c u record film student dave silver wins top short film ... · ing with his world intact....

4 C o l u m b i a U n i v e r s i t y RECORD February 15, 2002

Film Student Dave Silver Wins Top Short Film Prize at Utah’s Sundance Festival

“Gasline” is not your typicalsuburban film. Set in NewYork’s ‘burbs in the midst ofthe second gas shortage of1979, Ben Crosby, the film’sprotagonist, has the unluckyfortune of owning a gas sta-tion. And his station is runninglow on gas.

Over the course of a verybad day, Crosby faces angrycustomers, indifferent whole-salers, an attendant with anattitude, a failing marriage, awoman from his past and a vul-nerable son. He tries to navi-gate a path through it all andcomes within inches of surviv-ing with his world intact.

Crosby’s survival story in“Gasline” was the creativework of graduate student DaveSilver of the School of the Artsfilm division. Silver made thefilm as his thesis and, in whatwould be any film student’sdream, it earned the Jury Prizein Short Filmmaking, the top

honor for American short films,on Jan. 19 at the SundanceFilm Festival.

Chosen from 2,100 entries,“Gasline” was one of 79 shortfilms featured at this year’s fes-tival, which ran from Jan. 10 -20 in Park City, Utah.

The Short Film Jury Prize—sponsored by AmericanExpress—was awarded to afilm of outstanding achieve-ment and merit. In the shortfilm category [films under 30minutes in length], the entrieswere judged for their individu-ality, artistry and charm.

Short films are a way ofintroducing new talent as theydemonstrate the power of afilmmaker’s storytelling. Theshort films are exhibited beforefeatures or combined in fea-ture-length programs, and arethought to capture the creativeburst that is the essence ofindependent filmmaking,according to the SundanceInstitute.

Dan Kleinman, chair ofColumbia’s film division,

called, Silver’s short “one ofthe best-directed student filmsI have seen in my 30 years ofteaching. All of us in the FilmDivision are proud of whatDavid has accomplished andexpect great things from him inthe future.” Silver’s film alsoreceived the Kim’s VideoAward at last year’s Polo RalphLauren Columbia UniversityFilm Festival.

As a student of the film divi-sion, Silver has served as assis-tant to the directing faculty anda directing fellow. Prior to filmschool, he was a creative direc-tor at Ogilvy & Mather, aworldwide advertising agency,where he won numerousawards including Finalist at theCannes International Advertis-ing Festival.

Silver returned to filmschool in 1998 to pursue acareer as a film director. Hegrew up in New York duringthe 1970s, and received his BAin Philosophy from WesleyanUniversity.

Silver has recently complet-

BY LORALEE NOLLETTI

Mitchell’s appointment wasmet with enthusiasm fromboth the Columbia communi-ty and his colleagues on thediplomatic stage.

“We are delighted to have astatesman of SenatorMitchell’s stature as part ofour School of Internationaland Public Affairs,” saidColumbia President GeorgeRupp. “As a senator and prac-titioner of conflict resolutionhe has commanded therespect of leaders, both in thiscountry and abroad.”

Added Columbia ProvostJonathan Cole, “The entireColumbia community willbenefit from SenatorMitchell’s knowledge andexperience, based on hismany successes as a publicofficial and as an ambassadorfor peace.”

“Senator Mitchell has afine record of accomplish-ment on the internationalstage,” said retired Lt. Gen.Brent Scowcroft, MA ’53,Ph.D. ’67, who was NationalSecurity Advisor to formerPresident George Bush. “Hehas been very deft in making

ed work on two feature lengthscreenplays: a horror/thrillerabout a bioengineering experi-ment gone haywire and a darkcomedy on the American West.

“I’m thrilled with the award,as you can imagine,” said Sil-ver. “But my future as a direc-tor will have more to do withthe years I’ve spent with somevery special and talented teach-ers than recognition for oneshort film. I’m especiallythankful to Nick Proferes,Bette Gordon, Anthony Breg-man, and Lenore deKoven.Columbia taught me the toolsfor dramatic storytelling, with-out which I would never havegone to Sundance.”

Silver wasn’t the onlyColumbia student to see hiswork featured at Sundance thisyear. Two other current stu-dents in the Film Division,Amalia Zarranz with her film,“Tall Girl,” and Claudia Myerswith her film, “Buddy andGrace,” had their short filmsfeatured. In the feature catego-ry, two alumni had their works

presented: Bertha Bay-Sa Pan(MFA’99) who directed “Face”and Ernesto Foronda (MFA’00) who co-wrote and pro-duced “Better Luck Tomor-row,” developed from his thesisscript.

In the last two years, Colum-bia short films have won thethree most prestigious short filmfestivals in America, the NextWave festival, the Palm SpringsInternational Short Film Festi-val, and now the shorts compe-tition at Sundance.

In addition, Columbia stu-dents have won the mostsought-after student film prizein the U.S., the Student Acade-my Award, four times in thelast five years; all of theseawards went to different films.

“The student filmmakers, ofcourse, deserve the credit,”Kleinman. “But I’m pleasedthat there is increasing recogni-tion given to our dedicated fac-ulty and the distinctive film-making curriculum we havedeveloped in the School of theArts.”

Former Senator Mitchell Joins SIPA’S Center for International Conflict Resolution

(Continued from Page 1)

On view through March 4 inthe Low Library Rotunda, theexhibition entitled “TriumphantArtists” is a tribute to childrenof Central Harlem who haveovercome physical and emo-tional challenges through theirart. The exhibit includes workfrom this year’s young artistswhose struggles with the mean-ing of the World Trade Centerdisaster are apparent in theirart, and past artists, for whompainting was a critical outlet.The exhibition—sponsored bythe Office of Public Affairs incelebration of Black HistoryMonth—is open to the publicMonday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.A reception honoring the artistswill be held Thursday, Feb. 21,4-6 p.m. in the Rotunda.Columbia faculty, staff andstudents are welcome to attend.

Harlem Students Display Healing Art at Annual Show

“Remember September” by Orville Anderson

inroads for peace in some ofthe world’s most troubledregions. He will be a valu-able asset to Columbia.”

“Senator Mitchell has beena great public servant with thebest diplomatic skills and thetenacity to get things done,”said former Secretary of StateMadeleine K. Albright, MA’68, Ph.D. ’76. “His work inNorthern Ireland and the Mid-dle East has been both incred-ible and invaluable.”

“Senator Mitchell’s numer-ous diplomatic and legislativeachievements have had a pro-found impact on the UnitedStates and the internationalcommunity,” said SIPA DeanLisa Anderson. “His appoint-ment continues the school’ssuccess in attracting top-flight public officials and pro-fessionals who bring a wealthof experience into the class-room.”

Mitchell, who served in theU.S. Senate for 14 years, waschairman of the peace negoti-ations in Northern Ireland.Under his leadership, theGood Friday Agreement wasagreed to by governments ofIreland and the United King-dom as well as the political

parties in Northern Ireland.Voters in Northern Irelandand the Irish Republicendorsed the agreement inMay 1998.

In 2001, the Bush adminis-tration adopted as its policy inthe Middle East the recom-mendations put forth by aninternational committeeMitchell chaired for endingthe violence between Israelisand Palestinians.

Mitchell also served asChairman of the InternationalCommission on Disarmamentin Northern Ireland, at therequest of the British andIrish governments, and aschairman of the InternationalCrisis Group, a non-profitorganization dedicated to theprevention of crises in inter-national affairs.

A U.S. senator from 1980until 1995, Mitchell led thesuccessful 1990 reauthoriza-tion of the Clean Air Act,which included new controlson acid rain toxins, and wasthe author of the first national

From left: President George Rupp, SIPA Dean Lisa Anderson andnew Senior Fellow George Mitchell.

oil spill prevention and clean-up law. For six consecutiveyears, he was voted “the mostrespected member” of theSenate by a bipartisan groupof senior congressional aides.

Mitchell, Senate majorityleader from 1989 to 1995, ledthe Senate to passage of thenation’s first child care billand was principal author ofthe low income housing taxcredit program. He wasinstrumental in the passage ofthe Americans with Disabili-ties Act, landmark legislationextending civil rights protec-tions to the disabled.

With former U.S. Senatorand former Defense SecretaryWilliam Cohen (R-Me.), hewrote “Men of Zeal: A Can-did Inside Story of the IranContra Hearings” (Viking1988). He has also authored“World on Fire: Saving anEndangered Earth” (Simonand Schuster 1991), adescription of the greenhouseeffect and recommendationsfor curbing it; “Not for Amer-

RECORD PHOTO BY MICHAEL DAMES

ica Alone: The Triumph ofDemocracy and the Fall ofCommunism” (Kodansha1997) and “Making Peace”(Knopf 1999), an account ofhis experience in NorthernIreland.

For his service in NorthernIreland, Mitchell has receivedthe presidential Medal ofFreedom, the federal govern-ment’s highest civilian honor,as well as the PhiladelphiaLiberty Medal, the TrumanInstitute Peace Prize and theGerman Peace Prize.

Mitchell is currently chair-man of the Washington, D.C.law firm of Verner, Liipfert,Bernhard, McPherson andHand and senior counsel tothe Portland, Me., firm ofPreti, Flaherty, Beliveau,Pachios and Haley. In Decem-ber 2001, the American RedCross named Mitchell as theindependent overseer of theorganization’s Liberty Fund,which was created to assistvictims of the Sept. 11 terror-ist attacks.