Films and Filmmakers Series at Montclair State University

In this week’s recap, filmmaker, producer, and editor Lisa Shreve, who’s work has appeared on PBS, HBO, MTV, ABC, NBC, and CBS, showed a film she produced, “Miracle on 42nd Street”, a documentary film about planning subsidized housing to to people working in the performing arts. Former residents including Alicia Keys, Samuel L. Jackson, Larry David, and Terrence Howard share experiences about their time in the building. During the Film Forum Q+A, Shreve talked about how long the film took to produce because many of the former residents are quite famous and have busy schedules, how they received funding for the project, her own experiences in the building and living in New York City, and more.

In this week’s recap, producer and actor Michael J. Burg (Orange Is the New Black, Ray Donovan) screened his 2011 independent film “Turbine”. During Q+A, he discussed why he filmed Turbine in Nebraska, the importance of location, some of the racy scenes within the film, the trials and tribulations of making his first feature film, working with the likes of filmmaking legends Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee, and more.

In our first recap of the semester, director, screenwriter, and producer Dan Mirvish screened his 2017 drama/comedy “Bernard and Huey”. During Q+A, he discussed the behinds the scenes of the film, a scene shot in his house, how hard it was getting the pre-production process going by getting famous American cartoonist Jules Feiffer’s script and cartoon ideas, clearing them, and more.

In our recap, filmmaker and film professor at SUNY Purchase Judy Lieff showcased her first feature documentary film Deaf Jam. During Q+A, she discussed how hard and tricky access was because of shooting in an academic setting, it’s distribution in academic audiences to further educate those about deaf people and ASL, and using the ASL poetry club in the New York high school featured in the film to make the film. The other two guests, Aneta, who is deaf, and Tahani, who is Muslim, stars of the film, worked together to do poetry in spoken word and talked about their relationship while making the film with Judy. Aneta plans to focus more on advocacy for deaf people and continue inspiring deaf people while Tahani just moved to New Jersey and plans to continue to her life as an educator.

In our recap, New York based director, producer, and filmmaker Stacy Cochran showcased her film Write When You Get To Work. During Q+A, she discussed how she got funding for the small budget film, the shooting process behind the film, her hiatus between her first few films and her current film, the stresses and pressures of the business of film, and more.