The Legacy of Milos Forman
In 1978, esteemed director Milos Forman and his Screenwriting mentor Frank Daniel were appointed co-chairs of the Film Program. Under their leadership, the program flourished and became the world-renowned institution of film education that it is today. In many ways, Forman was the "creative founder" of Columbia Film, having shaped and refined its commitment to narrative filmmaking anchored in strong screenplays. He gave it a character as distinct as his own—original, passionate, intelligent, and international.
News
Three projects from Columbia filmmakers took home awards at this year’s Writers Guild Awards. They are: Women Talking, Hacks, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
The 21st edition of the Berlinale Talents just wrapped up and Columbia alumna Apoorva Charan ’18 was one of the participants in the week-long program.
The sixth and latest edition of Alternative Scriptwriting: Contemporary Storytelling for the Screen (Routledge, 2023) features contributions from several Columbia filmmakers, including Cyril Aris ’17, Ellie Foumbi ’17, Missy Hernandez ’17, Jimmy Keyrouz ’16, Chloe Lenihan ’16, Adjunct Assistant Professor Valerie Castillo Martinez ’16, George Sikharulidze ’17, and Isold Uggadottir ’11.
In this series, we catch up with Columbia filmmakers who have recently graduated to chat about their time in the Film Program, what they’re doing now, and their goals for the future. This week, we spoke with alumna Kristin Kohlmeyer ’21.
The 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards took place on Sunday, February 26th, and Actress Jean Smart, one of the leading ladies of Hacks, took home the prize for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series.
The Emperor of Ocean Park, a brand new scripted series written by Film alumnus Sherman Payne ’10 and co-produced by John Wells Productions and Warner Brothers has been greenlit and has now officially gone into development.
Several Columbia filmmakers reunited to work on The Wandering Earth II (dir. Frant Gwo, 2023), the highly anticipated prequel and follow up to the 2019 sci-fi epic, The Wandering Earth (dir. Frant Gwo, 2019), the fifth highest-grossing non-English film of all time.
Film alumna Aisha Porter-Christie '13 has signed with Creative Artist Agency (CCA) for representation.
Film alumnus Donovan Tolledo ’22 has been named one of thirty Project Involve Fellows as part of Film Independent’s Artistic programs.
Kate Saccone ’13, an alumna of the Film and Media Studies Program, was invited to curate a program of films titled New Beginnings as part of the Netherland Silent Film Festival—the biggest film festival in the Netherlands in the field of Silent Film.
Three Columbia alumni have collaborated on a highly anticipated new film from A24 and AppleTV titled Sharper, set to release in select theaters and on Apple’s streaming service on February 17, 2023.
The 73rd Berlin International Film Festival will take place February 16–26, 2023.
