Joan Stein

Joan L. Stein, a 2000 MFA graduate of the Columbia University School of the Arts Film Division, has won two major awards: the Gold Medal for best narrative film at Sunday's 27th Annual Student Academy Awards and the Directors Guild of America's Student Film Award for her Columbia Masters Thesis film, "One Day Crossing."

Stein said, "I feel so honored to receive these two awards. My film, One Day Crossing, has great personal resonance for me because it is inspired by experiences of my family. The recognition it has received confirms my belief that it is important for filmmakers to choose subjects that they care deeply about."

Both of Stein's parents and members of her extended family survived World War II in Budapest. "Although the film is a work of fiction, the story behind it stems from experiences very close to my heart," said Stein. "I never really understood the inexpressible shadow that the Holocaust cast over me my whole life. The film is an attempt to make some sense of the experience for those who survived and those who didn't."

The Student Academy Award, accompanied by a $2,000 cash grant, was presented by actor-comedian Harold Ramis in a ceremony Sunday, June 11, 2000, at the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, California. The honor was accepted on behalf of Stein by her collaborator on the film, screenwriter and recent Columbia Film Division graduate, Christina Lazaridi MFA '98. Stein was unable to attend the ceremony because she is expecting her first child this summer.

As part of her Directors Guild of America's Student Film Award, Stein will receive a $1,000 grant and complete a 13-week apprenticeship with an established film director.

Through the Student Academy Awards, a national competition, the Academy recognizes and encourages this country's most promising new filmmakers. Past winners include Spike Lee, Trey Parker and Oscar winners John Lasseter and Robert Zemeckis.

Each year more than 300 college and university film students from all over the United States compete for awards and cash grants. Films are judged in four categories: animation, documentary, narrative and alternative. An outstanding student filmmaker from outside the U. S. is honored each year as well.

Bruce Ferguson, dean of the School of the Arts, said, "It is a tremendous struggle to be a film student. The work is difficult and the costs, financial and psychological, are many. To be rewarded in this way at this level is proof that it is worth it and that our program works. We are as delighted as Joan is honored."

Stein entered the graduate film program in Columbia University's School of the Arts with no prior training as a filmmaker or director.

"All I had was a little experience as an actress in college. I was starting from ground zero," she said. Stein, who attended Rutgers and received her MBA from Georgetown, enrolled in Columbia's film program following a three-year stint in Hungary as a business consultant. It was while working in Budapest for an American firm that Stein's life took a turn. The Bosnian War broke out in the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and she learned of the atrocities taking place only a few hours away. "I felt compelled to do something," she said. She began volunteering on weekends at the refugee camps and eventually decided that making films might be the best way for her to have a positive effect on what was happening in the world.

Stein's One Day Crossing tells the story of a young family living in Budapest during the last phase of World War II. At that time Hungarian Jews were under the terror not only of the 'Nazi foreign villains' but also the 'Arrow Cross' -- Hungary's indigenous Nazi movement. The 25-minute film movingly recreates the world and moral choices confronted by Teresa, a young woman who poses as a Christian to protect her family.

Stein conceived of One Day Crossing as a collaborative project and won the 1999 Polo Ralph Lauren Development Award (a $10,000 grant given in conjunction with the annual Columbia University Film Festival) to develop the idea. She enlisted two fellow students to work with her: Lazaridi, who wrote the script, and Karen Severns, who produced (also a Film Division alumna SOA'99).

Stein and Lazaridi conducted numerous interviews with Holocaust survivors and did extensive research into the period as preparation for writing the project. The film (in Hungarian with English subtitles) was shot in Budapest with an international production team and Hungarian actors on an eight-day schedule.

One Day Crossing was also selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art for inclusion in the prestigious New Directors/New Films series (it was one of 11 short films selected from a field of more than 400). In addition, Stein's film was named Best Film of the Columbia University Film Festival and awarded a prize by the National Board of Review.