Several Filmmakers Honored by National Board of Review
Film alumnus Gregory Kershaw ’11, Associate Professor and Chair of the Creative Producing Concentration Maureen A. Ryan, and former staff member Lauren Domino have been recognized by the National Board of Review. Kershaw’s film The Truffle Hunters and Ryan’s film Dick Johnson is Dead were both finalists for Best Documentary 2020, and Domino’s film Time won in the same category.
Established in 1909, the National Board of Review is dedicated to supporting cinema as both art and entertainment. The Board consists of select film enthusiasts, filmmakers, film professionals, and academics, who view over 250 films annually, and, after discussions with directors, actors, producers, and screenwriters, name their selections for best work of the year in late November.
The Truffle Hunters, co-directed and produced by Kershaw and Michael Dweck, centers on the deeply mysterious and desired Italian white Alba truffle. Coveted by some of the world’s wealthiest citizens, the truffle can only be found by a small group of Italian elders and their dogs, who sniff out the truffle after dark to avoid detection. Kershaw and Dweck map the truffle’s journey from forest to plate, using humor and absurdism to illuminate a near-magical practice under constant threat by greed and outside influences.
Dick Johnson is Dead was co-produced by Ryan and Adjunct Assistant Professor Marilyn Ness, assistant directed by alumnus Michael Toscano ’12, with alumnus John Wakayama Carey ’14 as Director of Photography, and production managed by Adjunct Assistant Professor Sarah Seulki Oh. Directed by the award-winning Kirsten Johnson, the film follows Johnson as she considers various ways to end the suffering of her 86-year-old psychiatrist father, who has dementia. Johnson strikes a balance between fact and fiction to explore how the magic of film might allow her to turn back time, laugh at life’s struggles, and immortalize her father.
Several other Columbia alumni and one student also worked on the film: Joshua Ryan Troxler ’18, Production Coordinator, Mahak Jiwani ’18, Production Coordinator, Kristy Richman ’19, Production Coordinator/Extras Casting, Markus Kirschner ’09, Production, Federica Gianni ’17, Media Manager, Ewing Luo ’18, Production, Frank Liu ’19, Production Assistant, student Alex Yarber, Production Assistant, Jaclyn Noel ’19, Production Assistant, and Christina Wood ’19, Production Assistant.
At its core, Time is a love story; for over two decades, Fox Rich has fought for the release of her husband Rob, who is serving a 60-year sentence for an offense they both committed. The entrepreneur, author, and mother of six is determined to share their story, and for years, she has recorded home-video diaries, which reveal the longing, pain, and hope experienced by the family Rob was forced to leave behind.
