FUSION FILM FESTIVAL
with AMY SHERMAN-PALLADINO
THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL
Location: Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street
Amy Sherman-Palladino began her career in the entertainment business as a staff writer on Roseanne during the show’s third season, evolving into story editor and supervising producing posts. During her four seasons on Roseanne, Sherman-Palladino was nominated for Emmy and Writers Guild Awards and was honored with a Peabody.
In 2000, Sherman-Palladino created the beloved television series Gilmore Girls, which ran for seven seasons and went on to become the WB’s most popular series. As creator, writer and executive producer, she brought to life the engaging story of a thirtysomething single mother (Lauren Graham) running a bed-and-breakfast in a small Connecticut town while raising her teen daughter (Alexis Bledel). The show, with its strong relationships and dense, fast-paced dialogue, earned widespread critical acclaim, with Time magazine listing Gilmore Girls among its “100 Best TV Shows of All Time.”
Among later projects for Amy Sherman-Palladino was the Fox comedy The Return of Jezebel James, starring Parker Posey and the ABC Family dance drama Bunheads, starring Sutton Foster.
2016 brought the highly anticipated return of Gilmore Girls to Netflix as a four-part mini- series. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life reunited much of the original cast, tracing the characters’ lives across each season: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Sherman-Palladino served as executive producer, writer and director alongside her husband and frequent collaborator, writer/producer/director Daniel Palladino.
Currently, Sherman-Palladino is serving as creator, executive producer, director, and writer of the Amazon series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The series won eight Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series, and Sherman-Palladino made Emmys history with wins for both Comedy Writing and Comedy Directing. In its first two seasons The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has also earned three Golden Globes, five Critics’ Choice Awards, three SAG Awards, two PGA Awards, a WGA Award, and a Peabody Award. The series is currently in production on its third season.
Watch finalists pitch to top industry judges
Location: Tisch Theatre 006, 721 Broadway
Extraordinary opportunity to watch finalists present their docs in progress to top industry judges for live feedback and selection of winner!
Docs in the Works Finalists
The Road to Sabarimala Shilpa Kunnaappillil
Fighting for the Forty Olivia Pratt, Victoria Marton, Devyn Reidy
My Kingdom For a Horse Lucy Smith-Williams
Mother Cake Stephanie Schiavenato
Judges:
Wendy Ettinger, Producer and Co-Founder, Chicken & Egg Picture
Jenny Raskin, Co-Executive Director, Impact Partners
Milton Tabbot, Senior Director Programming, IFP
Gianna Toboni, Producer and Correspondent, VICE
Basil Tsiokos, Programming Associate, Sundance, Director of Programming DOC NYC, Film Program Director Nantucket FF
Chris White, Executive Producer POV and America ReFramed
Festival Centerpiece Event & Reception
Shirin Neshat is an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York City, and is known primarily for her work in film, video and photography. Her artwork centers on the contrasts between Islam and the West, femininity and masculinity, public life and private life, antiquity and modernity, and bridging the spaces between these subjects. Neshat’s early photographic works include the Women of Allah series (1993-1997), which explored the question of gender in relation to Islamic fundamentalism and militancy. She has recently completed her second feature-length film, based on the life and art of the legendary Egyptian singer Oum Kulthum. Neshat has been recognized countless times for her work, from winning the International Award of the XLVIII Venice Biennale in 1999 to winning the Silver Lion for best director at the 66th Venice Film Festival in 2009, to being named Artist of the Decade by Huffington Post critic G. Roger Denson
Screening & Conversation
Location: Tisch Theatre 006, 721 Broadway
A modern Western that tells the story of two sisters who are driven to work outside the law to better their lives.
Fusion is proud to present Little Woods, created and produced by an entire team of Tisch Film & TV alumna:
Writer/Director Nia DaCosta,
Producers Rachel Fung and Gabrielle Nadig (in person.)
Josephine will lead a workshop that brings theatrical and film techniques together and focuses on how the body moving through space can be a storyteller.
Part of Time Warner’s 150 incubator, Sundance’s New Frontier Lab and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, Josephine Decker has been said to be ushering in a “new grammar of narrative” by The New Yorker, Her newest feature Madeline’s Madeline World Premiered at Sundance 2018 where it was called a “mind-scrambling masterpiece” by Indiewire and a “radical, breathtaking beauty” by The Village Voice. The film was recently nominated for Best Picture and lead Helena Howard for Breakthrough Actor at IFP’s Gotham Awards and received two Independent Spirit Award nominations as well. Josephine premiered her first two narrative features at the Berlinale Forum 2014 to similarly rave reviews. Josephine is currently in post-production on her fourth narrative feature starring Elisabeth Moss about the writer Shirley Jackson and just directed an episode of HBO’s Room 104. Her documentary, film and music video work has shown at the Museum of the City of New York, on Netflix, PBS and MTV and at hundreds of film festivals around the world.
LIMITED attendance. RSVP here
Join us for a stunning showcase screening of the finalists in Fusion’s 2019 Competition. We bring you the next generation of storytelling greats. Award presentations and reception follows screenings.
Location: Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street
