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Visiting Filmmakers
Faculty and guest lecturers of NMFI represent a cross-section of successful and innovative professionals who have contributed their skills and talent to many critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies. Throughout the year-long intensive program, students are surrounded by opportunities to become part of New Mexico's burgeoning film industry and connect with vital local, national, and international filmmakers. Our faculty and presenters know how to succeed in a competitive field and are eager to impart their knowledge and extensive experience to the next generation of filmmakers.
The NMFI's 2007 Visiting Filmmakers Guest List includes:
Wednesday, January 16th - Editor STEVE KEMPER (Face Off, MI:2, Punisher)
Wednesday, January 23rd - Screenwriter KIRK ELLIS (John Adams, Anne Frank, Life with Judy Garland: Me & My Shadow)
Wednesday, January 31st - Director TODD DARLING (A Snow Mobile For George, Laguna Beach, MTV's The Real World)
Wednesday, February 7th - Filmmakers HANK ROGERSON & JILANN SPITZMILLER (Shakespeare Behind Bars, Homeland)
Sunday, February 11th - Casting Director VICKIE THOMAS (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, The Astronaut Farmer)
Wednesday, February 21st - Producer BILL TEITLER (The Polar Express, Jumanji, Hurricane)
Friday, March 2nd - Producer/Acting Teacher MILTON JUSTICE (Losing Chase, Down and Out in America, Nobody's Child)
Wednesday, March 7th - Academy Award-winning Composer DAVE GRUSIN (The Firm, The Milagro Beanfield War, The Fabulous Baker Boys)
Wednesday, March 21st - Film Curator BRENT KLIEWER (Programming Director of The Screen, former Curator at CCA and The Jean Cocteau Theater)
Wednesday, March 28th - Writer/Director KEITH GORDON (The Singing Detective, The Chocolate War, A Midnight Clear)
Guests on the horizon: DIRECTOR ALEX COX (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy) who will bring his latest film, Searchers 2.0 filmed on location in fifteen days; ACTOR FISHER STEVENS who has appeared in more that 60 feature film and television shows including Sam The Man and Flamingo Kid and who's producing credits include A Prairie Home Companion, Uptown Girls and Pinero, PRODUCER'S REP/INDIE DISTRIBUTOR RICHARD ABRAMOWITZ and CINEMATOGRAPHER AMY VINCENT (Black Snake Moan, Hustle & Flow, Caveman's Valentine) and more....
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
January 16th - Editor STEVE KEMPER
While working as an assistant editor for Michael Kahn on Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom, Steven Spielberg gave Steve Kemper his first editing position on the Amazing Stories television series. Kemper was nominated for an Emmy for his work on the episode entitled The Mission, which was directed by Spielberg. His first feature film credit came on New Jack City for Warner Brothers. Kemper's other editing credits include Time Cop, Sudden Death and End Of Days for Universal Studios, and The Relic for Paramount Pictures. His successful collaboration with John Woo's includes the director's biggest hits Face/Off and Mission Impossible 2, as well as Windtalkers. Kemper has taught graduate level film editing as an adjunct professor at U.S.C.
January 23rd - Screenwriter KIRK ELLIS
Santa Fe-based television and feature film-writer/producer Kirk Ellis received an Emmy nomination and won the Writers Guild of America and Humanitas Awards for the ABC miniseries Anne Frank. Most recently, he received the Western Writers of America's Golder Spur Award for Best Drama Script for "Hell on Wheels," an episode of the Emmy and golden Globe-nominated TNT/Dreamworks miniseries Into the West, on which he served as supervising producer and writer. In addition to the Golden Spur award, Ellis received the Wrangler Award for Best Television Feature from the National Western Heritage Museum, and a Critics' Choice Award, for his work on the miniseries.
Ellis is currently co-executive producer and writer of the seven-hour HBO miniseires John Adams, which begins shooting in February. Following John Adams, Ellis will continue his association with David McCullough and the American Revolution as writer and co-executive producer of 1776, based on McCullough's book. The project is slated as a six-hour HBO miniseries, to be produced like John Adams with Tom Hanks' Playtone Co. For the screen, Ellis' upcoming feature projects include Blood and Thunder, an epic drama of westward settlement, for Steven Spielberg/Dreamworks, and Shadow Ball, the story of the remarkable partnership between Jackie Robinson and Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey. Robert Redford will play Rickey, and produce with Ray producers Howard and Karen Baldwin.
His other credits include his debut feature The Grass Harp, based on the coming-of-age novel by Truman Capote, and the award-winning ABC miniseries The Beach Boys: An American Family, Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, and The Three Stooges. His additional work for HBO includes an adaptation of James Ellroy's American Tabloid.
A Texas native, Ellis graduated from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema and Television with degrees in both film production and history/criticism, and began his professional career as a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter. In 1985, at the age of 24, he was named the trade paper's international editor. Seven years later Ellis was named Editor-in-Chief of the London-based European trade magazine Moving Pictures and simultaneously formed Shadow Catcher Productions, an independent production banner under which Ellis develops his own independent productions and documentaries.
January 31st - Director TODD DARLING
Todd Darling brings his just completed documentary, A Snow Mobile For George to the NMFI.
A Snow Mobile For George looks at the Bush Administration's environmental policies. The film explores four different stories in which Bush's policies have had a profound impact. Viewed from the perspective of a cross country trip, A Snow Mobile for George is the occasionally wry, frequently sobering tale of a petroleum Huck Finn blasting across America.
Todd Darling worked as a director and editor on the pilot of the popular reality series, Laguna Beach: The Real OC and directed on three subsequent seasons.
Darling's other television credits include, USA's The Great American Christmas, Fox's Murder in Small Town X, and MTV's The Real World.
February 7th - Filmmakers HANK ROGERSON & JILANN SPITZMILLER
NMFI is pleased to present filmmakers Hank Rogerson and Jilann Spitzmiller and their award-winning documentary Homeland. Set against the stunning backdrop of the Northern Plains, this rich and engaging documentary weaves together the stories of four Lakota Indian families from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Shot over the course of several years, the film provides an inspiring and intimate portrait of contemporary Native American life as well as a unique and compelling depiction of the strength and vitality of Native culture. Ultimately, the film balances the many troubles that beset the reservation system with the resilience and fortitude of Lakota culture and spirituality. In doing so, it invites the viewer to reconnect with the power of family, the spirit of the natural world, and the healing power of humor and faith.
AUDIENCE AWARD - DOCUMENTARY American Film Institute AFI FEST
BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY - Fargo Film Festival
BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY - Nashville Independent Film Festival
BEST INSTRUMENTAL RECORDING Native American Music Awards
Selected Festival Screenings:
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE, Native American Film and Video Festival
ABORIGINAL VOICES FESTIVAL, Toronto Canada
TERRES EN VUE FESTIVAL, Montreal Canada
AMERICAN INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL, San Francisco
TAOS TALKING PICTURE FESTIVAL, Taos NM
SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
DENVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH International Film Festival, Lincoln Center, NYC
SEOUL KOREA HUMAN RIGHTS FESTIVAL
FEBIOFEST, Prague, Czech Republic
VERMONT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Hank Rogerson is a director, writer and actor who works both in fiction and non-fiction film. His film Shakespeare Behind Bars had its world premiere in the Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, its international premiere at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and won 10 awards on the festival circuit. Hank also co-produced, directed and edited Homeland, an award winning documentary, as well as Circle of Stories, a multi-media project at pbs.org. He is a two-time Sundance Institute Fellow, and has taught film production at University of Southern California. As an actor, Hank has done film, television and theater in Los Angeles, and he performs improv. Twice a Sundance Institute Fellow, Hank currently teaches filmmaking in the Moving Image Arts department at the College of Santa Fe, and has taught film production at University of Southern California.
Jilann Spitzmiller is a Producer, Director and Cinematographer who enjoys exploring the mysteries of life through documentary filmmaking. Producer of the award-winning Shakespeare Behind Bars which premiered at The Sundance Film Festival in 2005, Jilann has directed and produced several documentaries including the award-winning Homeland which aired on National PBS in 2000 and Circle of Stories, a multi-media documentary web site hosted by PBS. Jilann's other directing credits include two seasons on the documentary series Medical Diary for The Discovery Health Channel and her work as a producer/director for the NBC series Life Moments. Jilann is an adjunct professor of Film at the University of Redlands in California, and at Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy. When she's not making films or teaching, you can find her in painting in her studio.
February 11th - Casting Director VICKIE THOMAS
Veteran Hollywood casting director, Vickie Thomas, will speak to the NMFI community about her early days working with new and innovative filmmakers including Alex Cox (Repo Man, Walker), Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood) and David Byrne (True Stories) that led to extraordinary individual performances and ensembles and a successful career that now includes large studio credits such as Blood Diamond and Last Samurai for director, Ed Zwick as well independent features including the Polish brothers' latest film, The Astronaut Farmer. Vickie will discuss how a casting director first approaches a script, the business and creative decisions related to casting a picture and current trends in the role of cast in greenlighting a picture.
February 21st - Producer BILL TEITLER
William Teitler's recent producing credits include: Zathura, starring Tim Robbins, directed by Jon Favreau, for Columbia Pictures, based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg; Empire Falls, starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Ed Harris, Helen Hunt, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright Penn, directed by Fred Schepisi, for HBO, which won the Golden Globe and was nominated for 10 Emmy's, based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book by Richard Russo; and The Polar Express starring Tom Hanks, directed by Robert Zemeckis, for Warner Bros, based on the Caldecott Award book by Chris Van Allsburg.
Other producing credits include The Hurricane, starring Denzel Washington, directed by Norman Jewison, based on the life of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, which garnered a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for Mr. Washington; Jumanji, starring Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt, directed by Joe Johnston, based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg; Mr. Holland's Opus, starring Richard Dreyfuss, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance, directed by Stephen Herek; Looking For Richard, starring Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder and Kevin Spacey, directed by Al Pacino, which received the DGA Award for Best Documentary Feature; Tuck Everlasting, starring Ben Kingsley, Sissy Spacek, William Hurt, and Alexis Bledel, directed by Jay Russell, based on the award-winning book by Natalie Babbitt; How To Deal, starring Mandy Moore, Alison Janney, Peter Gallagher and Trent Ford, directed by Clare Kilner, based on the book by Sarah Dessen; Picture Perfect, starring Jennifer Aniston, Jay Mohr, Kevin Bacon, and Olympia Dukakis, directed by Glenn Gordon Caron; and Unforgettable, starring Ray Liotta and Linda Fiorentino, directed by John Dahl.
March 2nd - Producer/Acting Teacher, MILTON JUSTICE
After graduating from Yale, Milton began work as an assistant director at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He then continued his New York theatre work, producing the Broadway premiere of Tennessee Williams' Vieux Carre, Jack Heifner's Vanities (which became the longest running play in off-Bway history) and Das Luscitania Songspiel (written by and starring Sigourney Weaver and Christopher Durang - selected as one of the 10 best plays of 1981 by the New York Times). For his New York Theatre work he received two Drama Desk nominations.
After studying for many years with Stella Adler, he was selected by Miss Adler to be Artistic Director of her theatre in Los Angeles. The Company received seventeen local critics' awards and in 1995 Milton was invited by NYU to teach as part of their acting curriculum where he taught at the Stella Adler Conservatory.
For his work as a film and television producer, Milton has received an Oscar (for documentary), an Emmy, a Cable Ace and five Golden Globe nominations. His most recent venture Losing Chase (directed by Kevin Bacon and starring Helen Mirren and Kyra Sedgwick) for Showtime, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won a Golden Globe award for Miss Mirren.
March 7th - Composer DAVE GRUSIN
"As an artist, I am signed as a pianist first and foremost," Grusin says. "Therefore, I'm able to choose between recording albums of all original material, and doing these great tribute collections. It's been an interesting double life, doing both film scoring and jazz recordings, with the chief difference being that in film you have parameters based on how the music will function with the images. With my own albums, it's like a blank canvass, absolute freedom to create from scratch, and that presents its own set of challenges."
Grusin planned for a career in academia when he moved to New York in 1959 and enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music, but he soon found himself touring behind Andy Williams, moving to Los Angeles in the process. In Williams' band, he met drummer Larry Rosen, who became Grusin's partner nearly two decades later in launching contemporary jazz mecca GRP Records. He launched his recording career in the mid-60's with two jazz trio albums, Subways are For Sleeping and Piano, Strings and Moonlight, which drew upon the influences of Art Tatum, Bill Evans and Red Garland.
Inspired by those like Mancini and Andre Previn, Grusin left his music director gig with The Andy Williams Show in 1964 and scored the Norman Lear/Bud Yorkin comedy Divorce American Style the following year. This marked the beginning of his career as a premier film composer, with over 30 scores to his credit. Among his Academy Award-nominated work over the years have been scores for Heaven Can Wait, The Champ, On Golden Pond, Tootsie (he co-wrote the Stephen Bishop hit, "It Might Be You"), The Milagro Beanfield War (which won the 1988 Oscar), Havana, The Fabulous Baker Boys and The Firm. Other well known films include The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Three Days of the Condor, The Goodbye Girl, And Justice For All, Reds, and Tequila Sunrise. In 1987, Grusin released Cinemagic, a compilation of new versions of his classic scores. Grusin also penned the theme songs for Lear-produced '70's sitcoms Good Times and Maude, as well as the TV series Baretta and St. Elsewhere.
Launching GRP as a production company in the late '70s, Grusin and Rosen created what became one of the most popular labels of the New Adult Contemporary genre, with popular artists like The Rippingtons, Spyro Gyra, David Benoit, Lee Ritenour and Tom Scott. Grusin's own hits for the label include Night-lines (1984), Harlequin (a duet album with Lee Ritenour in 1986), Sticks and Stones (a duet with brother Don in 1987), The Fabulous Baker Boys (a double Grammy winner in 1989), Migration (1989), and the tributes The Gershwin Connection (1991) and Homage to Duke (1993). He also participated in GRP all-star projects, Super Live, the NY/LA Dream Band and the three GRP All Star Big Band albums.
March 21st - Film Curator BRENT KLIEWER
Brent Kliewer is an internationally known film curator who spent ten years building the film program at the Center for Contemporary Arts. He also founded the Jean Cocteau Theater in Santa Fe. Kliewer has served as the film and book critic for The New Mexican. He currently teaches critical studies in the Moving Image Arts Department at The College of Santa Fe and is the Director of Film Programming for The Screen, New Mexico's premier cinematheque.
Wednesday, March 28th - Writer/Director KEITH GORDON
While he began his professional life as an actor, Keith Gordon always sought to get back to his first dream; film-making. He utilized his experience acting for directors such as Brian DePalma, Bob Fosse and John Carpenter as a kind of paid apprenticeship.
Gordon appeared in leading roles in Carpenter's "Christine", De Palma's "Dressed To Kill and "Home Movies", the comedy "Back To School", as well as supporting roles in numerous films including Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz". He simultaneously performed extensively in New York theater both on and off Broadway.
As a stepping stone behind the camera, Gordon starred in, but also co-wrote and co-produced the independent feature "Static", which earned Gordon the Best Actor award at the 1987 Madrid Film Festival, and, more importantly, the chance to direct his first film.
In 1989 Gordon wrote and directed "The Chocolate War", adapting Robert Cormier's classic novel. The film won critical acclaim, and Gordon received an IFP/Spirit Award nomination for best first feature.
Next, Gordon adapted and directed "A Midnight Clear" from William Wharton's autobiographical anti-war novel, starring Ethan Hawke and Gary Sinise (in his film debut). In addition to landing on a large number of year-end "10 best" lists, the film got Gordon his second IFP/Spirit Award nomination, this time for Best Screenplay.
In 1996 Gordon produced and directed "Mother Night", starring Nick Nolte, from the classic, blackly comic Kurt Vonnegut novel. It was named one of the 10 best films of the decade by critic David Sterrit of the Christian Science Monitor.
In 2000, Gordon's feature adaptation of Scott Spencer's mysterious, romantic novel "Waking the Dead" was released. It starred Billy Crudup and Jennifer Connelly, and was executive produced by Jodie Foster. The film received a IFP/Spirit award nomination for best screenplay, and was praised by the Los Angeles Times as "impressive and satisfying, a rich and provocative experience" and by the San Francisco Chronicle as "one of the most powerful romances of recent years."
In 2003, Gordon directed "The Singing Detective", starring Robert Downey Jr., Mel Gibson, Adrien Brody, and Robin Wright-Penn. An update of the classic BBC series, it was adapted for film by the original writer - the legendary Dennis Potter - just before his death. The comedy/drama/musical/period noir thriller/expressionist/ surrealist character study was called 'ambitious, intelligent, and admirable' by the New York Times, 'Truly memorable. Dark and twisted and damned entertaining.' by London's News of the World, and ' Remarkable. A moving experience' by Roger Ebert
Gordon has also directed occasional odd and adventurous television pieces, including Oliver Stone's "Wild Palms" mini-series, and episodes of Barry Levinson's "Homicide", Paul Attanasio's "Gideon's Crossing", Showtime's award-winning film-noir anthology series "Fallen Angels", the anthology series "Night Visions", "House", and most recently Showtime's dark and funny "Dexter"
Gordon has taught and mentored for the AFI, IFP/Film Independent, the Sundance Film Institute and USC. He's written articles and interviews on film for various magazines including 'Details', and 'Reel', and hosted a film -themed show for National Public Radio.
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