Lots of exciting news coming through for Great World of Sound, the class project of the January and March 2006 six-week classes. Director Craig Zobel won a Gotham Award last weekend for "Breakthrough Director" and actor Kene Holliday (who played Clarence) was nominated for "Breakthrough Actor." Great World of Sound is also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in the category "Best First Feature" and Kene Holliday is nominated for "Best Supporting Male."
TEC alum and instructor, Chad Beck, is currently featured on www.moviemaker.com in the "Hands N Pages" section. He talks about his decision to be an editor, working on documentaries vs narratives, and of getting his start at The Edit Center, "...I feel so grounded here. It’s a school run by editors, and the spirit of the place is very positive and academic. I got my start as a student in the six-week class and learned the craft from some of the great editors who teach here." Congrats Chad!
Choking Man, a psychological drama edited by Edit Center alumni Jon Griggs and Todd Holmes, opens this week at Cinema Village. The film, which stars Mandy Patinkin ("Criminal Minds", The Princess Bride) and Aaron Paul ("Big Love", Mission Impossible 3) was previously featured at the Tribeca, Miami, and Deauville Film Festivals. Jon and Todd worked together on the film after teaching together at the Edit Center shortly after they finished the six-week class.
No End in Sight, the Iraq war documentary directed by Charles Ferguson and edited by Edit Center alumni Chad Beck and Cindy Lee, has been short-listed for the Best Documentary prize at this year's Academy Awards. Also among the 15 films on the list is Sicko, which was edited by Edit Center instructor Geoffrey Richman and directed by Michael Moore. Both Sicko and No End in Sight were among the best reviewed documentaries of 2007, with No End in Sight being singled out in particular for its "masterful" editing.
The Edit Center is excited to announce the addition of a second class project to the November/December 2007 6-week class. Reporter: On the Ground with Nicholas Kristof is a documentary set in central Africa which chronicles, in verité fashion, the haunting, physically grueling and, at moments, shocking voyage of Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, Nick Kristof. He is joined by two young companions—Will Okun, a 33-year old high school teacher and photographer from Chicago, and Leana Wen, a 24-year old medical student from St Louis. The reason for their trip is simple: travel to ignored conflict regions (this time Rwanda, Congo and Burundi) and report back to other Americans, via daily blogs on the New York Times website. The film will bring individual stories into rich, colorful, audible existence, thereby extending their reach and the critical issues they embody. Reporter is directed by 2007 Independent Spirit Awards Nominee, Eric Daniel Metzger, and brought to us by Stick Figure Productions who have produced numerous award-winning documentary films including, Devil’s Playground, Willie Nelson: Still Moving, and loudQUIETloud: a film about the Pixies.
The Edit Center is pleased to announce that the class project for the upcoming November/December 2007 six-week course will be The Missing Person, directed by Noah Buscel (Bringing Rain, Neal Cassady). The Missing Person stars Michael Shannon (World Trade Center), Frank Wood ("Flight of the Conchords," winner of the 1999 Tony Award for Best Actor), and Amy Ryan (Capote, "The Wire," 2000 & 2005 Tony nominee for Best Actress). The film is about a private investigator hired by a grieving widow to find her missing husband who was working at the World Trade Center on September 11th but whose remains were never found. The case follows Rosow on a manhunt that puts him in the path of corrupt bureaucrats, 9/11 trauma victims, lost children, and his own memories of that terrible day. The film is produced by Jesse Scolaro and Allen Bain of The 7th Floor (who produced Gardener of Eden with Leonardo DiCaprio and the Sundance award-winner Manito). Edit Center alum Mollie Goldstein (Palindromes, "Stella") will be editing the film and, with Noah, working closely with the November/December students.
TEC alum Paul Frost has been working as an editor, since episode 5, on Kimora Lee Simmons', "Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane," now airing on the Style Network. He originally came on as a first assistant editor 6 months ago, congrats Paul!
Great World of Sound, the March/April 2006 class project, opens at the Angelika Film Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas September 14, 2007 in NYC. Andrew O'Hehir of Salon.com says... "Great World of Sound is under-the-radar independent filmmaking in the Jarmusch-Casssavetes mode, both noble and ruthless in spirit." Great World of Sound was director by Craig Zobel and edited by TEC Instructor Tim Streeto.
Congratulations to TEC alum Holly Schlesinger, writer and dialogue editor for "Lucy, The Daughter of the Devil." The show premiered on Cartoon Network this September and is being promoted as part of the Sunday night Adult Swim block.
Superheroes, the class project of the Sept/Oct 2006 class, was referred to in Variety as a, "wrenching two-hander about the visible and less visible scars an Iraq vet attempts to live with... Somber, affecting indie is a conversation-starter for folks who assume getting home in one piece is all that matters." Superheroes was assistant edited by TEC alum Eric Gerdts. And after an exciting premiere at The Frameline Film Festival, You Belong to Me, the class project of the March/April 2007 class, received a Variety review stating the film "benefits from crisp execution, quirky character writing and a credible sense of real-world peril." You Belong to Me was edited by TEC Instructor Anita Gabrosek, who was assisted by TEC alum Rachel Mills.