Frozen River, the project of the May/June 2007 6-week class, has been nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards. The categories include: Best Feature; Best Director, Courtney Hunt; Best Female Lead, Melissa Leo; Best Supporting Female, Misty Upham; Best Supporting Male, Charlie McDermott; and Best First Screenplay, Courtney Hunt. Frozen River was edited by TEC instructor, Kate Williams.
Three of the fifteen films short-listed for the Best Documentary prize at this year's Academy Awards were worked on by TEC alums and instructors. Pray the Devil Back to Hell, directed by guest lecturer, Gini Reticker and edited by instructor Meg Reticker is, “Uplifting, disheartening, inspiring, enraging…” – Manohla Dargis, NY Times. The Betrayal – Nerakhoon, directed by Ellen Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, DP) and post supervised by TEC alum Riva Marker, is “contemplative and impressionistic,” AO Scott, NY Times. In a Dream (SXSW Audience Award 2008) directed by Jeremiah Zagar with TEC alum and instructor, Sandy Patch, as colorist and on-line editor.
Two Edit Center class projects are being released on DVD this fall. Manhattan, Kansas, the project of the May/June 2005 six-week course, is coming out on November 18, and Swing State, the project of November/December 2006 and January/February 2007 classes, was released on November 4. Manhattan, Kansas was edited by TEC alum Cindy Lee and is being distributed by Carnivalesque Films. The Film Society of Lincoln Center called the movie "simple and direct" and "emotionally blunt and affecting -- Manhattan, Kansas acknowledges that love abides, even when forgiveness is not always easy or possible." Swing State, which the Syracuse New Times called "fresh and timely," was edited by TEC alum Erica Freed and is being distributed by Morningstar Entertainment.
Nursery University, formerly titled The Diaper League and the project of the March/April 2007 6-week class, screened to a sold out theatre at the Margaret Mead film festival this past weekend. The two NY Times articles written about the film express that it "...depicts New York City parents as a fascinating anthropological subculture,” and that the film "examines the sometimes laughable lengths to which parents go to help their children, but to its credit, the film does not ridicule or judge them." The articles can be found here and here.
Nursery University, the project of the March/April 2007 six-week course (when it was titled Diaper League), will be screening at the Margaret Mead Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History November 15th. Nursery University premiered at the Hampton's International Film Festival this fall and was reviewed by John Anderson of VARIETY who wrote the film was "...handled with such good humor and humanity by Simon (the director) that you start to forget that what you're so involved with is the question of where some very short people...are going to be finger-painting for the next eight months."
Run for Your Life, a documentary edited by TEC alum Alison Shurman opens this week in NYC. The film, directed by Emmy nominated filmmaker Judd Ehrlich, chronicles the life of Fred Lebow who founded the New York City Marathon. After Run for Your Life premiered at Tribeca this year, Alison's work was praised by NY Times film critic AO Scott, who wrote that "The film's words and images... create a time-lapse picture of New York's renewal." Judd's next film, an untitled documentary about a magic camp, will be workshopped in The Edit Center's upcoming Nov/Dec 6-week class.
The Edit Center would like to extend our thanks to all the editors who visited our summer 6-week classes: Affonso Gonçalves (40 Shades of Blue, Married Life, New York I Love You), Meg Reticker (30 Rock, Wet Hot American Summer), and Stephen Garrett (trailer editor for The Lives of Others, Half Nelson, Encounters at the End of the World). And a very special thanks to our alumni who were able to return and discuss their work: Michael Taylor (The Order of Myths, Day Night Day Night), Ramsey Fendall (Moving Midway), and Alison Shurman (Run for Your Life).
Frozen River, the project of the May/June 2007 six-week class, premieres in NY and LA on August 1. The film stars Melissa Lo (21 Grams, The L-Word) and was the winner of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature. TEC instructor Kate Williams edited the film.
Finishing Heaven, the project of the Sept/Oct 2007 six-week class, recently premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The VARIETY review of the film singled out editor (and TEC alum) Amy Foote for how she "smoothly weaves in and out of the new and old footage." Finishing Heaven is directed by Mark Mann and produced by Independent Spirit Award winning producers David Shapiro and Laurie Gwen Shapiro. It has been purchased by HBO and will be airing in 2009.
The Understudy, the project of the July/August 2007 six-week class, was awarded "Best Original Score" by the composers' union of France at the Avignon Film Festival. TEC instructor Kate Eales edited the film after the course, and it was directed by husband-and-wife team Hannah Davis and David Conolly. Next, the film will be screening at the Cambridge Film Festival in September.