Columbia Filmmakers Head to 2019 Telluride Film Festival
Three films by Columbia filmmakers were selected to screen at the 46th Annual Telluride Film Festival, Mizaru, Night Swim, and Ford v Ferrari.
Mizaru, written & directed by current student Sudarshan Suresh, and Night Swim, written & directed by current student Victoria Rivera, co-written by current student Neda Jebelli, and produced by alumna Camila Zavala ’19, were among the short films selected to play in the festival’s Student Prints program.
Shot in one take, Mizaru tells the story of a young couple caught embracing in one of India’s public parks by a group of moral vigilantes on Valentine’s Day. As Suresh’s thesis film, Mizaru screened in the 2019 Columbia University Film Festival, where it took home the award for Best Film.
Mizaru was produced with funds from Columbia’s Katharina Otto-Bernstein production grant.
Night Swim is about teenage best friends Carson and Becca, whose night is shaken up when Becca’s daredevil friend Julie invites the girls to break into a public pool. Jealous of Julie’s burgeoning friendship with Becca, Carson reacts to a threat at the pool by choosing to leave Julie behind, a decision with scarring consequences.
Night Swim premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and received the award for Best Student Short at Palm Springs International ShortFest, as well as the Prix du Public at the Champs-Elysées Film Festival in Paris.
Suresh was also recently named among ‘25 New Faces of Independent Film’ by Filmmaker Magazine, as was alumna Barbara Cigarroa ‘19, for their contributions as emerging filmmakers.
Ford v Ferrari, a feature film directed by alumnus James Mangold ’99, was also selected to screen as part of Telluride’s main program. Produced by Twentieth Century Fox, Ford v Ferrari tells the true story of automotive designer Carroll Shelby (played by Matt Damon) and driver Ken Miles (played by Christian Bale), who teamed up on assignment from Henry Ford II to build a car that could compete with Ferrari’s Formula One cars at the 1966 Le Mans auto race.
Telluride Film Festival, which takes place over Labor Day weekend each year in the mountains of Telluride, Colorado, is widely recognized as a prestigious festival whose program often foreshadows awards season outcomes.