MFA student; sound recordist Rob Meyer ’07; assistant director      James Rogan, MFA student; 2nd assistant camera Nicolas Calzada MFA student; 2nd unit cinematographer Danny Vecchione, MFA student; script supervisor Natacha Feola, MFA student; and composer Andres Martinez, MFA student.

Aquarium — Honorable Mention in Short Filmmaking: directed, written, and edited by Rob Meyer ’07. Assistant director Craig Johnson MFA student; cinematographer Rob Hauer ’04; sound Andrew MacLean, MFA student; boom operator Tom Perry, MFA student; with grips/electrics Nick Calzada, Stephen Dypiangco, Mark Heyman, and Joe Singer, who are all MFA students.

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Alumuni winners of the Screen Actors Guild awards were:

      Alec Baldwin ’94 — Male Actor in a Comedy Series in 30 Rock; Joel Coen ’78 - Cast in a Motion Picture for No Country for Old Men; Rainn Wilson ’89 - Ensemble in a Comedy Series as Dwight Shrute in The Office; David Chase ’68 - Ensemble in a Drama Series for The Sopranos.

      Alumnus Joel Coen ’78 won the Directors Guild of America’s Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for No Country for Old Men.     

Academy Awards

The TSOA alumni nominees for 80th Academy Awards are:

Joel Coen ’78 — Best Motion Picture, Achievement in Directing (with brother Ethan), and Adapted Screenplay for No Country for Old Men;

Philip Seymour Hoffman ’89 — Performance by an actor in a supporting role in Charlie Wilson’s War; and

Tamara Jenkins ’94 — Original Screenplay for The Savages.    

From left: Clark Gregg ’86 (Choke director, screenwriter, and cast member), Beau Flynn, Stern ’93, and Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell