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
Over twenty-three Columbia filmmakers were selected to participate in this year’s Tribeca Film Festival which ran from April 24 to May 5th, and several took home awards. The festival announced their winning filmmakers on May 4th marking the culmination of its 2019 Festival, where 113 feature-length films, 63 short films, and 33 immersive storytelling projects representing 44 countries were screened.
The Directors' Fortnight section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival has selected two features by Columbia alumni—Cancion Sin Nombre (Song Without a Name) by Melina Leon 08’, and Huo Zhe Chang Zhe (To Live to Sing) by Johnny Ma ’16.
Jessica Shields '18 was recently awarded the Humanitas Prize's Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Fellowship for her pilot Rue Pigalle. “The Humanitas prize was created to honor film and TV writers whose work inspires compassion, hope, and understanding in the human family” as stated on Deadline. “The Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Fellowship exists to recognize and reward the talents of young writers with financial support to empower them to tell meaningful stories,” according to the Humanitas Prize's website.
Refuge, directed and co-written by Federico Spiazzi '18, co-written by Fernanda Frotte '17, produced by Federica Belletti '18 and co-produced by Maggie Briggs ’19 will have its world premiere at the Montclair Film Festival in early May.
South Mountain, written & directed by faculty member Hilary Brougher, made its world premiere in the Narrative Feature Competition at the South By Southwest Film Festival last March.
Three Columbia filmmakers have been nominated for 2019 BAFTA Awards in Television.
Paper Chase, co-written and directed by Angela Tucker ‘15 and co-written by former staff member, Lauren Domino, will be produced by Queen Latifah through her Flavor Unit production company.
Kudzu, written & directed by current student Connor Simpson and produced by alumnus Carver Diserens '17, won the award for Best in Show at the George Lindsay UNA Film Festival in Alabama.
Panopticon, a feature length screenplay written by George Sikharulidze '17, has been selected for the TorinoFilmLab's 2019 ScriptLab, an initiative focused on the development of fiction feature film scripts in early development stage. Participants get an opportunity to develop their screenplays over three week-long workshop residencies and two online sessions with collaboration and guidance from international filmmakers, script consultants and story editors. With this screenplay, Sikharulidze was also selected to participate in Cannes Film Festival's Cinéfondation residency earlier…
The Life and Death of Espíritu Perdomo, a feature film project written & directed by alumnus Mauricio Leiva Cock '13 and produced by alumnus Mauro Mueller '13, won the El Taller post-production prize and the Cinema226 development, co-production, production and promotion prizes at the Guadalajara International Film Festival's Co-Production Meeting this week.
Film alumni have recently been awarded high television accolades.
