Montclair State University, Film Program
Visiting Filmmakers Coordinator: Roberta Friedman 973-655-7282
TUESDAYS from 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Location: University Hall, Rm 1040 (unless otherwise noted)
open to all – admission free
January 24, 2012 – The 31st Annual Black Maria Film + Video Festival
Since 1981, the annual Black Maria Film + Video Festival has taken its (no hyphen) name from that of the world’s first motion picture studio built by Thomas Edison in 1893. The Festival and its tour operate as an independent non-profit organization and is the primary endeavor of Thomas Edison Media Arts. For more than 30 years, the Festival has been acclaimed for advocating, supporting and widely exhibiting fresh short works–up to an hour in length–by emerging, as well as by veteran independent, film and video makers. The festival’s annual competition is juried by noted exponents of independent work and results in 40 to 60 works chosen for the festival’s annual tour.
January 31, 2012-ALAN BERLINER
Alan Berliner’s uncanny ability to combine experimental cinema, artistic purpose and popular appeal into compelling film essays has made him one of America’s most acclaimed independent filmmakers. “Berliner… has the gift of addressing intimate subjects and making them universal,” wrote Variety.
February 7- TED HOPE, independent American film producer.
Ted Hope is an American independent film producer based in New York City. As the American Indie wave hit in the early ’90s, Hope was among the first producers to emerge from the pack, and today remains one of the few consistently delivering vital and exciting new work. As times, platforms, and tastes change, his work continues to break new ground, reach new audiences, and redefine the term “Independent.” Hope has produced the first films of such notable filmmakers as Ang Lee, Hal Hartley, Michel Gondry, Bob Pulcini, and Shari Berman, among others. Among Hope’s 23 Sundance entries, are three Grand Jury Prize winners: American Splendor(2003), The Brothers McMullen (1995) and What Happened Was… (1994). The Hollywood Reporter recently cited Hope and his partners at his production company, This is that, among the 25 most powerful people in the Independent Film business.
February 14 – Pacific Street Films.
Joel Sucher and Steven Fischler, friends since the age of nine, founded Pacific Street Films in 1969. In a career spanning more than three decades, they’ve produced, directed, written and edited 100-plus films, as independents and for venues as diverse as the United Nations and Saturday Night Live. The themes of Pacific Street’s work cover a wide variety of subjects – equally as diverse – from hidden camera investigations into police surveillance and misconduct; illuminating “lost” periods of history; and revealing the “secrets” of martial arts to analyzing the director’s art on the sets of such legendary films as Goodfellas and JFK. Their roster of films includes eye-opening documentaries on subjects as diverse as Jessica Lange to anarchism in the United States. Pacific Street Films continues to develop programming in various areas, based on the wide-ranging interests of the principals, with materials drawn from its extensive archives.
February 21 – Ilene Starger
lene Starger is a New York-based casting director who has cast more than 30 major motion pictures and several Broadway shows. Her roster of films includes Night at the Museum, Music and Lyrics, School of Rock, The First Wives Club, Music and Lyrics, Two Weeks’ Notice, Marvin’s Room, and Sleepy Hollow. She is a member of the Casting Society of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She has won two awards–and been nominated for four– for her casting from the Casting Society of America.
FEBRUARY 28 – Ina Archer
Archer’s video work examines the intersections of race/ethnicity, representation and technology. She is an advocate for film preservation. She is particularly interested in innovative early sound cinema and musical comedies. Her work has been shown in venues such as The Studio Museum in Harlem, The List Visual Arts Center @ MIT, White Columns, The NY Expo of Short Films, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, Ga., and The Cheekwood Museum of Art, Nashville, Tenn.
MARCH 6
To be determined.
MARCH 13
Spring break.
MARCH 20 – Digital Distribution Panel
Watching movies and television on the Internet is the wave of the future and it’s happening now! MSU Film Forum presents a panel discussion on the realities of Internet Distribution for film and television.
MARCH 27 – Parvez Sharma
Parvez Sharma is an internationally renowned New York based Indian writer and filmmaker. He is best known for the multiple award winning and acclaimed film A Jihad for Love, on gay and lesbian Muslims. The influential UTNE Reader named him one of “50 Visionaries changing your world” in a list headed by the Dalai Lama in 2009.
APRIL 3 – Ahmed Ahmed
Ahmed Ahmed is one of the biggest Egyptian American comedians in the world. He was the recipient of the first annual Richard Pryor Award for Ethnic Comedy at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival, and recently directed and starred in the documentary film called “Just Like Us”. In his directorial debut “Just Like Us”, Ahmed strives to depict the Middle East as a place that is quite similar to America and the rest of the world by showing that audiences in locations like Dubai, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt share the same sense of humor and illustrates how catharsis through laughter is a universal concept.
APRIL 10 – Ash-har Quraishi Producer
Screening: FORDSON: Faith, Fasting, Football
Ash-har Quraishi is an Emmy Award-winning television journalist, writer, photographer and filmmaker with more than a decade of international, investigative, long-form reporting and production experience. He is currently a Correspondent for WTTW (PBS Chicago) where he reports for their flagship nightly news magazine show Chicago Tonight. His reporting and photography has been featured on CNN, The New York Times, The PBS NewsHour, A&E and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
In early 2010 he co-founded Quraishi Productions, LLC with his partner/producer and wife Basma Babar-Quraishi. Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football, co-produced with North Shore Films, is Quraishi Productions’ maiden venture into feature-length documentary filmmaking. Quraishi served as a producer on the film and also wrote and photographed portions of the documentary.
APRIL 17 – Todd Solondz, director
Screening his newest film.
Todd Solondz is an American independent film screenwriter and director known for his style of dark, thought-provoking, socially conscious satire. Solondz has been critically acclaimed for his examination of the “dark underbelly of middle class American suburbia”, a reflection of his own background in New Jersey. His work includes the cult hit Welcome to the Dollhouse, the award-winning Happiness, Storytelling, Palindromes, and Life During Wartime.
April 24 – LLOYD KAUFMAN
The Troma Universe was born in 1974 with a series of highly original, raunchy comedies such as Squeeze Play!, Stuck On You!, Waitress!, and other titles. Troma’s breakthrough movie, The Toxic Avenger, demonstrated that there were a large number of people who were interested in seeing things done Kaufman’s way.
The success of The Toxic Avenger was followed by a string of commercial and artistic triumphs in a similar vein, blending fantasy, heavy action, comedy, and eroticism in a style that can only be described as “Tromatic”. These films included the Class of Nuke ‘Em High trilogy, Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD, and Troma’s War. Tromeo & Juliet became a surprise theatrical and critical hit, earning the grand prize at the Fanta Festival in Rome. In addition, Kaufman has been an honored guest at various international film festivals and Troma retrospectives around the world. The San Sebastian Film Festival, the British Film Institute, the Cinematheque Francaise, the American Cinematheque, the Chicago International Film Festival, the UCLA Film Archives, the Tokyo Film Festival, and the Shanghai International Film Festival are just a few of the venues to have showered Kaufman with praise. Kaufman has received the Lifetime Achievement Awards at the Fantasy Film Festival of Amsterdam, Sitges Film Festival, Brussels Festival of Fantasy and others.
In January 1999, Kaufman founded the TromaDance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, where there is no entry fee to filmmakers to submit their films, nor is there any admission charged to audience members.
If you want to suggest an artist for next semester, e-mail Film@montclair.edu or contact Roberta Friedman at the Department of Art & Design at 973-655-7282 or, via e-mail, at friedmanr@montclair.edu.