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
Two films written and directed by alumni will have their premiere at Slamdance this February. Comforter, written and directed by Cameron Bruce Nelson '20 and produced by Katya Skakun '20 will premiere in the Narrative Shorts Program, and Me To Play, a documentary feature produced and directed by Jim Bernfield '01, and shot by Saro Varjabedian '13 will premiere in the Documentary Features section.
Alumnus Sameh Zoabi '05 is set to serve as Executive Producer on the new series Dinner at the Center of the Earth for Sony Pictures Television Studios and Showtime.
The Sundance Film Festival has announced the line-up for its 2021 festival with four films by Columbia filmmakers participating in the official selection.
Song Without a Name (Canción sin Nombre), a feature film written and directed by alumna Melina León '08 has been nominated as Peru’s representative for the International Feature Film competition at the Academy Awards 2021.
On A Global Scale is a bi-weekly series about international co-productions by Columbia filmmakers.
The Mauritanian, co-written by Rory Haines '11 and Sohrab Noshirvani '12, will be released theatrically by STXfilms on February 19th, 2021.
Alumnus Eugene Ramos '07 is serving as an associate writer for season four of the Netflix series The Dragon Prince.
Alumna Cherien Dabis '04 is set to direct the feature film The Fighting Shirley Chisholm about the story behind Chisholm’s historical 1972 run for the US presidency. Dabis refreshes the project after it had already been in development at Amazon in 2018 with a different director attached.
Belly of the Beast, a documentary produced by alumna Angela Tucker '05, had its premiere on PBS this week, and is now available to view on their site. The trailer is available here, and the link to watch the film is here.
Broken Keys, a feature film written and directed by alumnus Jimmy Keyrouz '16, was selected as Lebanon's nominee for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards 2021. If chosen to be included on the Academy’s nomination list, the film would mark Lebanon’s third Oscar entrance in its history.
