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| Vol. 24., No. 12 | January 21, 1999 |
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| Vol. 24., No. 12 | January 21, 1999 |
Columbia Has Largest Film School Contingent at Screenwriters Lab
BY ULRIKA BRAND
Building on its reputation as one of the principal training grounds for independent filmmakers in the country, the Film Division in Columbia's School of the Arts will have a strong presence later this month in the 1999 Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab and Film Festival.
Six Columbia filmmakers-five recent alumni and one currently enrolled student- will participate in the events, considered the leading showcase for independent film in the United States.
Among the highlights for Columbians will be Tony Gerber's "Side Streets," the first feature film to make its North American debut at the Sundance Film Festival this month. A butcher trapped in a meat locker is forced to thaw his frozen inner self: this character, who is at the center of the film, was developed by Gerber in a directing class in Columbia's Film Division.
"Side Streets"-which tells the story of the cold-hearted butcher, along with other tales of New York City-will be shown in the American Spectrum Program. Columbia will also be represented by two directors with short films. Amy Talkington's "Second Skin" and Lisa Collins's "Tree Shade" will screen in the Shorts Program during the Festival in Park City, Utah, Jan. 21-31, 1999.
Columbia screenwriters Tanya Hamilton, Perry Lin and Patrick Stettner will take part in the Sundance Institute's Screenwriters Lab, from Jan. 15-20.
Since Robert Redford founded the nonprofit Sundance Film Institute in 1981, its annual Festival has played a key role in bringing new films and their makers to the attention of an international audience. Last year, Columbia Film alumna Lisa Cholodenko's feature "High Art" caused a stir at the Festival, and her lead actress Ally Sheedy has just been named Best Actress of 1998 by the National Society of Film Critics.
The Sundance Institute's Labs have helped launch the careers of many significant filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, Tamara Jenkins, and James Mangold (a Columbia Film alumnus).
"Our graduate film program at Columbia is designed to nurture the voice of the individual and to engage our students in the independent film community," said Lewis Cole, chair of the Film Division. "We are therefore very pleased this year to receive Sundance's strong vote of confidence in the remarkable filmmakers coming out of our program. The support Sundance offers at a decisive moment in the career of an emerging filmmaker is invaluable, and we look forward to seeing the feature films that develop from the Screenwriters Lab."
Screenwriters Lab
Hamilton, Lin and Stettner are three of 12 individuals selected to develop their feature film projects in the Sundance Institute's Screenwriters Lab, and together they represent the highest concentration from any single graduate film school to participate in this program. Hamilton will develop her script "Stringbean and Marcus," about a 10-year-old girl investigating the death of her Black Panther father; Lin's screenplay, "Hell," is a psychological horror tale about Cuban expatriates in America, and Stettner's "The Business of Strangers" is a dark drama set in an airport hotel revolving around two businesswomen and their chance meeting with a rapist.
Alumnus' Feature Film Debut
"Side Streets," which will be shown in Sundance's American Spectrum program, is Film Division alumnus Tony Gerber's first feature film, and grew from a seed planted in a Columbia directing class taught by Paul Schrader (writer of "Taxi Driver" and director of the current "Affliction") in the early 90s.
Gerber described how he developed the theme for what eventually became his thesis film: "My mother was dying at the time and I spent a lot of time with her in the intensive care unit. She was cut off from the world. I wanted to channel my feelings about her experience and came up with the idea of a person who is alive on the outside but dead on the inside. Schrader suggested that I work through metaphor and I ended up creating a story around a ne'er-do-well Romanian butcher who is a real hustler. He runs around making deals, but he's dead on the inside. One day he is trapped in a meat locker and is forced to become alive on the inside-while he is frozen on the outside."
In "Side Streets," this character is played by David Vadim and his wife by Mirjana Jokovic, two of several international film stars Gerber attracted to act in the film.
This vignette of life in New York City is just one of five tales the filmmaker weaves together connecting distinct subcultures, including the stories of a West Indian couple in Brooklyn, an Indian family on Staten Island, a struggling Italian dress designer in SoHo and a Puerto Rican Romeo in the Bronx.
Gerber, who is from an Eastern-European Jewish family, collaborated with his wife, Lynn Nottage, a distinguished African-American playwright to tell these diverse stories. Gerber said it was not their intention to make a film with artificial devices, but that they were fascinated by the idea that five people can ride in the same subway car in New York City and come from different corners of the world.
When asked what impact showing his film at Sundance would have, Gerber said: "Simply being there is like getting a prize. It increases commercial interest in a film by a factor often."
Gerber maintains strong ties with Columbia's Film Division and also teaches screenwriting in the School of General Studies.
Short Films
Amy Talkington, currently enrolled in the Film Division, said it was a great honor to be included in the Sundance Festival. Her short film "Second Skin" is an odd love story about a boy, a girl and a snake. "Most festivals don't pay much attention to shorts, but Sundance treats all of their filmmakers with respect. They're well organized and they have it together," she said.
Lisa Collins's "Tree Shade," also included in the Shorts Program, is a stylistically sophisticated chronicle of the roots of a contemporary African-American woman. It provides insight into the lives of three different women in three different eras and has received a number of awards as well as winning Collins the 1998 Directors Guild of America Student Film Awards for Best African-American Filmmaker.