Professor Annette Insdorf Receives Mel Novikoff Award

By
Daphne Palasi Andreades
April 05, 2018

The San Francisco Film Festival has named Film Professor Annette Insdorf winner of The Mel Novikoff Award for 2018. The Mel Novikoff Award, named after the art and repertory film exhibitor Mel Novikoff, recognizes “an individual or institution whose work has enhanced the filmgoing public's knowledge and appreciation of world cinema.” At Columbia University, Professor Insdorf teaches MFA Film students and served as the Director of Undergraduate Film Studies for twenty-seven years. She received the Award for Excellence in Teaching from Columbia's School of General Studies in 2008. Professor Insdorf had published several acclaimed books, most recently, Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes (Columbia University Press) and Intimations: The Cinema of Wojciech Has (Northwestern University Press), which were both published in 2017.

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According to the San Francisco Film Festival’s website, “Annette Insdorf has made an indelible impact on the state of filmic discourse as an educator, festival juror, in-demand interviewer, television personality and producer. For the past thirty years, her ability to illuminate the complex relationship between film and viewer has lit the pathway for readers, and viewers, the world over to appreciate and understand great cinema.”  

The festival will run from April 4-17, and the award will be presented to Insdorf on April 14th, 1 P.M., at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Phyllis Wattis Theater. Insdorf will be in an onstage conversation, which will be followed by a screening of Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 film, To Be or Not to Be.

Insdorf was also interviewed by Adam Schartoff of Filmwax Radio, where the two discussed Insdorf’s latest book, Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes, as well as directors like Philip Kaufman, Paul Schrader, and Columbia Film Professor Eric Mendelsohn; various critics such as Roger Ebert and Pauline Kael; and Insdorf’s favorite movies and festivals, including the Telluride Film Festival and the Jerusalem Film Festival.

This week, Insdorf was also featured in Forbes Magazine’s Women@Forbes column, where she spoke with Jeryl Brunner about how to turn one’s passion into a career. Indorf said, “For me, the greatest works of art, and the noblest individuals inspire empathy and/or forgiveness. Every human being is alternately vulnerable, resilient, and worthy, at the very least, of a sympathetic gaze. It's unlikely that any of us will change the world. But if we each try to improve life for those around us, what a great start.”