LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FILM AND TELEVISION TO PRESENT ACADEMY AWARD-NOMINEE DEEPA MEHTA WITH 2008 ‘INFINITE POWER OF STORY’ LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Film Outside the Frame Festival on Oct. 13 Honors Mehta,
Top LMU Student Films Embracing Storytelling Grounded in Humanism, Innovation and Diversity

Los Angeles, CA, Sept. 30, 2008  – Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film and Television (SFTV) will honor Academy Award-nominee Deepa Mehta (Water) with the 2008 Infinite Power of Story Lifetime Achievement Award. SFTV will present the award to Mehta during LMU’s Film Outside the Frame Festival Oct. 13 at the Directors Guild of America, SFTV Dean Teri Schwartz announced today.

The festival will honor Mehta as part of its annual celebration showcasing and awarding outstanding SFTV student work from the past year. 

The program for the festival embodies SFTV’s vision and mission of producing films embracing master visual storytelling grounded in humanism, innovation and diversity. The goal is to celebrate and showcase the new stories and new storytellers who are quickly becoming the distinctive voice of the next generation of creative leaders throughout the global industry.

Selecting the top works for this year’s festival are a blue-ribbon panel of judges comprised of Laurie Coots, chief marketing officer, TBWA\Chiat\ Day; Ted Kroeber, an award-winning film producer and LMU alumnus; filmmaker Jason Matzner (Dreamland); and studio executive/producer Joe Pichirallo (Lakeview Terrace).

Honors will be awarded under the categories of Best Narrative Film, Best Documentary Film, Best Director, Screenplay, Animation and Sound Design. The Bernard Abbene Comedy Writing Award, the Dreier Family Editing Award, the Silver Lion and the Golden Cub awards, and new this year, the Panavision Cinematography Award, will also be presented.

Along with the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award, Ms. Mehta is the first recipient of the Cosgrove Distinguished Visiting Artist appointment at SFTV.  According to Dean Schwartz, SFTV’s inaugural dean, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Ms. Mehta fits perfectly with the vision for the festival and for SFTV. 

“Deepa Mehta is one of the most significant and important humanistic writer-directors working in film today,” Dean Schwartz says. “Her remarkable and distinctive films perfectly mirror SFTV’s vision for visual storytelling grounded in humanism, innovation and diversity. We are delighted to acknowledge such a superbly gifted artist and her body of work, along with our extraordinary student filmmakers.”

Deepa Mehta, a native of India, received a degree in philosophy from the University of New Delhi. In 1991, Mehta produced and directed her first feature film, Sam & Me, the poignant story of an unlikely friendship between two outcasts who form a deep, permanent bond even though neither is welcome in the other's world. Sam & Me received the first Honorable Mention by the Critics in the prestigious Camera D'Or category during the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.

In 1992, she directed a one-hour episode of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (the adventures of Indiana Jones as a boy) produced by George Lucas for ABC. 

The following year, Mehta directed her second feature film, Camilla, a Canadian/UK co-production starring Jessica Tandy and Bridget Fonda. Other cast members included Elias Koteas, Maury Chaykin, Graham Greene and Hume Cronyn. Shot on location in Toronto, Ontario and Savannah, GA, Camilla was released worldwide early in 1995.

After directing the final episode of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles in 1994, Mehta shot Travels with Father on location in Prague, the Czech Republic and Greece.

Mehta wrote, directed and produced her third feature film, Fire, based on an original screenplay. It opened the Perspective Canada Program at the 1996 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was selected runner-up (with Fly Away Home) for the Air Canada People’s Choice Award. Fire was also one of 29 films selected from more than 1,400 entries worldwide for the prestigious New York Film Festival.

At the Vancouver International Film Festival, Fire won the Federal Express Award for Best Canadian Film, as chosen by the audience. At the Chicago International Film Festival, it received two Silver Hugo Awards for Best Direction and Best Actress. In Mannheim, Fire topped the Jury Award and in Paris, it was voted Favourite Foreign Film.

Fire has currently been sold to 30 countries and had its North American release on Aug. 22, 1997, followed by releases in Europe, Australia and India in September 1997.

Earth, based on Bapsi Sidhwa's critically acclaimed novel, Cracking India, is the second film in Mehta's trilogy of the elements, fire, Earth and water. Filmed in New Delhi in January 1998, Earth had its world premiere as a special presentation at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival, where it was received with a standing ovation and critical acclaim.

Earth won the Prix Premiere du Public at the Festival du film Asiatique de Deauville (France) in March 1999 and the Critics' Award at the Schermi d'Amore International Film Festival (Italy) in April of the same year. Currently, Earth has been sold to 22 countries and was selected by the Film Federation of India as India's nomination for consideration for an Academy Award in the category of Best Foreign Language Film.

Her film Bollywood/Hollywood opened the Perspective Canada Program at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival, and has remained in the top-10 grossing English movies since its Canadian opening on Oct. 25, 2002.

In 2003, Mehta co-wrote and directed Republic of Love, starring Bruce Greenwood and Amelia Fox, and based on the novel of the same title by the world-renowned author Carol Shields. In the same year, Mehta won the prestigious CineAsia “Best Director” Award – an honor bestowed on Steven Spielberg in 2002.

Water, the third film in the “elements” trilogy, opened the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and became the first Canadian film ever acquired by U.S. distributor Fox Searchlight. It was released in the U.S. in spring 2006.

Initially, Water was to be shot in India but Hindu fundamentalists created riots, burnt the sets and issued death threats against the director and actors, forcing the film to stop production in early 2000. Filming remounted and shooting completed in Sri Lanka in June 2004.

Water has played many film festivals in North America and internationally, winning festival awards in Sudbury, Edmonton, Italy, Valladolid, Bangkok and San Francisco. The film received the Taormina Arte Awards for Cinematic Excellence in 2006; the Golden Kinnaree Awards for best picture from the Bangkok International Film Festival; and was nominated for nine Genie awards, winning three.

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle named Mehta the Best Director of a Canadian Film in 2006. More recently, Water was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 79th Annual Academy Awards.

In June 2008, Mehta received an honorary Doctor of Letters from the Faculty of Humanities at McMaster University for her achievements in the arts. In July 2008, Mehta received an International Tribute from the Republic of Mexico, and its various film and cultural institutions. for her outstanding career in film.

Mehta’s next film, Heaven On Earth, is about immigration, isolation and the power of imagination. Starring Preity Zinta, the film will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008.

The 2008 Film Outside the Frame Festival is among the signature programs Dean Schwartz has initiated as part of SFTV’s mission to nurture and develop the most promising young visual storytellers, while creating a vibrant intercultural creative community of top students, faculty and distinguished visiting artists.