NY FOUNDATION FOR
THE ARTS
Lee Grants Barbara an Award
At NYFA Dinner in the Park
By
TIM BOXER
ACADEMY AWARD winning
filmmaker Barbara Kopple was honored when the New York Foundation for
the Arts held its Champion of the Arts Awards Benefit 2000.
Actress/director Lee Grant made the presentation at a dinner last
month in the restaurant and garden of the Bryant Park Grill.
Kopple earned Oscars for
producing Harlan County ’77 and American Dream ’91.
Dan Keplinger,
writer of King Gimp, presented an award to HBO’s Reality
Programming, which was accepted by Sheila Nevins, executive vice
president of original programming.
Dan is an artist who has cerebral
palsy. According to NYFA executive director Theodore S. Berger,
“Dan’s fighting spirit so entranced filmmakers Susan Hannah Hadary and
Bill Whiteford that they documented his struggles and triumphs over
13 years, from adolescence through adulthood.”
The result was King Gimp,
which this year won an Oscar for best documentary short.
With co-director Hadary
interpreting, Keplinger said, "Every once in awhile a light shines on
invisible people, and this light can be a song, a film, a painting. And
for that moment, the invisible becomes a reality. With the extra power of
documentary filmmaking, HBO's Sheila Nevins made us a reality. She even
made the gimps a reality."
Boys Don't Cry
director Kimberly Peirce and actress Parker Posey (Party
Girl) were on hand to serve as honorary benefit co-chairs.
The event was held in conjunction
with HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival. So it was highly appropriate
that the evening’s program included a screening of Pal Joey. Director
George Sidney was present as an honored guest.
NYFA is an esteemed creative
development and funding organization that provides grants, services,
technology and education to artists in all fields, including, film, dance,
theater, architecture, music, screenwriting, painting and photography.
“NYFA is known for our work in
nurturing individual artists,” Ayers said. “Each year we distribute
more than $8 million to artists in all disciplines, community arts
initiatives and school programs”
Among
the many artists whom NYFA has supported are Spike Lee (1985 film
fellow and director of Malcolm X), Todd Haynes (1989 film
fellow and director of Poison), Jennie Livingston (1988 film
fellow and director of Paris Is Burning), Tamara Jenkins (1995
film fellow and director of Slums of Beverly Hills), and Lisa
Loomer (1987 screenwriting fellow and co-writer of Girl,
Interrupted).
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