Past Projects at The Edit Center
2008
|
|
| The Missing Person |
Co-stars Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone, “The Office”) and Frank Wood (Michael Clayton; Synecdoche, New York) |
| Ten Stories Tall |
Stars Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club, High Art) and Tovah Feldshuh (Kissing Jessica Stein) |
| Peter & Vandy |
Stars Jess Wexler (Teeth) and Jason Ritter (Happy Endings), Dir of Photography Frankie DeMarch (Shortbus, Hedwig) |
| Sorry, Thanks |
Stars Wiley Wiggins (Dazed and Confused, Waking Life) and directed by Dia Sokol (in-house producer for Errol Morris) |
| Garbage Dreams |
Documentary that celebrates the richness, strength and vitality of Egypt’s community of indigenous garbage collectors |
| Dog Sweat |
Controversial Iranian film written and directed by Hossein Keshavarz |
| Skatopia |
Documentary on skateboarding commune “Skatopia” in Appalachia |
| Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields |
Documentary following the last 10 years of the band The Magnetic Fields |
2007
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|
| Periphery |
Stars Jesse Garcia (Quinceañera, Days of Wrath) |
| Finishing Heaven |
Documentary by Mark Mann and Independent Spirit Award winning
directors David Shapiro and Laurie Gwen Shapiro |
| Trucker |
Stars Michelle Monaghan (Mission: Impossible III) and Nathan Fillion (Serenity) |
| The Pit |
Documentary following commodity traders on the floor of NYBOT |
| Frozen River |
Stars Melissa Lo (21 Grams, The L-Word) |
| The Understudy |
Stars Aasif Mandvi (“The Daily Show”) and Richard Kind (“Mad About You”) |
2006
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|
| The Great World of Sound |
Official Selection, 2007 Sundance Film Festival |
| Dirty Three |
Documentary following the acclaimed Australian band |
| Moving Midway |
Directed by award-winning film critic Godfrey Cheshire |
| Superheroes |
Stars Dash Mihok and Spencer Treat Clark |
| The Recruiter (formerly titled The Army Recruiter) |
Directed by MacAurthur Grant Winner Edet Belzberg |
| You Belong to Me |
Stars Patti D'Arbanville and Daniel Sauli |
| Swing State |
Documentary about the 2006 Ohio Governor's Race |
| The New 20 (formerly titled Fast Company) |
Cast includes Nicole Bilderback, Ryan Locke, and Terry Serpico |
2005
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| If I Didn't Care |
Stars Roy Scheider, Noelle Beck, and Susan Misner |
| Devil You Know |
Stars Lena Olin (Alias) and Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day) |
| The Garage |
Directed by Carl Thibault, Shot on 35mm Film |
| Head Trauma |
Directed by Lance Weiler (The Last Broadcast) |
| In Love |
Written by Greg Levins (Manmade) |
| Manhattan, Kansas |
Nominated for Audience Award, 2006 SXSW Film Festival |
| No Room for Groceries |
Directed by actor Michael Mosley (Law & Order, Swimmers) |
2004
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| August in the Empire State |
Premiered on the Sundance Channel in 2006 |
| Blood in the Sand |
Epic samurai comedy |
| Home |
Special Jury Prize, 2005 Silverdocs Film Festival |
| Red Doors |
Best Narrative Feature, 2005 Tribeca Film Festival |
| Room |
Director's Fortnight, 2005 Cannes Film Festival |
| Swimmers |
American Spectrum, 2005 Sundance Film Festival |
2003
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| A-List |
Cast includes Sally Kirkland,
Daphne Zuniga, David Carradine |
| Charlie's Party |
Produced by Barry Sisson (The Station Agent) |
| Evergreen |
Official Selection, 2004 Sundance Film Festival |
| First-Time Caller |
Directed by Daily Show producer Paul Sullivan |
| In Memory of My Father |
Starring Jeremy Sisto, Matt Keesler, Judy Greer |
| What Goes On |
Musical variety show filmed with New York indie bands |
2002
|
|
| Delivery Boy Chronicles |
Shot on 35mm, cast includes Shawn Mullins |
| Delivery Method |
Second feature from award-winning director Josh Apter |
| Jackie 60 |
Currently featured at New York City's Museum of Sex |
| Kaaterskill Falls |
Critics' Prize, LA Film Festival 2001 |
| The Mudge Boy |
Official Selection, 2003 Sundance Film Festival |
| Rufus Wainwright in Concert |
Directed by editor Andrew Marcus (Hedwig & the Angry
Inch, Howard's End) |
| The Sister |
Starring Amy Pohler, Kate Walsh, Patrick McCartney |
| Speedo |
Official Selection, South by Southwest 2003 |
| Wang Dang |
Directed by Sundance-award-winner Tom Noonan |
| Year of the Bull |
Aired on Showtime, Fall 2004 |
2001
|
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| Assisted Living |
Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature,
Slamdance 2003 |
| Blood Relations |
Directed by conceptual artist/photographer Jeannie Simms |
| Get Down or Lay Down |
Starring Beanie Siegal and Jay-Z |
| Hope |
Written and directed by Julia Dahl, based on her play Wonderland |
| Los Jodedores |
Shot on 35mm film on location in the Dominican Republic |
| New York Comedy Film Festival |
Directors included Janeane Garofalo, Caroline Rhea, David
Cross |
| Piggie |
Directed by Buffalo 66 writer Alison Bagnall, cast includes
John C. Reilly |
| Unscrewed |
Special Recognition, Golden Zenith Jury, 2004 Montreal Film
Festival |
| Wake Up and Smell the Coffee |
Starring Eric Bogosian |
2000
|
|
| Chelsea Walls |
Directed by Ethan Hawke, premiered at Cannes 2001 |
| Gymnast |
Directed by Oscar-nominee Edet Belzberg |
| Tadpole |
Best Director (Gary Winick), Sundance 2002 |
A-LIST
Directed by Shira-Lee Shalit, A-List is the story of a struggling Hollywood actor/waiter. A-List stars newcomer Damon Shalit as well as Academy-Award nominee Sally Kirkland (Anna, Bruce Almighty), Daphne Zuniga (Melrose Place, Spaceballs), Joanna Garcia (American Pie 2), Peter Dobson (Forrest Gump), and Sam Pancake (Legally Blonde). It also features cameos from David Carradine (Kill Bill), Renee Taylor (The Nanny), Leigh Taylor Young (Picket Fences), and Shelly Winters.
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ASSISTED LIVING
(Grand Jury Prize, Slamdance 2003)
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the
2003 Slamdance Film Festival, this film by director Elliot
Greenebaum assumes many documentary techniques and gains much
of its effect from a constant mix of documentary footage and fictional
narrative scenes. Aside from the primary actors, all of the people
interviewed or found in the mise-en-scene are actual residents
of the "assisted living" facility where the film was shot. Assisted
Living also won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize
at the 2003 Gen Art Film Festival and the prize for Best Feature
Film at the 2003 Woodstock Film Festival. It was released
in theaters in early 2005.
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AUGUST IN THE EMPIRE STATE
August in the Empire State is a documentary about the Republican National Convention in New York. Using the build-up to the RNC in New York City as the engine driving the story forward, the film follows three New Yorkers with different perspectives into the heart of this historic event. The film tracks Cheri Honkala, the national coordinator of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign; Paul Rodriguez, a New York City Young Republican running for Congress from the 12th District; and Michelle Goldberg, a Salon.com journalist reporting on both sides of the political spectrum during the week's defining events. August in the Empire State is directed by Gabriel Rhodes, an accomplished documentary editor and indie filmmaker whose most recent film, "Anna is Being Stalked," was hailed by the Associated Press as "the best seven minutes of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival;" and Keefe Murren, a recent Fulbright Scholar who is also the Festival Coordinator for the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival.
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BLOOD IN THE SAND
Blood in the Sand is a quirky, comic samurai epic that
follows Chris, a young samurai, as he is thrust into his first
mission: to protect a beautiful girl whose whole family died at
the hands of evil ninjas. The film was shot for $15,000 in 24
days and stars Jessica Wexler (Everwood) along with five
up-and-comers from the Juilliard School. It was written, produced,
and directed by Sam Gold and Noah Haidle. Sam is the Assistant
Director and Dramaturg at the Wooster Group and Noah is the Lila
Acheson Wallace playwright-in-residence at Juilliard.
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BLOOD RELATIONS
Blood Relations was directed by Jeannie Simms, a Los
Angeles based filmmaker and conceptual artist/photographer whose
film, video, and photographic works have been shown nationally.
She teaches photography at Calarts in Valencia, CA.
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CHARLIE'S PARTY
(CineVegas 2005)
A first feature by Catherine Cahn, Charlie's Party features Sabrina Lloyd (from NBC's Ed), Nancy Anne Ridder (Storytelling, Scream), Chris Tardio (Analyze That), and others. Executive Producer Barry Sisson produced The Station Agent, winner of the Audience Award at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
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CHELSEA WALLS
(Director's Fortnight, Cannes 2001)
Ethan
Hawkes' directorial debut, Chelsea Walls was shot
by cinematographer Tom Richmond (Slums of Beverly Hills, Palindromes,
Stand and Deliver). The cast includes Kevin Corrigan,
Robert Sean Leonard, Kris Kristofferson, Uma Thurman, Marissa
Tomei and Frank Whaley. Chelsea Walls was an Official
Selection of the Director's Fortnight at the 2001 Cannes Film
Festival.
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DELIVERY BOY CHRONICLES
Delivery Boy Chronicles is director Stacey Childer's
comedy about a group of twenty-something food-delivery drivers
living in Atlanta and trying to figure out what to do with their
lives. As they try to move beyond delivering food, they discover
that "selling out" is not about taking the steady or corporate
route, but about diverging from their true beliefs. Stacey has
directed other film shorts and was named Film Student of the Year
in 1997. The film was shot on 35mm film and the cast includes
recording artist Shawn Mullins.
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DELIVERY METHOD
The second feature of award-winning director Josh Apter tells
the parallel stories of Gus and Jessie, two troubled young adults
trying to find themselves and eventually each other in New York
City.
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DEVIL YOU KNOW
Devil You Know stars Lena Olin as Kathryn Vale, a reclusive ex-movie star with a dark secret she will go to any lengths to protect. When Kathryn receives an offer for the role that could spark her comeback, an anonymous blackmailer threatens this last chance at personal fulfillment. A psychological thriller set and shot in New York City, Devil You Know was shot on Super 16. The film also stars Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day), Dean Winters (Rescue Me), and Molly Price (Third Watch).
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DIRTY THREE
Shot entirely on the west coast of Canada and the United States, Dirty Three follows the last North American tour of the acclaimed Australian band. Transcending the typical "tour film" structure, this feature-length documentary combines live performance, verite footage and exclusive interviews with the band to provide a cinematic mediation on the nature and moods of touring itself: landscape, geography, time and the road. Dirty Three is co-directed and produced by Braden King.
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DOG SWEAT
Dog Sweat is written and directed by Hossein Keshavarz and is about ten Tehranis whose lives intersect when the supply of illicit alcohol (dog sweat) is interrupted by the US war in Iraq. Dog Sweat is a provocative examination of youth in Iran and an Islamic system that can not control their irrepressible energy.
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EVERGREEN
(Dramatic Competition, Sundance 2004)
The first feature from award-winning writer and short-filmmaker Enid Zentenlis, Evergreen was a project of the Sundance Lab in 2000. The film screened in the Dramatic Competition of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, won the Best Director prize at the 2004 Sonoma Film Festival, and was distributed in AMC Theaters nationwide. Evergreen is about a young woman and her mother as they struggle with poverty and each other in a small town of the Pacific Northwest.
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THE NEW 20 (formerly titled FAST COMPANY)
Fast Company is an ensemble comedy/drama about
five tight-knit college friends whose enduring group dynamic is
challenged when two of its members announce their engagement.
Starring Nicole Bilderback (Clueless), Ryan Locke (American
Gun), Terry Serpico (The Departed), Karen Olivo
(Rent), Andrew Wei Lin ("Alias") and Colin
Fickes (Roger Dodger), the film depicts their respective
New York City experiences with a vivid emotional realism. As the
disintegration of the group become inevitable, this once inseparable
family begins to grapple with how to salvage friendships from
the remains of a family.
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FINISHING HEAVEN
Finishing Heaven is directed by Mark Mann and produced
by David & Laurie Shapiro who are well known for their documentary, Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale (Independent Spirit Awards 2001 & Amsterdam International
Documentary Film Festival 2000). Finishing Heaven is
a story about a man attempting to finish a film he shot 37 years
ago titled, Heaven. Martin Scorsese was one of Feinberg's
instructors at NYU and a producer on the film. The film stars
many of Andy Warhol's “Factory People” such as: Holly
Woodlawn, Mary Woronov, Ondine and Ruby Lynn Reiner.
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FIRST-TIME CALLER
Directed by Daily Show producer Paul
Sullivan, First-Time Caller stars David Alan Basche
(NBC's Three Sisters), Chris Elliot (There's Something
About Mary, Groundhog Day), Siobhan Fallon (Saturday
Night Live, Men in Black), and Fred Willard (Waiting
for Guffman, Best in Show, Anchorman).
Co-writer Ted Sullivan writes for As the World Turns
and One Life to Live and has received Emmy for outstanding
writing in television.
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FROZEN RIVER
(Grand Jury Prize, Best Narrative Feature, Sundance 2008 )
Frozen River, starring Melissa Lo (21 Grams, The L-Word) takes place on a Mohawk Reservation which straddles the border of Canada and The United States. Set in this real-life smuggling zone the lure of fast money presents a daily challenge to single moms who would otherwise be making minimum wage. Ray, a white woman with a car and Lila, a Mohawk woman who knows the backroads and smuggling routes, find themselves thrown together by desperate circumstances and team up to risk their lives for the money they make running illegal aliens from Canada to the US. In their quest for a better life they must confront themselves and each other and decide - ultimately - if the money is worth the risk.
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GARBAGE DREAMS
Garbage Dreams is a feature documentary that celebrates the richness, strength and vitality of Egypt's community of indigenous garbage collectors, known as the Zaballeen or “garbage people.” For generations, The Zaballeen, have created a vibrant enterprise, perfecting recycling techniques that are emulated the world over. 60,000 Zaballeen collect and recycle one third of Cairo’s garbage, over 3,000 tons a day. Now the city they keep clean is replacing them with multinational garbage disposal companies, leaving the Zaballeen in a fight for their survival – and their lives.
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THE GARAGE
The Garage is a coming-of-age story, set in 1977 small-town
America. Two best friends, Matt and Schultz, are trying to get
out of the town they grew up in but finding that leaving is more
difficult than they realized. The film was shot on 35mm film on
location in Lockhart, Texas. It was written and directed by Carl
Thibault, an actor on stage, screen, and television who started
his career playing the Wolf Man in The Monster Squad.
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GET DOWN OR LAY DOWN
Directed by noted music video director Abdul Abbot and produced by Rock-a-Fella productions. Distributed by Lions Gate Films, the film stars Beanie Siegal and Jay-Z.
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GREAT WORLD OF SOUND
Based on a true story, Great World of Sound follows Martin, a recent transplant to Charlotte, NC, who answers an ad for a job as a "record producer" for a small local label. At the Great World of Sound Record Label, Martin meets Clarence, his new partner, with whom he will travel the country seeking hot, unsigned talent. As record producers, Martin and Clarence have been trained to audition anyone with gusto and a demo-reel—signing the ones with talent and, for a nominal fee, rerecording reels for those who are truly "committed to their careers." With the dream of signing the Next Big Thing, Martin and Clarence hit the road. They meet early success, make good money, and begin their ascent to the top—only as they draw nearer, they begin to see the cracks...
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GYMNAST
(2005 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival)
Academy-Award-nominated director Edet Belzberg (Children Underground) spent two years following the top three gymnasts in America. She had total access to their lives, which allowed for powerful scenes of the athletes with their coaches, parents and peers at school as well as the drama of major gymnastic competitions and the injuries that ensued. Gymnast premiered at the 2005 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.
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HEAD TRAUMA
Head Trauma is written and directed by Lance Weiler,
a critically acclaimed, award-winning writer/director who Wired
Magazine called “one of 25 people helping to re-invent
entertainment and change the face of Hollywood.” His first
feature, The Last Broadcast, is currently being distributed
in over 20 countries. It recently finished a run on HBO and is
now airing on IFC. Head Trauma is the story of George
Walker, an alcoholic drifter, who returns home to settle his grandmother's
estate only to find her house condemned and inhabited by squatters.
While clearing out the house, George strikes his head and begins
experiencing vivid nightmares. As elements from George's nightmares
begin to cross over into his reality, he becomes convinced that
someone or something is trying to kill him.
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HOME
(Special Jury Award, Silverdocs 2005)
Home is the story of Sheree Farmer, a single mother of
six, as she tries to leave Newark public housing and buy her first
home. Sheree has a good job, and she doesn't drink, doesn't smoke,
and doesn't do drugs. Still, working full-time and raising six
children alone in a drug-infested, crime-ridden, and gang-controlled
neighborhood is overwhelming, and we see the toll it takes on
her. Throughout the film, and up until the very end, it is never
clear whether Sheree is going to get the house. Home
is directed by Jeffrey
Togman, a professor of political science at Seton Hall University.
It won a Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Silverdocs Film Festival
and played in the 2005 Margaret Meade Film Festival at New York
City's Museum of Natural History.
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HOPE
Written and directed by Julia Dahl, the film is based on Julia's
play Wonderland, which was produced Off-Broadway at the
American Place Theatre in 1999. Julia was also the consulting
producer and writer of Fox's Golden Globe Award winning series
Party of Five. Julia has written several other feature
films and is a writer on NBC's Emmy-Award-winning The West
Wing.
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IF I DIDN'T CARE
If I Didn't Care ... is a love-triangle thriller set in the bleak off-season of the Hamptons. It is the story of Davis Meyers, a trophy husband, who lives alone in eastern Long Island while his wife (Noelle Beck) is away at work. Davis wants to have children, but his wife isn't interested—so he takes up with a mistress, the unassuming Hadley Templeton (Susan Misner). On a dark winter night, Hadley plots to kill the wife—killing the Meyers' maid when she mistakes her for Mrs. Meyers. Confused and relieved, Davis resolves to get his life back on track—a difficult task, as he must contend with a crazed mistress devoted to finishing the job, and the family of the maid seeking vengeance for the murder of their sister.
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IN LOVE
In Love chronicles a series of nine relationships, following
the development of each over time and exploring the roles that
age and circumstance play in the evolution of each. Delving
into the lives of characters ranging from age four to age 80,
the film examines the forces of nature that bring some people
together while driving others apart. In Love is
written and directed by Greg Levins, who graduated from Tisch
School of the Arts in 1997. Greg's other writing credits
include Manmade, which was co-written with In Love
producer Melissa Levins and optioned by Curbside Pictures;
Apartment for Rent and Nobody's Hero.
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IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER
The first feature from actor-writer-director Christopher Jaymes (co-producer, star of It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Trying), In Memory of My Father is the story of what happens with the youngest son of the legendary Hollywood producer accepts his father's bribe to document his father's death. The film stars Judy Greer (13 Going on 30), Jeremy Sisto (Six Feet Under), and Matt Keesler (Waiting for Guffman).
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JACKIE 60
A full-length documentary record of the last 40 weeks of Jackie 60, a weekly party for dominant women, poets, gay men and lesbians, free-thinking heterosexuals, transvestites and transsexuals, fetish dressers, bisexuals, and those who love them. Shot on mini-DV and directed by Jack Gulick (producer of the Grammy-nominated Blood Brothers: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Mariah Carey: Around the World, among others). Scenes from the film are currently featured at the Museum of Sex in New York City.
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LOS JODEDORES
Written and directed by Eddy Duran, takes place partially in New York and partially on location in the Dominican Republic. The movie was shot on 35 mm film.
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KAATERSKILL FALLS
(Critic's Prize, 2001 Los Angeles Film Festival)
Josh Apter and Peter Olsen, both NYU film school grads, co-directed
Kaaterskill Falls. The film, which was primarily an improvised
project, was shot on 16mm film. Kaaterskill Falls won
the Critic's Prize at the 2001 Los Angeles Film Festival and was
nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards.
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MANHATTAN, KANSAS
(Audience Award, SXSW 2006)
Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative FeatureManhattan, Kansas is a first-person documentary chronicling the month-long reunion between a mentally unbalanced woman and her estranged daughter. The film takes place on the outskirts of a dying rural town, in a broken down estate called "Seraphim House" where there's a burning bush in the front yard and the closest neighbor just turned 100. The film, produced and directed by Tara Wray, is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and recent recipient of a grant from The Anthony Radziwill Documentary Fund, administered through IFP/New York.
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THE MISSING PERSON
Writer/director Noah Buschel’s third feature, The Missing Person, starts Michael Shannon (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Revolutionary Road) as private detective John Rosow. Hired to tail a man from Chicago to Los Angeles, Rosow gradually uncovers the man’s identity as a missing person — one of the thousands presumed dead after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The movie co-stars Academy Award-nominee Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone, “The Office”) and Frank Wood (Michael Clayton; Synecdoche, New York) and features a strong supporting cast including Margaret Colin (“Gossip Girl”), Yul Vazquez (American Gangster), and John Ventimiglia (“The Sopranos”).
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MOVING MIDWAY
Moving Midway is the story of two Southern families—those who owned the historic Midway, and those who built it—tied to the plantation's buildings and land by blood and history. Since its construction in 1848, unchecked suburban sprawl has begun encroaching on Midway, leaving its current owner and heir no choice but to move it. And though the purpose of the move is to preserve Midway's history, the relocation calls into question the very nature of the home's identity. What will it become in its new location? Will it still be a plantation? Grappling with slavery and race, roots and relocation, we will follow Midway to its new home—discovering what "home" truly entails.
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THE MUDGE BOY
(Dramatic Competition, Sundance 2003)
A modern American fable written and directed by Michael Burke (whose short film, "Fishbelly White," won the Special Jury Award at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival). In this 35mm feature, the sudden death of his mother sends small town misfit Duncan and his pet chicken on a strange and dangerous search for acceptance and love. A dark but often funny portrait of adolescence, The Mudge Boy is the story of a father and a son who lose the most important person in their lives but ultimately find each other. Produced by Stanley Tucci for Showtime, the film premiered in the dramatic competition of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by Strand Releasing.
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THE NEW YORK COMEDY FILM FESTIVAL
As a special presentation of the 2001 New York Comedy Film Festival, a number of comedians brought their shorts to the Edit Center, where students worked alongside directors preparing each film for its world premiere at Irving Plaza. Comedians included Janeane Garofolo, Chevy Chase, David Cross, Caroline Rhea, and others.
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NO ROOM FOR GROCERIES
“A friend will help you move, but a best friend will help you move a body,” Stevie reminds his best friend Nick in Michael Mosley's No Room For Groceries, a
dark comedy written by stand-up comedian Jim Pietragallo. NRFG stars Jesse Steccato as the neurotic and attention deficient Stevie Goldner, an accountant who leads his pal through the streets of Phoenix searching simply for a place to dump a body and a low salt meal. Shot entirely on location by Director of Photography Eric Billman, No Room For Groceries is Anti-Establishment Productions' debut film. Director Michael Mosley has been seen as an actor on Law & Order: SVU, Hack, Third Watch, and numerous independent films (including Swimmers, an Official Selection of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival).
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PERIPHERY
“Periphery explores the inevitable challenge of adopting a life of drugs and recognizing the dismal consequences of drug addiction. Reeling from the experience of losing his mother to heroin at the age of 10, Sean Smith, a.k.a. Smitty, had no choice but to run drugs for his uncle Lefty for the last several years. A prep school senior, he decides to do one last drug run across the US/Mexico border for his uncle before heading to college. But what should be closure on a misguided life turns into an electrifying series of rocky events capsizing into a climax with calamitous results.
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PETER & VANDY
Peter and Vandy is a romantic drama that follows a young Manhattan couple through their break up and then to through their ultimate reconciliation. The story is told out of order and jumps back and forth through the couple’s time together and apart. It is written and directed by Jay DiPitrio and is based on Jay’s off-Broadway play of the same name, which was nominated for a Drama Desk award for Best Play. It was shot by DP Frankie DeMarch (Shortbus, Hedwig) on super-16mm film and stars Jess Wexler (Teeth) stars as Vandy, with Jason Ritter (Happy Endings) as Peter.
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PIGGIE
(2003 Los Angeles Film Festival)
The cast of Piggie (originally titled This Little Piggy) includes Robert Burke (Trust) and John C. Reilly (Magnolia). The film was written and directed by Alison Bagnall, who also co-wrote the feature Buffalo 66, starring Vincent Gallo and Christina Ricci. The film premiered at the 2003 Los Angeles Film Festival.
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THE PIT
Starting in 2005, filmmaker Johanna Lee spent six months working as a clerk in the coffee pit on the floor of the NYBOT, where she learned about the world of open outcry trading. The relationships she developed with the traders, and her status as a clerk on the exchange enabled her to bring cameras on the floor for the very first time. What she captures is an inside glimpse of the drama and competition for survival, where streetwise Brooklyn guys become multi-millionaires and Ivy League hotshots try to make it big.
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RED DOORS
(Best Narrative Feature, Tribeca 2005)
Red Doors follows the lives of the Wongs, a bizarrely
dysfunctional Chinese-American family living in the Connecticut
suburbs (think Eat Drink Man Woman meets American
Beauty). Red Doors weaves the director's authentic home video
footage from the past twenty years into a fictionalized narrative
of a contemporary Chinese-American family. Director Georgia
Lee has previously directed five short films and in 2000 was
selected by Martin Scorsese to serve as his apprentice on Gangs
of New York. Red Doors won Best Narrative Feature
in the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival and was also given a Special
Jury Award for Ensemble Acting at the 2005 Cinevegas Film Festival.
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ROOM
(Director's Fortnight, Cannes 2005; Frontier Selection, Sundance 2005)
Room, which screened in the Frontier category of the
2005 Sundance Film Festival at in the Director's Fortnight of
the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, dramatizes the mid-life crisis
journey of a working class American woman as she travels from
her daytime Houston worries into the woods of a Grimm's fairy
tale New York City at twilight. The film was produced by The 7th
Floor with executive producers Michael Stipe and Jim McKay. Director
Kyle
Henry's feature film debut, American Cowboy, a documentary
about a gay rodeo champ, won a student Academy Award in 1998.
His short, "N.EW Y.ORK C.ASINO," won the Best Experimental
Short Film award at South by Southwest in 2003.
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RUFUS WAINWRIGHT IN CONCERT
A concert film and behind-the-scenes documentary chronicling the California leg of Rufus Wainwright's 2002 tour. The film was directed by Andrew Marcus (editor of A Home at the End of the World, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Much Ado About Nothing, The Remains of the Day, and others).
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THE RECRUITER (formerly titled The Army Recruiter)
The Army Recruiter is a feature-length documentary that travels to the Louisiana coast to capture a phenomenon now occurring throughout the United States—the U. S. Army channeling intense effort into the recruitment of new soldiers. Shot in vérité style, the film follows Staff Sergeant Clay Usie, currently the Army's single most successful recruiting officer, as he prepares four recent recruits to make the transition from student to soldier. The Army Recruiter is directed by Oscar-nominated director Edet Belzberg.
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THE SISTER
A supernatural thriller by director J.P. Walsh staring Patrick McCartney (Conan O'Brian, Saturday Night Live, The Second City theater troupe), Kate Walsh (The Fugitive, The Drew Carey Show), and Amy Pohler (Mean Girls, Saturday Night Live). It chronicles the life of Jacky Penniman as he loses touch with reality in New York's Chinatown, becoming lost in an inner torment of family, guilt and memory. Guided by the ghost of a mysterious little girl, Jacky learns that there is only one way out of hell -- straight through it. J.P Walsh is a writer, painter, set-designer, and filmmaker whose previous short films include "Jade Afternoon" and "Pastorale," both shot in San Francisco.
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SKATOPIA
Skatopia is a documentary which takes place on “88 Acres of Anarchy.” Led by Brewce (“our Jim Jones”), a group of skaters pitched in to build a multi-million dollar skatepark in the middle of Appalachia on a former pot farm. Thus created the Disneyland of hardcore skateboard parks with the freedom to do whatever you want. Peel back the layers of testosterone and you reveal a real community -- but leave your stereotypes at the gate.
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SORRY, THANKS
Sorry, Thanks is a film about real relationships—ambiguous, underwhelming, incidental—and the people who change us ... then exit just as quickly. We meet Kira at the tail-end of a one night stand with Max, who she later discovers has a serious girlfriend. Max, a guy of intermittent charm and dutiful deadpan perspective, knows enough to know he should feel bad for his transgression, but struggles with an otherwise clear choice. Sorry, Thanks is a portrait of passive derailments and tortured decisions.
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SPEEDO
(Audience Award, Full Frame 2003; POV Series-PBS Channel)
Winner of the Audience Award at the 2003 Full Frame Documentary film Festival, the Jury Prize at the 2003 Newport Film Festival, and the Grand Jury Prize at the 2003 Boston Independent Film Festival, Speedo is a verite documentary by director Jesse Moss that has premiered in competition at the 2003 South by Southwest Film Festival. The film chronicles the tumultuous life and racing career of Ed "Speedo" Jager, one of the country's top demolition derby drivers.
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STEPHIN MERRITT AND THE MAGNETIC FIELDS
Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields is a feature-length documentary that follows 10 years in the lives of a classic, American songwriter and his long-time collaborator Claudia Gonson. Through concert tours, home recordings and triumphant shows at major venues like Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, the inner workings of an iconoclastic collaboration is detailed.
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SUPERHEROES
Superheroes is the story of the relationship between two Americans: A wounded Iraqi War veteran who struggles to live with the psychological and physical scars of battle, and the aspiring filmmaker who accompanies him to a cabin in the Catskills to document his story. A month before his ten-year Army Reserves stint expires, Ben Patchett (Dash Mihok, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Thin Red Line) learns that his unit has been selected for deployment to Iraq. Never expecting to actually go to war, Ben and his comrades enter battle ill-prepared for its physical and psychological demands. Ben does return home alive, but he is a shell of his former self: traumatized, injured, and in the middle of a divorce, with nowhere to go but to his childhood home to live with his parents.
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SWIMMERS
(Best
New American Film, 2005 Seattle Film Festival)
Swimmers is the second film from writer-director Doug
Sadler and was featured in the American Spectrum section of the
2005 Sundance Film Festival. Swimmers was part of the
2002 Sundance Lab and stars Tony-award-winner Cherry Jones (Erin
Brockovitch, The Perfect Storm). The film is the
story of a small Maryland fishing town where a way of life is
dying, a family is imploding, and a young girl is discovering
that life can never be the same.
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SWING STATE
As Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Most national political analysts believe that the road to the White House in 2008 runs directly through the Ohio State House in 2006—which means that all Americans, not just Ohioans, should have their eye on Ohio Governor's race November 7, 2006. Both parties know that whoever wins the race for Governor in 2006 begins the 2008 presidential race with a pivotal advantage—and with Republican corruption and scandal at its peak and voter satisfaction at lows we haven't seen since '94, the race gets more divisive every day.
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TADPOLE
(Best Director, Sundance 2002)
Directed by Gary Winick, stars Sigourney Weaver, Bebe Neuwirth and John Ritter. Winick's directing credits include 13 Going on 30, Sweet Nothing, and The Tic Code. Tadpole won the Best Director prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up for distribution by Miramax Films.
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TEN STORIES TALL
Ten Stories Tall, starring Ally Sheedy (High Art, The Breakfast Club), is an ensemble story about two New York families struggling with overwhelming loss. The families’ roots run deep in the city, and their trials run from the catastrophic to the mundane in the midst of huge loss and grief, they must carry on with their daily lives. Inspired by Thornton Wilder’s, Our Town, Ten Stories Tall examines how we react to loss and what we must to do to survive it.
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TRUCKER
Stars Michelle Monaghan (Mission: Impossible III & Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) as Diane, an attractive, headstrong female trucker who leads a carefree life until the night her estranged 11-year-old son shows up at her door. After years of estrangement, Diane must take him in when his father, Len is hospitalized. Nathan Fillion (Waitress & Serenity) plays Diane's friend, who cannot have children of his own, and becomes a father figure to the child. Benjamin Bratt (The Woodsman & Miss Congeniality) is in the role of Len and Joey Lauren Adams (The Break-Up & Chasing Amy) plays Len's fiancé.
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THE UNDERSTUDY
(Best Original Score, Avignon Film Festival 2008)
Set during a Broadway production of Electra, the film follows the fortunes of Rebecca, a struggling actress living in Brooklyn. Rebecca accepts a job as understudy to movie star, Simone Harris, who is playing the title role. A convenient bout of the flu thrusts Rebecca into the spot light, and she takes over for Simone on the first night of previews. Rebecca shines in the role. Simone's flu passes and she is ready to give her all in front of the critics. After a brief taste of stardom Rebecca is not ready to give up the limelight so fast and goes to extreme measures to make sure she doesn't have to.
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UNSCREWED
(Special Recognition, Golden Zenith Jury, 2004 Montreal Film Festival)
A mockumentary about commerce and the cure for sexual dysfunction. Directed by Leslie Shearing, it follows Mary and Joe St. John, a happily married young couple, in their journey to fix the one area of their relationship that is lacking: their sex life. The film received Special Recognition from the Golden Zenith Jury at the 2004 Montreal Film Festival. Tommy Schnurmacher of CJAD Radio in Montreal called it "a satire as brilliant as it is biting" and Variety said it is a "genuinely funny mockumentary...forthright without being lubricious...audiences will lap it up." Unscrewed was released theatrically in February of 2005.
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WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE
Directed by Michael Rausch and starring Eric Bogosian, this feature was shot on DV-Cam. It screened on the Independent Film Channel in January of 2004.
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WANG DANG
Actor-writer-director Tom Noonan's third film, based on his intimate, real-time play of the same name. Shot three times on mini-DV, this documentary-style film lingers in a motel room as a down-on-his-luck filmmaker and professor spends a nervous evening with an ambitious film student and her actress friend. Noonan's What Happened Was won the Grand Jury Prize for best film and the Waldo Salt Award for best screenplay at the 1994 Sundance Film Fesetival.
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WHAT
GOES ON
What Goes On is a musical variety show filmed as an antidote
to fast-cut mainstream pop videos. Each act was filmed and recorded
live with no overdubs in a setting that will enable viewers and
listeners to focus on the musical and visual aspects of the performers
without the distractions MTV-style productions. What Goes
On is the first directorial effort from directors Lee and
Margaret Chabowski, both musicians who share a desire to document
and portray gifted musical acts that fall outside current perceived
mainstream marketability.
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YEAR OF THE BULL
(CineVegas 2003)
Shot on Super 16 and DV-CAM over the course of eighteen months,
director Todd Lubin gained unprecedented access to a family and
community rarely seen by American audiences in this feature-length
documentary about the Northwestern Bulls, a flagship high school
football team in Liberty City. Year of the Bull won Best
Documentary at the 2004 Sonoma Film Festival and screened on Showtime
in the fall of 2004. "This 'Gridiron Dreams,' though painted
in a smaller canvas, is rich in the same unfettered observations
about high school athletics and the unexpected import they can
carry," wrote Variety of the film.
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YOU BELONG TO ME
You Belong To Me is a psychological thriller about an overbearing landlady, Gladys, whose maternal instincts turn deadly. Exasperated with his relationship and roommate, Jeffrey takes a new apartment. But the longer he lives there, the weirder it gets: in addition to the usual neighborly noises, there is an increasing number of unusual ones. When Jeffrey awakes one morning, groggy, to find himself chained up in Gladys' apartment, he realizes that his suspicions about his landlady are true—she's an absolute psychopath. As he contemplates his escape, it suddenly dawns on him: her unexpected visits, the casseroles, the unsolicited handywork—Gladys yearns to be a provider. "The key to his survival, though, isn't resistance; instead, Jeffrey must convince Gladys that he belongs to her..."
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