Film & Television Archive awarded Telluride Film Festival Special Medallion

Thu Sep 2, 2010 -- The UCLA Film & Television Archive, one of the largest moving image archives in the world, will receive the prestigious 2010 Telluride Film Festival Special Medallion. The announcement was made today by the Festival.

"Telluride Film Festival is proud to celebrate the UCLA Film & Television Archive with our Special Medallion award," Festival co-directors Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer and Julie Huntsinger said jointly. "Their commitment to film preservation and artful programming is tremendously honorable; without which film festivals like us would suffer dearly in our own programming. We look forward to an ongoing, collaborative partnership."

The Medallion will be presented on Sunday, September 5 at the 37th Telluride Film Festival to Teri Schwartz, dean of the UCLA School of Theater Film and Television, and Jan-Christopher Horak, director of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

"The Archive is truly a jewel in the crown of the School of Theater, Film and Television," said Schwartz. "Not only a source of enormous pride for its work in preserving these key elements of cultural history, but also as a unique educational and exhibition resource for our faculty, students and everyone who loves and treasures film."

"The UCLA Film & Television Archive is honored to receive this award from a Festival that not only features some of today's best contemporary filmmakers, but also pays tribute to the classic films and filmmakers of the past," said Horak.

Previous recipients of the Special Medallion have included filmmakers Joseph Losey and Stan Brakhage; critics Leonard Maltin, Andrew Sarris and Manny Farber; Hollywood executives Roger Mayer and Ted Turner; French film magazine Positif; and the BBC documentary series "Arena."

To celebrate the award, there will be several special programs at the Festival:
- the UCLA Film & Television Archive's print of Brandy in the Wildernesss (1968, Stanton Kaye) will screen on both Friday and Saturday afternoon at Masons Hall Cinema (the film has been slated for future restoration by the Archive)
- "Treasures from UCLA," including newsreels, short films and before/after restoration clips will screen at the Special Medallion tribute on Sunday morning at the Sheridan Opera House
- the Archive's restoration of Chicago (1927) will be presented with live musical accompaniment by the Mont Alto Orchestra at the Galaxy theater on Sunday afternoon.

In addition, Teri Schwartz and TFT will host the Guest Director/Artist Reception at the Ralph Eggleston Gallery on Saturday afternoon. The reception honors both Eggleston (who created the 2010 Telluride Film Festival poster) and writer Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient).

The UCLA Film & Television Archive is internationally renowned for its pioneering efforts to rescue, preserve and showcase moving image media. Many of the Archive's most important restoration projects--Double Indemnity (1944, Billy Wilder), The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger), The Night of the Hunter (1955, Charles Laughton), Scorpio Rising (1963, Kenneth Anger), A Woman Under the Influence (1974, John Cassavetes) and The Times of Harvey Milk (1984, Robert Epstein)--have been screened at prestigious events around the globe and released on DVD. A unique resource for media study, the Archive protects a vast collection of film, television and digital media. The Archive Research and Study Center (ARSC) on the UCLA campus provides unique and free access to its collections for more than 10,000 international visitors each year. The Archive also screens an ambitious year-round film program at its Billy Wilder Theater, bringing the world's cinematic treasures to Los Angeles audiences.

The vision of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television is to serve as a premier global interdisciplinary professional school that develops outstanding humanistic storytellers, industry leaders and scholars whose diverse, innovative voices enlighten, engage and inspire change for a better world. Consistently ranked as one of the top two elite media arts institutions in the world, the School offers an innovative curriculum that integrates the study and creation of live performance, moving image media and the digital arts. Its distinguished programs include writing, directing, acting, producing, animation, cinematography, costume design, lighting design, set design and sound design, and offers PhDs in Theater and Performance Studies and Cinema & Media Studies.

The prestigious Telluride Film Festival ranks among the world's best film festivals and is an annual gathering of cinema enthusiasts, filmmakers, critics and industry insiders. It is considered a major launching ground for the fall season's most talked-about films. Co-founded in 1974 by Tom Luddy, James Card and Bill and Stella Pence, Telluride Film Festival, nestled in the beautiful mountain town of Telluride, Colorado, is a four-day international educational event celebrating the art of film. The Festival's long-standing commitment is to join filmmakers and film connoisseurs together to experience great cinema. The exciting schedule, kept secret until Opening Day, consists of film debuts with filmmakers presenting their works, special tributes and remarkable treasures from the past. Festival headquarters are in Berkeley, California.



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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/event/758-2010-telluride-film-fest/

Posted on 2 September 2010 | 12:00 am

Warthogs on television

Mon Aug 23, 2010 -- The sitcom "What's Up, Warthogs!" has just been picked up by the Canadian Family Channel with a 20 Episode order. The teenage sitcom is written by two TFT students, Julie Sagalowsky and Alex Diaz. It was created in Fred Rubin's pilot class at UCLA.

The show, "What's Up, Warthogs!," follows the antics of a group of teens who team up to transform their school's boring PA announcements into a hilarious news show that comments on, as well as reporting, the latest news.

The multi-camera comedy about a group of awkward teens was created and written by Julie Sagalowsky and Alex Diaz and is executive produced by Dolphin Entertainment.

Bill O'Dowd of Dolphin and Andrew Rosen of Aircraft Pictures share the executive producer credits. Anthony Leo of Aircraft Pictures is producing.

Julie Sagalowsky and Alex Diaz are represented by Dobré Films.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/756-warthogs/

Posted on 23 August 2010 | 12:00 am

TFT Professor Rodrigue talks manly men

Mon Aug 23, 2010 -- In this six part video interview, TFT professor, Jean-Louis Rodrigue speaks about the role of the man in film and how it has evolved throughout film history. Rodrigue has taught the Alexander Technique for the past thirty years and has worked with many notable actors.

Indiewire reports:

Jean-Louis Rodrigue, a teacher at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, the Larry Moss and Howard Fine Acting Studios, and coach for numerous film and theater actors, is an expert in the Alexander Technique (he is a founder of the Alexander Training Institute of Los Angeles) and a "movement specialist." He recently worked with Chris Pine for his physically demanding role in Martin McDonagh's play The Lieutenant of Inishmore at LA's Mark Taper Forum, and helped Josh Brolin to prep for the title role as George Bush in W.. Rodrigue has made a study of the evolving role of masculinity in film. We talked at length about how our shifting culture is changing the way male characters are written and portrayed, and what it means to be an American Man in 2010.

Click Here to view the full interview.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/757-jean-louis-rodrigue/

Posted on 23 August 2010 | 12:00 am

Second David C. Copley Prize awarded at San Diego Comic-Con

Tue Jul 27, 2010 -- TFT visiting assistant professor and noted costume designer Robert Blackman awarded the second annual David C. Copley Prize for Most Innovative Costume at San Diego Comic Con on July 24, during the event's highly-anticipated Masquerade Ball.

The prize went to Anthony and Master Le for their recreation of the character "War Machine" from "Iron Man 2." Blackman called the intricately detailed costume a "technical miracle."

The winners received $100 and an autographed copy of the book "Dressed: A Century of Hollywood Costume Design," by David C. Copley Chair, Professor Deborah Landis, Director of the Copley Center. Landis and Copley traveled to San Diego in 2009 to jointly announce the founding of the Copley Center from the stage during the first prize ceremony.

Robert Blackman is a Comic Con celebrity in his own right, having designed the costumes for "Pushing Daisies" and the three most recent "Star Trek" TV shows, "Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Star Trek: Voyager" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."

"Comic-Con is a wonderful venue to see all the new action, and animated features," Blackman said, "as well as panels featuring all your favorite action performers, as well as designers. It is a blast!"

As TFT professor Jonathan Kuntz wrote in his coverage of the event last, year,

"San Diego's Comic-Con, created in 1970 as an annual event for a few hundred fans to trade comic books, while discussing science fiction and fantasy, has grown into a pop culture Sundance that sells out months in advance to 125,000 attendees, with a guest list that challenges Cannes. [Comic Con] is the crucial launch pad for upcoming films, TV shows, games and many other forms of cult cultural media."

Kuntz attended the Con again this year, along with daughter Rebecca Kuntz and TFT staffer Sheila Roberts. They agreed to share some of their photographic keepsakes..





Photo of War Machine and Robert Blackman by Valerie Levan-Cooper

Slideshow photos by Sheila Roberts and Rebecca Kuntz..

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/754-2010_comic-con/

Posted on 27 July 2010 | 12:00 am

Oscar-winner Gibney has four documentaries opening in 2010

Sun Jul 25, 2010 -- TIME magazine reports that alumnus Alex Gibney is following his 2007 Oscar-winning documentary "Taxi to the Dark Side" with four major releases in 2010.

The most provocative is an as yet untitled Eliot Spitzer documentary, which charts the former New York governor's meteoric rise and scandalous fall and quickly became the hottest ticket at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Also on Gibney's slate are a chapter in the multi-director adaptation of Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt's book"Freakonomics," opening this fall, and "My Trip to Al-Qaeda," a big-screen rendering of Lawrence Wright's one-man play based on his 9/11 history "The Looming Tower," coming to HBO later this year. A long-in-the-works profile of jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, "Casino Jack and the United States of Money," opened in select theaters May 7.

Gibney says the pileup is less about being prolific--which he is--than it is "just a matter of timing." The director was so determined to talk to Abramoff in person that "Casino Jack" arrived in theaters a year and a half later than planned; it was frozen in production as Gibney embarked on his Spitzer investigation and traveled to Japan to produce a segment on corruption in sumo wrestling for "Freakonomics."

Still, Gibney says Abramoff's cautionary tale of influence peddling in Washington could not be timelier: "We just went through this health care debate, which was horribly perverted by money on both sides, and now you look at Abramoff and realize we are making horrible decisions for our country, all because we've put our government up for sale."

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/740-alex-gibney_time/

Posted on 25 July 2010 | 12:00 am

Jennifer Arnold's "A Small Act" at IFP/UN Forum, on HBO in July

Sun Jul 25, 2010 -- Jennifer Arnold's artfully simple and universally powerful documentary "A Small Act," in which a modest gesture of generosity ends up changing several lives halfway around the globe, screens throughout July on HBO.

From July 24 to August the film will be screened several times at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.

The film was a centerpiece, along with Oscar-winner Davis Guggenheim's "Waiting for 'Superman,'" at a day-long event onJuly 10, jointly sponsored by the Independent Filmmaker Project and the United Nations Department of Public Information, exploring creative solutions to the global education crisis. A specific focus is the UN's Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education.

"A Small Act" was an audience favorite and a Grand Jury Prize nominee at Sundance. In June it capped a successful tour of the Festival circuit with the two top prizes at Nantucket, the Adrienne Shelley Excellence in Filmmaking Award and the Audience Award for Best Feature.

The "small act" of the title was performed more than thirty years ago by Hilde Back, a Swedish kindergarten teacher who decided to sponsor a Kenyan school child. That child, Chris Mburu, was thus able to finish school and attend college and Harvard Law. As an adult he became a United Nations human rights attorney and launched a scholarship fund of his own, named after his benefactor. Arnold's film follows both Back and Mburu, as their trajectories intersect with those of the students in Mburu's home village who are competing for the Hilda Back Scholarship.

Reviews have mostly been raves, like this one in "The Hollywood Reporter:"

Filmmaker Jennifer Arnold gracefully and fluidly tells the uplifting story of Hilde Back and Chris Mburu. She weaves a comprehensive narrative, interlacing Hilde's spare life in Sweden with the horrifying poverty in Kenya. Her dramatic documentation of the desperate existence of Kenyan children who must pay to go to school, but are often too poor to attend, is heart wrenching.

Inter-cutting between Chris' adult life, where he works as a human-rights lawyer, and the stark poverty of rural Kenyan children, Arnold succinctly and touchingly charts what one small act of kindness can create.

While the story itself is transcendent, Arnold's crew of filmmakers, including cinematographer Patti Lee and editors Carl Pfirman and Tyler Hubby, have skillfully visualized and paced this splendid work.

"A Small Act" debuts on HBO, Monday, July 12 at 9 p.m., with additional screenings on July 15 (12:30 p.m. and12:30 a.m.), July 18 (11:45 a.m.), July 20 (9:00 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.) and July 24 (4:00 p.m.) It also plays HBO2 on July 14 (9:45 p.m.) and July 31 (9:30 a.m.).on

A SMALL ACT Trailer 2010 from Jennifer Arnold on Vimeo.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/741-small-act_hbo/

Posted on 25 July 2010 | 12:00 am

Stuhlbarg signs up for "Hugo Cabret"

Fri Jul 23, 2010 -- TFT undergraduate theater alumnus Michael Stuhlbarg, joins a star-studded cast ensemble in Martin Scorsese's new live-action family adventure in 3D, "Hugo Cabret," based on the book by Brian Selznick. Stuhlbarg will play a film restorer, Rene Tabard. Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield and Chloe Moretz ("Kick-Ass") star. Rounding out the cast are Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths ("The History Boys") and Frances de la Tour ("Alice in Wonderland").

"The Hollywood Reporter" describes the film as:

"Cabret" centers on Hugo (Butterfield), an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. When he encounters a broken machine, an eccentric girl (Moretz) and a cold, reserved man (Kingsley) who runs a toy shop, he is caught up in a magical, mysterious adventure that could put his secrets in jeopardy

...

Stuhlbarg, repped by ICM and Viking Entertainment, received a Golden Globe nomination for his work in the Coen brothers' "A Serious Man" and next co-stars as crime boss Arnold Rothstein in the Scorsese-directed pilot and HBO series "Boardwalk Empire" [debuting September 19].

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/752-hugo-cabret/

Posted on 23 July 2010 | 12:00 am

Black catches the "Barefoot Bandit"

Fri Jul 23, 2010 -- TFT undergraduate alumnus and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black '96 has recently signed on to write a screenplay about fugitive burglar Colton Harris-Moore, infamously known as the Barefoot Bandit. The 20th Century Fox film will be based on a book proposal, "Taking Flight: The Hunt for a Young Outlaw," by Bob Friel, with David Gordon Green ("Pineapple Express") in talks to direct. Black, an LGBT rights activist, is best known for his Oscar-winning screenplay "Milk."

"Variety" reports:

Black, an Oscar winner for "Milk," wrote and directed the upcoming "What's Wrong With Virginia?" He penned the screenplay for "3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man" at Warner Bros.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/753-bandit-lance-black/

Posted on 23 July 2010 | 12:00 am

VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Archive pays tribute to donor and film lover Hugh Hefner

Tue Jul 13, 2010 -- At a special event in May, the UCLA Film & Television Archive paid tribute to one of its most generous supporters, "Playboy" magazine editor and publisher Hugh M. Hefner. A devoted fan of classic American moviemaking, Hefner has frequently funded both preservation and exhibition projects at the Archive.

Hefner joined TFT Dean Teri Schwartz, Archive Director Jan-Christopher Horak and Oscar-winning filmmaker Brigitte Berman ("Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got") at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood for a gala screening of Berman's upcoming documentary, "Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel."

"I love that title," said Dean Schwartz, in her opening remarks at the event, "and at the School of Theater, Film and Television we have three other special words we like to use when describing Mr. Hefner: Film lover, philanthropist and friend."



A lifelong champion of film preservation and restoration, Mr. Hefner has funded UCLA's preservation of more than 25 feature films, including Howard Hawk's classic "The Big Sleep" and numerous Sherlock Holmes and Fu Manchu titles. In 2005, he endowed the ongoing "Hugh M. Hefner Classiic American Film Program," to assure that the Archive will be able to continue sharing classic American films with Los Angeles audiences for years to come.

Hefner has also saved LA's iconic hillside landmark, the HOLLYWOOD sign, not once, but twice. In the 1970s he helped to restore the sign itself. This year he made the vital gift that put the campaign to save the land surrounding the sign over the top.

Brigitte Berman has produced and directed more than one hundred documentaries for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Her filmography includes "Bix" (1981) and "The Circle Game" (1994). Her biographical documentary about Hefner makes the case that his legacy extends well beyond "Playboy" and the sexual revolution, touching every aspect of American society, from the arts to politics to civil rights.

Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel" will be released in the U.S. in July and August by Phase 4 Films.



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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/749-hefner-tribute/

Posted on 13 July 2010 | 12:00 am

MFA screenwriting student, alum pen Emmy-nominated PSA

Tue Jul 13, 2010 -- Screenwriting MFA candidate Robert G. Phelps and alumna Cindy Baker Gilbert MFA '98 are LA-Area Emmy nominees. They worked on a nominated Public Service Annoucement for Santa Monica's Westside Food Bank.

Phelps and Gilbert collaborated on the superhero-themed PSA with producer director Nancy Rae Stone. The PSA uses humor to encourage people to "be superheroes" in their devotion to a good cause.



The 62nd Los Angeles Area Emmy® Awards ceremony will be held July 31, at Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood.

The Westside Foodbank collects food for distribution to 65 food pantries and other organizations serving needy families on the Westside of Los Angeles. It acquires much of its food through donations, notably from the a statewide "Farm to Family" distribution program. Their program Extra Helpings Westside recovers food that would otherwise be thrown away by bakeries, restaurants, caterers and food suppliers. The Food Bank must still purchase almost half of all the food it distributes from wholesale merchants.


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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/accolade/751-food-bank_psa/

Posted on 13 July 2010 | 12:00 am

Third year for "New Playwrights at UCLA" journal

Mon Jul 12, 2010 -- At almost 200 pages, the third issue of the TFT playwriting program's flagship journal, "New Playwrights at UCLA," is the most generous yet. Edited by Alexander Maggio and Craig Jessen, the current issue includes eight recent works by MFA playwriting students, in a wider variety of lengths and formats than ever before.

Standout offerings include "Gross Sales," from second-year playwriting student Erica Jones, the School's first recipient of the Beverly J. Robinson Memorial Fellowship for Playwriting. In addition to the full-length works from the annual New Play Festival, an event that has been showcased in two earlier issues, the criteria for publication have been expanded to include shorter works from the 2009 and 2010 Francis Ford Coppola One-Act Festivals and three Ten-Minute Plays, by Alex Maggio, Joe Marciniak and Kate Sullivan Gibbens, that have been selected for full productions or staged readings in 2010.

"The plays this year have characters precariously balanced on the slippery edges of inspired imagination," writes Edit Villarreal, Chair of the MFA Playwriting Program, in her introduction to this ground-breaking publication. "Leaping into the unknown, they embark on surprising new lives with unlikely partners, tangle with The American Dream as it corrodes around them, strike back against long standing cultural expectations, foment rhapsodic love and death on the same sultry night, hijack teen age romance to a lonely isle, holler and scream over death by bulldozer, and discover new worlds after a heart transplant."

This year's Journal also contains credits and photos from other 2010 One-Acts, Marianne Murphy and Women & Philanthropy play readings, as well as a list of One Person Plays and an adaptation for the stage, written this year.


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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/announcement/748-new-playwrights-3/

Posted on 12 July 2010 | 12:00 am

Mazeau +1 on "Clash 2"

Thu Jul 1, 2010 -- Alumnus Dan Mazeau will co-write (with non-Bruin David Leslie Johnson) a sequel to the recent blockbuster 3-D convert "Clash of the Titans." ReelzChannle.com reports:

Mazeau was once attached to write the big-screen exploits of DC Comics' speedster The Flash before the restructuring at Warner division DC Entertainment ... "Clash 2" could go into production as early as January 2011 and will be shot in 3-D, rather than converted after-the-fact the way the first movie was.

Named a Screenwriter to Watch in 2008, Mazeau joined the UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting in 2004. A script he wrote there, "The Land of Lost Things," won both the Professional Program writing contest and the Nate Wilson Joie de Vivre Award. The script was sold to Nickelodeon in 2006 and Mazeau has been working steadily ever since, on high-profile projects such as a live-action "Jonny Quest" adaptation at Warner Bros. and an as-yet untitled thriller about a privately-funded expedition to the moon, for producer Steven Speilberg and direcetor Doug Liman.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/746-mazeau_clash/

Posted on 1 July 2010 | 12:00 am

Nelson's "Devil" for Shyamalan

Thu Jul 1, 2010 -- "The Night Chronicles: Devil," written by TFT theater directing grad-turned-screenwriter Brian Nelson MFA '87 ("Hard Candy," "30 Days of Night"), will be released in September, 2010, rather than February 2011, according to trade reports.

Based on a story by producer M. Night Shyamalan and directed by John Erick and Drew Dowdle ("Quarantine"), the film stars Chris Messina ("Greenberg") as a cashiered homicide detective trapped in a stalled elevator with a group of strangers -- one of whom may be The Prince of Darkness.

"Devil" is the first of three supernatural features to be conceived and produced by Shyamalan under the "Night Chroniles" title, to be released one per year by Universal.

Nelson was hired to write "Hard Candy" after director David Slade ("The Twilight Saga: Eclipse") saw one of his plays staged in Los Angeles, reasoning that a playwright would be a good fit for a story that unfolds almost entirely in the living room of one of the major characters.



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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/744-nelson_devil/

Posted on 1 July 2010 | 12:00 am

Two New Gore Movies

Thu Jul 1, 2010 -- "The Wrap" has confirmed that Gore Verbinski ("Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy) will direct Fox's remake of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."

James Thurber wrote the original short story, which was first adapted for the big screen in 1947 with Danny Kaye in the title role.

The remake will be produced by long-time TFT patron Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. and John Goldwyn, son and grandson of the legendary producer of the '47 version. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Jim Carrey, Owen Wilson, Sacha Baron Cohen and Whoopi Goldberg have been mentioned as candidates for the title role.

Verbinski's upcoming 2011 release "Rango" is his first animated production. The voice of "Pirates" star Johnny Depp is featured in the title role, a "chameleon with an identity crisis" stranded in a western town called Dirt that is beseiged by bandits.



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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/745-gore_mitty/

Posted on 1 July 2010 | 12:00 am

Mike Werb's live-action "History" on Cartoon Network

Wed Jun 30, 2010 -- UCLA faculty member Mike Werb is the creator and executive producer of the Cartoon Network's first live-action series, "Unnatural History," which debuted June 13.

The show is described as:

...an urban adventure series centered around Henry Griffin (Kevin G. Schmidt). a teenager with exceptional skills acquired through years of globe-trotting with his anthropologist parents. Henry faces his biggest challenge of all when he moves back to America to attend a high school stranger than any place he's ever lived before. Together with his cousin Jasper and his friend Maggie, he will use the ancient skills he learned around the globe in order to solve the modern mysteries of high school.

"The Hollywood Reporter" describes the show as

"...a robust and appealing cross between 'The Hardy Boys' and 'Indiana Jones,' with a little bit of 'National Treasure' thrown in for good measure. Although creator Mike Werb's premise is a tad far-fetched, the characters and story are engaging enough to set aside doubts.

"Equally important, there is no talking down to the demo. Judging from the premiere, Werb's stories will have enough twists and oddball characters to engage all ages."

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/news/press/743-werb_unnatural-history/

Posted on 30 June 2010 | 12:00 am