Top-Ranked Film Program to Emphasize Feature Filmmaking
Top-Ranked Film Program to Emphasize Feature Filmmaking
The Kanbar Institute of Film and Television, Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, has announced the appointment of John Tintori, film editor and screenwriter, as the new chair of the Graduate Film Division beginning last fall. Tintori succeeds Christine Choy, who stepped down as chair after six years.
John Tintori has edited over a dozen feature-length films, including Eight Men Out, directed by John Sayles; True Love and Dogfight, directed by Nancy Savoca; and Mister Wonderful, directed by Anthony Minghella. In addition to his feature credits, Tintori has edited numerous TV commercials, music videos, and short films, including Trevor, which won the Oscar in 1995 for Best Dramatic Short Film. He has several screenplays to his credit, and he co-directed, with Mary Cybulski, Hellcab, the independent feature film starring John Cusack, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, and Gillian Anderson.
As chair, Tintori will emphasize feature filmmaking. “While our filmmakers have enjoyed success with their short films, the ultimate goal of our program is feature filmmaking,” said Tintori. “We have a history of our alumni making feature-length films right out of school; graduates such as Jim Jarmusch, Ang Lee, and Spike Lee come to mind. We want to bring that same experience into the classroom. Our new commitment to feature filmmaking includes making changes to our curriculum and our faculty, as well as finding additional financial support for these films,” he said.
To accomplish its goals the Graduate Film Division will reorganize its writing curriculum to emphasize feature filmmaking and is presently searching for an additional fulltime tenure track faculty member to teach screenwriting. Moreover, it will begin fundraising efforts to support two to three feature-length theses films a year with budgets ranging from $75,000 to $150,000.
The Graduate Film Division in the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television offers intensive professional education in filmmaking to talented students whose work in film is serious, conceptually original, technically competent, and artistically experimental. Admission to the program is highly selective and enrolls only 36 new students from the more than 800 applications it receives each year. Focusing on pre-production, production, post-production, writing, aesthetics and the entertainment business, the three-year M.F.A. program culminates with a required thesis film. Alumni of the Division include Martha Coolidge, Chris Eyre, Jim Jarmusch, Ang Lee, and Spike Lee, among many others.