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
Current student Nicole Caplain Kelly has been awarded a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University.
Diversity in Film is a bi-weekly series covering underrepresented groups in Film.
On A Global Scale is a bi-weekly series about international co-productions by Columbia filmmakers.
The Tribeca Film Festival, originally scheduled to take place from April 15 to April 26 2020, is a familiar playground for Columbia filmmakers. In 2017, alumna and faculty member Rachel Israel ’13 took home the top prizes for Best US Narrative Feature and Best New Narrative Feature Director for her film Keep the Change. This year, nine Columbia affiliates have been chosen to participate in the 19th edition of the festival, bringing a total of four films to lower Manhattan.
Film and Media Studies BA alumna Larysa Kondracki ’01 (GS) joined the upcoming Amazon Prime show Them: Covenant as an executive producer. Kondracki, an accomplished director who signed a first-look television deal with Amazon in 2018, is also set to direct the pilot and multiple other episodes of the show. According to Deadline, the project received a two-season straight-to-series order. With no specific release date set, the series will premiere on Amazon Prime in winter 2020.
The Ballad of Lefty Brown, a feature-length western co-produced by current student Rachel Ward, is now available to stream on Netflix. The 2017 film was distributed by A24 and stars Bill Pullman, Peter Fonda and Tommy Flanagan.
Porno, a feature film directed by Keola Racela '15, co-written and co-produced by Matt Black '15 and Laurence Vannicelli '15, and co-produced by adjunct assistant professor Sarah Seulki Oh '15, is set to open theatrically on April 10, 2020.
New York, NY March 13, 2020—Celebrating its seventh year of connecting talented alumni with the film industry, the Columbia Blue List represents the finest unproduced screenplays and television pilots written by recent graduates of the Columbia University School of the Arts graduate Film Program.
The Truffle Hunters, co-directed and produced by alumnus Gregory Kershaw '11, received a warm reception at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Following its success, the documentary was then acquired by Sony Pictures Classic to receive a theatrical release with the exact release date still to be set. According to Deadline, “the documentary went for $1.5 million in a worldwide rights deal, with several distributors bidding.”
Hogar, a feature directed by David Pastor '04 and his brother Alex Pastor, has begun production, and will premiere on Netflix in 2020.
Film and Media Studia BA alumnus Henry-Alex Rubin ’95 won Best-of-Show at Screen Short Film Fest last week for his short Back-to-School Essentials.
Warner Bros. Animation brings back the classic 1984 movie Gremlins in a new animated show co-executive produced and written by undergraduate alumnus Tze Chun ’02.
