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31 Columbia Filmmakers, 16 Films, Selected for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival

By StudentFilmmakers.com
posted Dec 25, 2012, 22:06

Once again, Columbia filmmakers dominate the Sundance lineup. This year's festival, which will take place January 17 - 27, 2013 in Park City, Utah, features work by an astounding number of School of the Arts students, alumni and faculty.

Of the 16 films selected to screen in the prestigious U.S. Dramatic Competition, an amazing three were written or directed by Columbia Film alumni. Toy's House, written by Chris Galletta ('10 SOA), The Spectacular Now, directed by James Ponsoldt ('05 SOA), and May in the Summer, written and directed by Cherien Dabis ('04 SOA), will compete. Incidentally, Toy's House, produced by Big Beach Films, was written by Galletta while at Columbia as part of his thesis work. Also impressive is the fact that James Ponsoldt is returning to Sundance so soon after his last appearance; his film, Smashed—currently in distribution—was in the Dramatic Competition only last year.

David Riker's (Adjunct Faculty) Dirty Wars will compete in the U.S. Documentary Competition, as will God Loves Uganda, edited by Benjamin Gray ('07 SOA) and Richard Hankin ('92 SOA).

Three of the films selected for competition in shorts categories were also written and directed by School of the Arts students or alumni. Skin, a first-year Columbia film, was directed by student Jordana Spiro—the film was co-written by Spiro and fellow student David Pablos, and produced by students Alvaro R. Valente (4th Year) and Ben Rubin (3rd Year). Social Butterfly, written and directed by Lauren Wolkstein ('10 SOA) and edited by Wolkstein, Chris Radcliff ('10 SOA) and Jeff Sousa ('10 SOA) was also chosen to compete in the Dramatic Shorts catgeory . Several more Columbia filmmakers collaborated on both Skin and Social Butterfly. The Roper, produced by Apryl Richards ('10 SOA), will compete in the Documentary Shorts category.

Other Columbia filmmakers will have work premiering in a variety of sidebar categories. Prince Avalanche, screening in the Premieres category, was written by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigursson ('08 SOA) with director David Gordon Green—Tobias Munthe ('08 SOA) is the Executive Producer of the film and Craig Zobel (Adjunct Faculty) is a producer. Very Good Girls, written and directed by Barnard alumna Naomi Foner and produced by Mary Jane Skalski (Adjunct Faculty) was also selected to screen in Premieres. On The World According to Dick Cheney, which was directed by R.J. Cutler and Greg Finton and chosen for the Documentary Premieres category, Khary Jones ('10 SOA) was an additional editor and the assistant editor. It Felt Like Love, co-produced by Shrihari Sathe ('09 SOA) and Milkshake, co-produced by Kristie Lutz ('10 SOA) will screen in the Next <=> portion of the Festival. Lawrence Levine ('08 SOA), writer/director of the indie hit Gabi on the Roof, acts in S-VHS, slated for the Park City at Midnight section. Ian Olds ('06 SOA) edited kink, which was produced by James Franco and will also premiere during Park City at Midnight.

Resources:

http://www.arts.columbia.edu