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On September 30th, 2015; MEWShop's acclaimed speaker series "Sight, Sound & Story "debuted "The Art of Cinematography," an evening devoted to the art of cinematography. Our inaugural event celebrated the craft of visual storytelling from the masters behind the camera - to go behind the scenes with some of the industry's best cinematographers in documentary and feature films.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Schedule:
4:30pm - Check-in
5:00pm - 6:00pm - "The Many Challenges of Nonfiction Cinematography"
Moderator: Hugo Perez (Betty La Flaca, Juliet Y Ramon)
Speakers: Matt Porwoll (Cartel Land, Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1), Jerry Ricciotti (Vice, Vice News), Bob Richman (An Inconvenient Truth, The September Issue, Paradise Lost: the Robin Hood Hills Child Murders)
6:15pm - 7:30pm - "A Cinematographer's Vision: Creating Distinct Looks for Film & TV"
Moderator: Jason & Josh Diamond (Directors and Producers)
Speakers: Paul Koestner (Louie, Deadbeat, Better Things), Nancy Schreiber, ASC (November, The Nines, The Comeback)
7:30pm - 8:30pm - Networking Party & Tech Lounge
$45 General Admission
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2015 Panelists:
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Josh and Jason Diamond (The Diamond Bros.) are equal artists and technological mercenaries treading the fine line of cutting edge technology and storytelling. The main focus; always looking for a better way to tell the story. Forging a path, directing and producing numerous award winning music videos, short films and documentaries as well as being the go to team for Digital Filmmaking knowledge from some of New York’s well known filmmakers, they began breaking ground Executive Producing features such as Light and the Sufferer, in 2006 starring Paul Dano. That film contained a fully CG character in an indie film before that even seemed feasible. Next came the award winning Exploding Girl, one of the early features shot on a RED Camera in 2008, starring Zoe Kazan who won the Best Actress award at the Tribeca Film Festival for her role. The Diamond Bros. have been tapped to direct and produce content for clients such as Sony Playstation, American Express, FILA, Nike, MTV, SpikeTV, VH1, including the viral hit Share it Maybe for Sesame Street (18,851,899 views on YouTube) and provided cameras and technical support to DP Bradford Young on his film Mother of George which won Best Cinematography at Sundance 2013.
Paul Koestner has been a cinematographer for over three decades since graduating from one of those film schools nobody in the business cares about. His projects have included features, television series, commercials, industrials, documentaries and webcast series.
Paul is perhaps best known through his work with Louis CK, with whom he has collaborated for the last twenty-plus years. Along with the FX Series bearing Mr. CK’s name, the two have worked together on projects such as The Chris Rock Show, The Dana Carvey Show and numerous short-form pieces both personal and professional. Early obscure works include the film shorts Caesar Salad and Ice Cream. Paul shot Louie’s first feature, Tomorrow Night, as well as the stand-up feature, Louis C.K.: Hilarious, the first of its genre to be accepted for presentation at Sundance. Recent collaborations include live performance pieces, Live At The Beacon Theatre and Oh My God.
Most recently Paul has lensed the second season of Hulu’s Deadbeat as well as the upcoming series, Those Who Can’t, truTV’s first foray into scripted television. Finally Paul wishes to announce with much glee that FX has picked up Pamela Adlon’s proposed series, Better Things, the pilot for which he shot in May.
Hugo Perez was the recipient of the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation/Tribeca Film Institute Emerging Artist Fellowship in support of his feature screenplay Immaculate Conception. Perez’ short film Betty La Flaca was the winner of the HBO/NYILFF Short Film Award and was broadcast across the HBO networks. Perez previous short film Juliet Y Ramon was broadcast as part of the Showtime Latino Filmmaker Showcase, which spotlights the work of emerging Latino directors. Perez’ short film Seed was part of ITVS/PBS groundbreaking original online science fiction series FutureStates. Currently, Perez is in development on his feature film directorial debut, Gabacho with actor and co-writer Adrian Martinez (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Casa de Mi Padre, Flight of the Conchords).
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Perez is the recipient of the Estela Award for Documentary Filmmaking presented by NALIP – the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. Perez is Producer and Director of Neither Memory Nor Magic a feature documentary narrated by Patricia Clarkson and Viggo Mortensen. Neither Memory Nor Magic was the recipient of an NEH Chairman’s Grant. Perez is also the Producer and Director of the ITVS funded documentary Summer Sun Winter Moon that had a national PBS broadcast. Perez recently served as Executive Producer of both Rodrigo Reyes award winning feature documentary Purgatorio which aired on PBS America Reframed and David Felix Sutcliffe’s directorial documentary debut Adama which aired on PBS World.
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Perez is currently serving as a cultural envoy for the U.S. State Department’s American Film Showcase program.
Matt Porwoll is a cinematographer based in New York. His most recent work, Cartel Land, was selected for competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and subsequently went on to win the US Documentary Prize for Cinematography. This is Porwoll's second collaboration with director Matthew Heineman, after Emmy-nominated Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, shot by Wolfgang Held, which made its premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.
Porwoll has also served as an additional cinematographer on numerous other films such as HBO’s Emmy-nominated By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, directed by Amy Rice and Alicia Sams, Gunnin' For That #1 Spot directed by Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, and HBO’s Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, directed by Ellen Goosenberg, which won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.
Jerry Ricciotti is currently a Director of Photography for Vice, working mainly on our HBO series called Vice on HBO and Vice News. He was nominated for a cinematography Emmy last year and won an Emmy for best informational series. Vice on HBO shoots on location with very small teams; so all out work is run and gun where the crew often find themselves wearing many different hats. Prior to Vice, Jerry was based in California shooting documentaries mainly focused on sports and professional surfing. He currently lives in Brooklyn (which is for about five days a month.)
Bob Richman was born in Brooklyn New York and received a BA in psychology from SUNY Buffalo. He began his career in film working with the vérité pioneers Albert and David Maysles. He worked his way up from production assistant to assistant cameraman to cameraman. In 1991 he shared the director of photography credit with Albert Maysles on Christo's Umbrellas. The film documented Christo's installation of three thousand umbrellas north of Los Angeles and north of Tokyo. Maysles covered the Japan story and Richman covered the California story.
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In 1993 Richman teamed up with Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky to shoot the HBO film Paradise Lost: the Robin Hood Hills Child Murders. Richman was nominated for a prime time Emmy. The film won an Emmy for best editing and also the prestigious Peabody award for journalism. Richman continued his collaboration as director of photography with Berlinger and Sinofsky on Paradise Lost 2, Meltallica: Some Kind of Monster, and the Sundance series Iconoclast.
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Richman began shooting real people and doc style commercials for such brands as McDonalds, Walmart, La Batts, Coors Lite, Gateway Computers and Blue Cross Blue Shield. He continued shooting documentaries, including The Producers: A Musical Romp with Mel Brooks, Good Rockin' Tonight, A Tickle in the Heart, Constantine's Sword and Killing Kasztner.
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When Nathanial Kahn approached Richman to shoot a film about his father, the famous architect Louis Kahn, he explained that he didn't want an American Masters type tribute but rather a film about his own journey, as an illegitimate son, in search of a father who died before he could really know him. My Architect, brilliantly directed by Kahn and exquisitely edited by Sabine Krayenbuhl, and was nominated for an academy award in 2004.
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In the spring of 2005 Richman flew down to Nashville Tennessee to film former Vice President Al Gore on his family farm with director Davis Guggenheim. That footage became an integral part of the film An Inconvenient Truth, one of the highest grossing documentaries of all time and won Davis an academy award for best feature length documentary.
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In 2007 director RJ Coutler contacted Richman to work on film The September Issue about the notorious chief editor of Vogue Magazine, Anna Wintour. For almost eight months Richman followed Wintour and her staff at their offices in New York and at fashion shows and shoots in London, Paris and Rome. That film premiered at Sundance this year and Richman won the grand jury prize for best cinematography for documentary.
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Ahead of Time, is Richman's first film as a director. Richman teamed up with first time producer and noted food photographer Zeva Oelbaum and reunited with editor Sabine Kraenbuhl, to craft an intimate portrait of the 97 year old journalist and photo-journalist Ruth Gruber.
Nancy Schreiber, ASC is an award winning cinematographer based in both New York and Los Angeles. She was voted into membership into the prestigious American Society Of Cinematographers over a decade ago, the fourth female in the organization's history. Well regarded in the industry, Schreiber was chosen as the director of photography on Visions Of Light, a stunning documentary on the art of cinematography, an early Hi-Definition Film.
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Schreiber was honored with the Best Dramatic Cinematography Award at Sundance, with the film November. Schreiber shared the Best Cinematography Award at Sundance for My America...Or Honk If You Love Buddah. She also garnered an Emmy nomination for Best Cinematography on the acclaimed Celluloid Closet for HBO. In addition, Schreiber was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Chain of Desire, and was recognized in 2000 by Variety as one of "10 DPs to Watch". Schreiber has also filmed numerous features which premiered at Sundance, Tribeca and Toronto Film Festivals including The Nines, Your Friends and Neighbors, Motherhood, Every Day, American Gun and Loverboy.
Schreiber has shot over 100 commercials and music videos for recording artists such as Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Reba McEntire, Van Morrison, and Sting. She was the DP on the HBO/Amnesty International World Tour Filmstarring Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel and Tracy Chapman. Her work can also be seen on the documentaries Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Paradise Lost 2 & 3, Woody Allen for American Masters, the Dixie Chicks' Shut Up And Sing, and And the Oscar Goes To..., directed by her long-time collaborators Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.
In the world of television Schreiber photographed the HBO series The Comeback, as well as the pilots for In Plain Sight and Filthy Gorgeous. She has two films in post, Kepler’s Dream, based on the young adult novel, and Folk Hero and Funny Guy, with Alex Karpovsky and David Cross, both of which are about to hit the festival circuit and hopefully will be coming to a theater near you soon.