Actor/Director John Turturro to Headline Week of Leading Independent Film Screenings at Vermont College of Fine Arts

-- To Appear as Special Guest of the MFA in Film Faculty—

MONTPELIER, Vt., Oct. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The MFA in Film at Vermont College of Fine Arts confirmed today a week of faculty and guest film screenings and director talks during the inaugural Fall 2013 residency, October 28–November 1. The film screenings culminate each day of the residency during which students and faculty interact in intensive workshops, discussions, lectures, and activities.

A discussion with the director of individual films will follow each screening. All events are free and open to the public and will be held at the historic Savoy Theater downtown Montpelier.

All films require reservations in advance.  Click here for ticket reservations and information.

Monday, October 28, 7:00 pm, The Savoy Theater
The Iran Job by Till Schauder, faculty, MFA in Film

The documentary, The Iran Job, follows Kevin Sheppard, a professional American basketball player, as he plays in Shiraz, Iran for the A.S. Shiraz team in the Iranian Super League. The documentary was filmed in Iran in the winter of 2008–2009, a few months before the uprising of Iran's Green Movement. Through his company, Partner Pictures, he writes, directs, shoots and produces for television and film. Schauder got his start in Germany where he wrote and directed the award winning films Strong Shit, and City Bomber. After earning a government grant for the arts he made his U.S. debut with the romantic comedy Santa Smokes which won several international awards, among them Best Director at the Tokyo International Film Festival and the Studio Hamburg Newcomer Award. Duke's House, about Duke Ellington's Harlem home premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Tuesday, October 29, 7:00 pm, The Savoy Theater
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty by Terence Nance, faculty, MFA in Film

Terence Nance's first feature film, An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, documents the relationship between Nance and a young woman as it teeters on the divide between platonic and romantic. The film premiered in the New Frontier section of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was recently released on DVD and iTunes. Nance, an artist whose practice includes installation, performance, music, and moving images, is currently developing his sophomore feature entitled The Lobbyist. Nance was recently named by The New York Times as one of the "20 Directors to Watch".

Wednesday, October 30, 7:00 pm, The Savoy Theater
Breakfast with Curtis by Laura Colella, Faculty Chair 

Laure Colella is an award-winning filmmaker. Her third and most recent narrative feature, Breakfast with Curtis, features an introverted, bespectacled teenager who, over the course of a balmy east coast summer, is brought into the strange and delightful world of his bohemian neighbors. The film premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2012, and will be released theatrically by Abramorama this fall. At the 2013 Independent Spirit Awards, the film was nominated for a Cassavetes Award, and won the Jameson FIND Distribution Award. Her shorts and features have screened at over 100 festivals internationally, winning over 25 awards. Colella has been awarded numerous fellowships and grants, and was one of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film." She teaches at both the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University.

Thursday, October 31, 7:00 pm, The Savoy Theater
First Comes Love by Nina Davenport, faculty, MFA in Film

Nina Davenport's fifth documentary, First Comes Love, chronicles her own journey to motherhood through a sperm donor. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012 and on HBO in 2013. Davenport has made five critically acclaimed feature-length documentaries that have played at major international festivals and been broadcast around the world. Her first film, Hello Photo, is a poetic and cinematic essay about her travels in India. It premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival and received many festival awards, including "Best Documentary" at Melbourne. Davenport's third feature documentary, Parallel Lines, is a lyrical road movie about her journey from California back home to New York, in the aftermath of September 11th. Her film, Operation Filmmaker, explored the relationship between filmmaker and subject, as it followed an Iraqi film student who traveled from war-torn Iraq to a Hollywood movie set. 

Friday, November 1st, 7:00 pm, The Savoy Theater
Romance and Cigarettes by John Turturro, Special Guest, SOLD OUT

John Turturro has performed in more than 60 films, including Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues and Jungle Fever; Robert Redford's Quiz Show; Francesco Rosi's La Tregua; and Joel and Ethan Coen's Miller's Crossing, The Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou. For his lead role in the Coen Brothers' Barton Fink, Turturro won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. He received Cannes' Camera D'Or Award for his directorial debut, Mac. Other films as director include Illuminata, Passione: A Musical Adventure, and the upcoming Fading Gigilo, written by Turturro, starring him and Woody Allen.

Romance and Cigarettes is a musical drama about an ironworker, married for years and the father of three daughters, who gets enveloped in an extramarital affair. The movie features, among others, James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslett, and Christopher Walken.

About Vermont College of Fine Arts …

Vermont College of Fine Arts is a national center for education in the arts, fostering the excellence of emerging and established artists, while advancing the arts to create a more humane world. Founded in 2008, VCFA is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. (NEASC), through its Commission on Institutions of Higher Education. VCFA offers the Master of Fine Arts degree in Writing, Writing for Children & Young Adults, Visual Art, Music Composition and Graphic Design. The MFA in Film is currently pending NEASC approval. www.vcfa.edu.

For more information:
Stephen Pite
Director, MFA in Film
802.828.8529
[email protected]

SOURCE Vermont College of Fine Arts