|
|
|
|
The Merchant and Ivory Foundation sponsors the Telluride Festival short film program |
Ismail Merchant and James Ivory announced today that the Merchant and Ivory Foundation will be a long-term sponsor of the Telluride Film Festival's "SHOWcase for Shorts" program, beginning at this year's festival. "After our films The Mystic Masseur and The Golden Bowl played at Telluride, we were so impressed with the festival's commitment to filmmakers, and with the dedication of Tom Luddy, Bill and Stella Pence, and their staff and volunteers," said Merchant, "that when they asked us to become involved in this year's festival, we enthusiastically said yes. Telluride is unique among film festivals in its concentration on filmmakers and the filmmaking process." "James Ivory and I began our careers by making short films. Shorts are often a launching pad for young talent and so James and I, along with the board of the Merchant and Ivory Foundation, felt that supporting the ‘Showcase for Shorts' would be a wonderful way to affirm our commitment to Telluride while keeping with our foundation's goal, which is to encourage and inspire young artists, particularly filmmakers." Merchant and Ivory have been long-term supporters of young talent, through their sponsorship of the Kodak Award for promising young filmmakers at the Sundance Film Festival, and through Merchant Ivory Films' history of distributing the work of young filmmakers, including 1999's acclaimed Ratcatcher, by Lynne Ramsay, whose earlier three short films played at the Cannes Film Festival, and will be included in the forthcoming DVD release of her feature film. The Merchant and Ivory Foundation began twelve years ago by undertaking the massive project of finding the lost negatives and restoring the films of the great Indian director Satyajit Ray. In the years since, the foundation has supported a number of arts organizations and individuals, including actors, writers, musicians, theatre groups, and filmmakers, including the Actors' Studio, Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, and Joanne Woodward's Blue Light Theatre Company. The foundation's performance series began in 1998 with a reading by Vanessa Redgrave at the foundation's headquarters in the historic Red Mills in Claverack, N.Y. The 2001 summer season included a reading by poets Stephen Sartarelli and Paul Kane, and an exhibition of the work of sculptor/painter Peter Hoffman. The 2002 season began in June with a concert by the gifted young pianist Tellef Johnson, and continued last month with a sold-out reading of Jacob's Hands, a long-lost manuscript by Christopher Isherwood and Aldous Huxley, adapted to a performance piece by actor/director Matthew Modine. Modine performed the title role, accompanied by the voices of Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, Sam Waterston, Wallace Shawn, Fisher Stevens, Tate Donovan, and others. The season will continue with a master-class in film editing, to take place at the Red Mills Film Center this fall. For more information, please contact the Merchant and Ivory Foundation at (212) 586-6014. |
|||
