As the film industry nears the height of its awards season, alumni and faculty from Columbia’s School of the Arts (SOA) are racking up nominations and accolades for their work. Leading the pack this year are film alumni Kathryn Bigelow (SOA’81) and Cherien Dabis (SOA’04) for The Hurt Locker, directed by Bigelow, and Amreeka, written and directed by Dabis, as well as faculty member Geoffrey Fletcher, who wrote the screenplay for Precious.

 

The award season started early for The Hurt Locker with a prize for best feature at the 2010 Gotham Independent Film Awards, held on Nov. 30, in New York. Bigelow also received a tribute award for career achievement at the event. In total, Columbia filmmakers received eight nominations at this year’s Gotham Awards, including a best feature nomination for Dabis’ Amreeka. At last year’s Gotham Awards, film alumna Courtney Hunt (SOA’94) won best feature for her film Frozen River. Bigelow also won best director, and The Hurt Locker won best film from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Circle.

 

The Hurt Locker and Precious are both nominated for best motion picture drama at the Golden Globe Awards, which take place on Jan. 17. Bigelow is also nominated for a best director Golden Globe.

 

Selections for the 2010 Sundance Film Festival are in as well, and Columbia filmmakers and artists continue to have a strong presence, appearing in several categories. Film program faculty member Eric Mendelsohn’s film 3 Backyards is one of 16 selected to screen at Sundance as part of the festival’s U.S. dramatic competition. The plot of 3 Backyards revolves around a quiet suburban town that, over the course of one autumn day, becomes intense emotional terrain for three of its residents. Also in the U.S. dramatic competition is Night Catches Us, written by Tanya Hamilton, who attended the film program at the School of the Arts. The movie, about a young man who returns in 1978 to the race-torn Philadelphia neighborhood where he came of age during the Black Power movement, was produced by Ron Simons, a Columbia College (CC’82) and Columbia Business School (BUS’89) alumnus.

 

In the short films category at Sundance, Columbia filmmakers—including the award-winning actor and School of the Arts writing program student James Franco—will appear in three subcategories. Herbert White, written and directed by Franco, will screen in the dramatic shorts subcategory. Franco will also star as Allen Ginsberg in Howl, the opening feature film at this year’s festival, which runs from Jan. 21 until Jan. 31. New Media, written and directed by film alumna J.J. Adler (SOA’09), and Tub, written and directed by film alumnus Bobby Miller (SOA’09), will screen in the dramatic shorts subcategory. Other short film selections include Last Address, for documentary shorts, directed by film faculty member Ira Sachs, and Chicken Heads, for international dramatic shorts, written and directed by film alumnus Bassam Ali Jarbawi (SOA’09).

 

In another subcategory, new frontier shorts, two selections come from graduates of Columbia’s visual arts program: I Without End, written and directed by Laleh Khorramian (SOA’04), and The Zo, written and directed by Glenda Wharton (SOA’80). Films are selected to the new frontiers category for experimentation with traditional film narrative structure and aesthetics. Columbia film alumni and faculty were also recognized in Sundance’s out-of-competition category, for films that premier at the festival but are not considered for awards. The films in the out-of-competition category are The Extra Man, directed by Shari Springer Berman (SOA’95) and Robert Pulcini (SOA’94); Please Give, written and directed by Nicole Holofcener (SOA’88); and Homewrecker, co-written and co-directed by adjunct film professor Brad Barnes.

 

School of the Arts film faculty and alumni also captured several nominations for Film Independent Spirit Awards, including three of five nominations for best feature: Amreeka; Precious; and Sin Nombre, which was produced by Focus Features president and faculty member James Schamus. Amreeka and Precious are also nominated for best first screenplay, along with Cold Souls, written and directed by Sophie Barthes (SIPA’03). Adventureland, written and directed by film alumnus Greg Mottola (SOA’91), is nominated for best screenplay. Other nominations for the 2010 Spirit Awards, which are held on Mar. 3, include Goodbye Solo, written and directed by adjunct film professor Ramin Bahrani (CC’96), which won a nomination for best male lead (Souléymane Sy Savané). Amreeka also received a nomination for best female lead (Nisereen Faour), and Cold Souls won nominations for best supporting female (Dina Korzun) and best cinematography (Andrij Parekh). Sin Nombrewon nominations for best cinematography (Adriano Goldman) and best director (Cary Joji Fukunaga).