DISTINGUISHED ALUMS OF LOYOLA MARYMOUNT’S SCHOOL OF FILM AND TELEVISION RECEIVE AWARDS AND ACCOLADES FOR THEIR WORLD PREMIERES AT THE SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
(L-R) LMU School of Film and Television Dean Teri Schwartz and acclaimed independent filmmaker Effie T. Brown.
Los Angeles, Calif. – January 29, 2007 – The newest films by acclaimed independent filmmakers Effie T. Brown, Ted Kroeber and Lincoln Ruchti, graduates of the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television (SFTV) in Los Angeles made their world premieres at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Ms. Brown's and Mr. Kroeber's films were honored with awards and all three alums received accolades from the media at the Festival.
Rocket Science, the second film produced by Ms. Brown to be in competition at Sundance, was honored with the Festival’s Directing Award: Dramatic, presented to the movie’s director Jeffrey Blitz.
Ted Kroeber’s Four Sheets to the Wind, the producer’s first film to screen at Sundance, received the Special Jury Prize for Acting honoring the performance of Tamara Podemski “for a fully realized physical and emotional turn.”
Writing in The Hollywood Reporter, critic Duane Byrge exclaimed, “Rocket Science defies the gravity of generic moviemaking and spun an early-morning Sundance audience into ecstatic orbit here.” He added, “Rocket Science is brainy, quirky and splendidly unpredictable.”
Rocket Science is a presentation of HBO Films and Picturehouse. The film tells the story of a teenager with a terrible stutter who enters his high school’s debate team in hopes of impressing the girl of his dreams.
Four Sheets to the Wind is the story of Cufe Smallhill who finds his father dead, puts him in the family pond, and begins his life in the big city of Tulsa. The Hollywood Reporter’s Byrge called the film “A captivating crowd pleaser here at Sundance…the performances are richly subdued…Four Sheets enchants.”
Mr. Kroeber arrived at Sundance armed with three Independent Spirit Award nominations for his previous feature film, American Gun, including one for Best Feature.
Featured in the Independent Documentary Competition, Lincoln Ruchti's Chasing Ghosts, travels to Ottumwa, Iowa, the video-game capital of the world and profiles Billy Mitchell, the first and only player ever to get a perfect score on Pac Man. Included is footage of the 1982 Video Game World Championship in a film that Ruchti calls "a love story."
Writing in the Sundance Program Guide, Adam Montgomery comments, “Director Lincoln Ruchti takes us on a wild ride through the lives of the first arcade celebrities, resulting in an eye-popping collage of retro-gaming goodness…the colorful characters that he unearths along the way are this film’s true treasure.”
“I’m delighted that the Sundance programmers identified these three films and the remarkable talents of Effie, Ted and Lincoln,” said Teri Schwartz, Dean of LMU’s School of Film & Television. The Awards presented to Rocket Science and Four Sheets to the Wind are especially gratifying, and we couldn't be more excited about the critical reactions to all three movies as our school continues to develop the next generation of great storytellers.”
The LMU filmmakers at Sundance were honored at a high level opening reception in Park City hosted by Dean Schwartz/SFTV and the National Geographic ALL ROADS FILM PROJECT. Mr. Kroeber’s Four Sheets to the Wind was funded in part by a grant from the Project.
Dean Schwartz led a delegation from the LMU/SFTV community comprised of top graduate and undergraduate students along with SFTV's SONY TAG FELLOWS - the school's most recent top graduates who are now being groomed for their professional careers. The young, aspiring, filmmakers were immersed in a hands-on introduction to the high energy and unmatched networking opportunities that a top festival like Sundance provides.