Alumni

 

Film/Video Arts has nurtured some of the independent film community’s greatest talents. Many distinguished filmmakers have passed through the doors of Film/Video Arts and gone on to lead notable careers. The following is a selection of alumni who found support at F/VA in the earliest stages of their careers.

  • Darren Aronofsky (“Pi”)
  • Jay Chandrasekhar (“Super Troopers”, “Dukes of Hazzard”))
  • Lisa Cholodenko (“High Art”)
  • Leslie Harris (“Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.”)
  • Todd Haynes (“Poison”, “Velvet Goldmine”)
  • Jim Jarmusch (“Stranger Than Paradise”, “GhostDog”)
  • Tom Kalin (“Swoon”)
  • Michael Moore (“Roger & Me”, “Bowling for Columbine”, “Fahrenheit 9/11”)
  • Mira Nair (“Salaam Bombay”, “Mississippi Masala”, “Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love”)
  • Alexandre Rockwell (“In The Soup”)
  • Kevin Smith (“Clerks”, “Dogma”)

 

alexandrerockwell.jpg“I learned to make films when Film/Video Arts was called Young Filmakers and received valuable support when I was making my films “Lenz” and “Hero”. Hopefully I will remain a young filmmaker.”

~ Alexandre Rockwell, Director
“In The Soup”

 

mira_nair.jpg“Starting out at F/VA introduced the possibility to me of becoming an independent filmmaker. I was a scholarship kid from India and [F/VA] owed me nothing. I was given a place where it was affordable to make a film. I always say you have to be diseased to be a filmmaker. And [F/VA] gave me a chance to be in a community of like-minded strugglers and diseased, afflicted people like myself.”

~ Mira Nair, Director
“Salaam Bombay”, “Mississippi Masala”,
“Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love”
1999 Film/Video Arts 30th Anniversary Honoree