David Irving Named Chair of Tisch Asia’s Graduate Film Department

By Richard Pierce

David K. Irving, associate professor in the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts, was appointed chair of Tisch Asia’s Graduate Film Department in June. Irving succeeded John Tintori, who was doubling as chair of both graduate film programs in Singapore and New York.
    “Professor Irving has been one of the pillars of the film department for a long time,” said Pari Sara Shirazi, president of NYU Tisch School of the Arts Asia and vice dean of the Tisch School of the Arts. “As a tenured member of the faculty, he has been instrumental in overseeing the changes in the curriculum, transformation of equipment from analog to digital, and faculty recruitments.”
    Irving earned his M.F.A. in film from the California Institute of the Arts and is an active filmmaker. His directorial credits include: Night of the Cyclone (1990) with Kris Kristofferson and Marisa Berenson; C.H.U.D. II (1988) with Robert Vaughn and Gerrit Graham; The Emperor’s New Clothes (1987) with Sid Caesar and Robert Morse; Sleeping Beauty (1987) with Morgan Fairchild, Tawnee Welch, and Sylvia Miles; Rumpelstiltskin (1987) with Amy Irving and Billy Barty; and Goodbye, Cruel World (1983) with Dick Shawn and Cynthia Sikes.
    His documentary credits include: Romare Bearden: Visual Jazz (1995); Jacob Lawrence: The Glory of Expression (1993); and Faith Ringgold: The Last Story Quilt (1991). Screenplay credits include Rumpelstiltskin and The Emperor’s New Clothes. Irving is also the recipient of a Writers Guild of America Award for The Secret of the Lost Valley.
    In 2007, he was honored by Tisch with the David Payne Carter Award for Teaching Excellence. He is also the author of the award-winning textbook Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video.