Natalia Almada,
Brooklyn, NY, worked on her new film, El General.
Anna Boden, Brooklyn, NY, worked with collaborator Ryan Fleck on two screenplays. She and Fleck are also working on an adaptation of Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story for Paramount Pictures. Their first feature film, Half Nelson, opened theatrically in 2006.
Malden, MA, worked on a series of short experimental films with the overarching title of Offerings, for which she received partial funding from the Canada Council for the Arts. Her film Self Portrait Post Mortem screened at MoMA as part of the MacDowell Colony Centennial Film Series.
Alane Brodrick,
Cambridge, MA, continued work on a short experimental film.
Christian Bruno,
San Francisco, CA, worked toward the completion of STRAND: A Natural History of Cinema, a one-hour documentary on the rise and demise of movie going culture. His short film Pie Fight ‘69 (with Sam Green) won numerous festival awards in 2000–01.
Marie-Helene Carleton,
New York, NY, worked with her partner and collaborator Micah Garen on editing the feature–length documentary film they directed and shot in Iraq about the looting of archaeological sites. They plan on distributing the film, tentatively titled The Road to Nasiriyah, in 2008.
L.M. Kit Carson,
Venice, CA, continued writing, shooting, and editing his personal death–defying documentary film Remember Tomorrow.
Sandro Del Rosario,
Brooklyn, NY, worked on an animated film in progress, Lo Sguardo Italiano (The Italian Gaze).
Mike Dolan,
Austin, TX, continued work on two feature-length screenplays and also began writing a novel.
Rodney Evans,
Brooklyn, NY, worked on the writing and research for his second feature– length screenplay, Day Dream, a project funded by the NY State Council on the Arts and the Independent Television Service.
Paul Festa,
San Francisco, CA, revised his movie Apparition of the Eternal Church for its premiere in 2006. He also completed the second draft of his novel The Life of Christopher Mirabilis, or, What I Did During the Drug War, which he and fellow Colonists read aloud in a marathon three-day reading.
Ryan Fleck,
Brooklyn, NY, worked with collaborator Anna Boden on two screenplays. He and Boden are also working on an adaptation of Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story for Paramount Pictures. Their first feature film, Half Nelson, opened theatrically in 2006.
Micah Garen,
New York, NY, worked on editing a documentary film about the looting of archeological sites in southern Iraq, shot in 2004. He also started work on a children’s book.
Michael Gitlin,
Brooklyn, NY, worked on the early stages of a new project, a kind of ethnographic film about young earth creationists, centered on philosophy of science issues. His previous film, The Bird People, premiered in 2005 at MoMA. He is a 2006 Guggenheim Fellow.
Shaun Irons,
Brooklyn, NY, worked on the early stages of Is Anyone Not Ready?, an experimental documentary that focuses on the New York theater company The Wooster Group. He also spent time planning for a fellowship sponsored by The Asian Cultural Council, which will take him to Japan in 2007.
Laura Kissel,
Columbia, SC, continued work on Disability Is Us, a documentary about the Disability Civil Rights Movement. The film uses archival footage to excavate and comment on hidden histories of disability. Her most recent nonfiction film, Cabin Field, continues to screen at festivals around the country.
Eva Lee,
Ridgefield, CT, began a 3D-animation project in collaboration with neuroscientist Dr. James Coan, in which they modeled and animated data from his study on the brain basis of emotions. The working concept is to create landscapes of consciousness.
Irene Lusztig,
Jackson Heights, NY, began work on a video with the Vision Machine Film Project in London. In addition, she began shooting Class Notes, an interactive video piece. Her film Reconstruction (2001) screened at MoMA and was awarded the Discovery award by the Boston Film Critics Society.
Meg McLagan,
New York, NY, continued work with collaborator Daria Sommers on Team Lioness, a documentary film about women in the military. Two of her nonfiction essays will be published next year by Zone Books.
Megan McLarney,
Brooklyn, NY, filmed the shift in the landscape that occurred during her stay at MacDowell, which will be presented in a show in New York in 2008. Her past video work is permanently installed at the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, the Sagamore Hotel, the Haudenschild Collection, and the Sundari Foundation Women’s Shelter.
Laura Nix,
Los Angeles, CA, began a feature length screenplay titled Back to One and wrote an essay for Los Angeles magazine.
Lauren Petty,
Brooklyn, NY, worked in collaboration with Shaun Irons on Is Anyone Not Ready?, an experimental documentary that focuses on the New York theater company The Wooster Group. She also spent time planning for a fellowship sponsored by The Asian Cultural Council, which will take her to Japan in 2007.
Lynne Sachs,
Brooklyn, NY, edited the film Invisible, an experimental film essay that will be her fifth in the decade-long series I Am Not a War Photographer. She also made collages and read a 1968 edition of the Webster’s Dictionary for “Abecedarium: NYC” a series of 26 video Flash pages created for the New York Public Library.
Eric Saks,
Culver City, CA, completed a new draft of a feature-length screenplay, Joshua Tree; and wrote several short film projects, including one entitled Cupcake about an abducted child. A retrospective of his video work was recently shown at the Redcat Theatre Los Angeles and at the San Francisco Cinematheque.
Christine Schiavo,
Douglaton, NY, worked on the third and fourth chapters of a “cinematic fable” entitled Rivetgirl. She built large-scale sets which incorporated projected film, drawings, photographic slide stills, props, and improvised live action.
Amie Siegel,
New York, NY, worked on a new feature-length film about former East Germany. She was recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and will be the Robert Fulton III Fellow in Nonfiction Filmmaking at the Film Study Center at Harvard University in 2007–08.
Gretchen Somerfeld,
Los Angeles, CA, focused on a screen adaptation of the novel Miami Purity by Vicki Hendricks. Her screenplay Face Value was the winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Screenwriting Award and was optioned by Tribeca Films.
Daria Sommers,
New York, NY, continued work with collaborator Meg McLagan on Team Lioness, a documentary about women in the military. She recently completed Sawadi American Girl, a screenplay about Americans living in Bangkok in the shadow of the Vietnam War.
Cindy Stillwell,
Bozeman, MT, continued work on Speed + Accuracy = Skill, a new documentary film about farriers working in Montana. Her most recent film, High Plains Winter, screened at Sundance and Rotterdam in 2006.
Vanessa Woods,
San Francisco, CA, generated material for three short experimental films: Five Cents a Peek, Passing, and Mirror with a Memory (working title). Passing premiered at the Castro Theater in San Francisco in 2006; Five Cents a Peek and Mirror with a Memory are currently being edited for completion in 2007.