Finishing Heaven, the project of the September 2007 6-week class, will be premiering on HBO2 September 30th at 8 pm. The film was edited by TEC Alum, Amy Foote, and premiered at the LA Film Fest in 2008.
Class Film, Reporter, Premieres at BAM
Reporter, the project of the November 2007 6-week class, will be screening at BAM this Friday as part of BAMcinemaFEST. The documentary, directed by Eric Metzgar, follows Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof through the Democratic Republic of Congo as he tries to put the country's crises on the international radar. Eric Kohn of indieWIRE writes, "With a series of gorgeous, frequently haunting sequences, Metzgar captures the wide-ranging responses of struggling Africans presented with Kristof and his trusty notepad... Metzgar captures the full complexity of the inherent drama." TEC Alums, Daniel Rosen and Bo Mehrad were the associate editor and additional editor, respectively, on the film. It premiered at Sundance in January and this will be its New York premiere.
Skatopia to Premiere at ACEFest
Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy, the documentary project of the May 2008 6-week class, will premiere at NYC indie film fest ACEFest on Saturday, July 11th. Skatopia the film documents the life of Skatopia, the Appalachian farm where hardcore skating, punk rock and hillbilly culture collide. The film centers on the owner and self-proclaimed leader of the farm, Brewce Martin, who presides over the daily mayhem like a modern-day Jim Jones. Skatopia was edited by TEC alum Ramsey Fendall.
Sorry, Thanks to Screen at BAMcinemaFEST
Sorry, Thanks, the project of the January 2008 six week class, will have its NY premiere as part of the BAMcinemaFEST in June. The film stars Wiley Wiggins (Dazed and Confused, Waking Life), and Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha) and is directed by Dia Sokol who was the in-house producer for acclaimed director Errol Morris for four years (The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line). For more information on the Fest or to purchase tix, visit: http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=1193
The Missing Person Acquired by Strand Releasing
The Missing Person, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Fest and stars Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead) and Amy Ryan (The Office, Gone Baby Gone), was just snapped up by Strand Releasing. Strand acquired all U.S. rights to what has been called a "delightfully strange noir" by New York Magazine. The Missing Person was edited by TEC alum/instructor Mollie Goldstein and was the project of the November 2007, 6-week class.
May Six-Week Class Films Announced
Two feature films will be going through the upcoming six-week class starting May 18th. The first is a narrative titled Winter's Bone, which comes to us from the award winning filmmakers, Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini. Debra won the Director's Award for the film Down to the Bone at Sundance in 2004 -- Anne Rosellini was the producer on the film. Winter's Bone tells the story of Ree Dolly, a 17-year-old high school dropout who has to track down her father before creditors seize the house that he put up for bond before he disappeared. Failure, as they say, is not an option — or else Ree, her young siblings and their mother will be turned out into the Ozark woods. The second class film is a documentary titled Up Heartbreak Hill that follows high school seniors who live on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico. They are contemplating what they will do after graduation -- stay in their community – a place inextricably woven into the fiber of their being – or leave, in pursuit of educational and economic opportunities. They are constantly struggling to reconcile their desires with their sense of obligation to the community that helps define them. The choices they make will have ramifications not just for themselves and for their families, but for the town in which they’ve spent their entire lives.
Alum Film Wins Best Documentary at Tribeca
Racing Dreams, a film by Oscar nominated filmmaker Marshall Curry, is receiving tons of praise since it screened last month at the Tribeca Film Festival. Scott Feinberg of the LA Times suggests its, "...the best film of the year, thus far." He goes on to say that ,"the three story lines in Racing Dreams unfold and intersect more rivetingly than most original screenplays... largely because Curry, Matthew Hamachek, and Mary Manhardt were skilled enough to sort through 500 hours of raw footage and tell those stories in just 90 minutes." Editor, Matthew Hamachek is an Edit Center alum and both editor Mary Manhardt and director/editor Marshall Curry have been guest lecturers at TEC. The film won best documentary feature at the festival.
Praise for Alum Film, Cropsey
Cropsey, which premiered to sold out crowds at Tribeca Film Festival last month, was praised by John Anderson of Variety who writes, "Cropsey has all the trappings of a true-crime TV special, but with an undercurrent of cultural exposition that is intelligent, profound and unsettling." Cropsey was edited by TEC alum and instructor Anita Gabrosek and co-edited by TEC instructor Pete Beaudreau. Additional TEC alums who worked on the project were: Todd Holmes as an additional editor, Faisal Azam and Ben Stark were assistant editor and associate editor respectively.
Alum Films at Tribeca, "Must Sees"
Of all 86 films screening at Tribeca this year, 16 were selected as, "Must Sees" by NY Mag -- 2 of which, Cropsey and Racing Dreams, were worked on by TEC alums. Cropsey, a documentary which delves into the mysterious disappearance of kids on Staten Island in the 80's by the hands of a "bogeyman," was edited by alum and instructor Anita Gabrosek, co-edited by TEC instructor Pete Beaudreau, TEC alum and instructor Todd Holmes was an additional editor on the film and TEC alums Faisal Azam and Ben Stark were assistant editor and associate editor respectively. The documentary, Racing Dreams, follows kids competing in the World Karting Association's National Pavement Series. TEC alum, Matthew Hamachek, was one of the editors alongside TEC guest lecturers, Mary Manhardt and director, Marshall Curry.
Alum Films Premiere at SXSW
Many TEC Alums premiered their films at SXSW 2009 this month in a variety of categories. Amy Foote was the editor of The Least of These, a documentary focusing on the detainment center in Hutto, Texas that houses immigrant families while they seek asylum. Richard Whitaker of the Austin Chronicle called it a "...quiet and measured documentary." The Least of These is part of a new concept in distribution deals. The night it premiered at SXSW it was also available online at SnagFilms and will be followed by physical and semi-theatrical distribution by IndiePix and Cinema Guild according the indieWIRE. In the shorts category of the festival, the film Tess and Nana premiered which was edited by TEC alums Kate Abernathy and Ron Dulin. Alum, Jenny Lee, was the editor and co-producer of True Adolescents which premiered in the Narrative Competition section. Eric Snider of Cinematical notes of writer/director, Craig Johnson, that he "keeps the humor down-to-earth" in this "...realistic coming-of-age story." True Adolescents will screen next at the Vail Film Festival.