November
8, 2004
Emmy
and Golden Globe Nominee Nancy Savoca
to Present Film Workshop and Talk at Ramapo
College
(Mahwah) – Nancy
Savoca, whose acclaimed films include the
controversial HBO series, If
These Walls Could Talk (1996), Household Saints (1993)
and Dirt (2003), will discuss her work with Ramapo College
students interested in screenwriting and
digital filmmaking on Thursday, November
18. All
events are open to the public.
The culmination
of the day will be a “Conversation with
Nancy Savoca” at 5:30 in the H-Wing Auditorium, where the
filmmaker will talk about her career and
field questions. The
day’s events will start at 2 p.m. with a screening of Savoca’s
newest work, Dirt, a film that combines comedy and intense
emotion as it follows Salvadorian immigrant
Delores Del Rosario (Juliet Ortiz) through
a world of clashing cultures and classes in modern day New York. A special workshop about the creative
process will be held at 3:30 for screenwriting and film students.
A second screening of the film will occur at 4 p.m., also in the
H-Wing Auditorium. The day’s program will end with a reception,
featuring a sampling of Argentinean food at 6:30 p.m.
Nancy Savoca broke into the independent film world in 1989 when
her first work, True Love won the Grand Jury Prize at the
Sundance Film Festival. Since then her screenwriting and directing
have been widely featured and honored by film festivals and critics.
Savoca’s
appearance is the first in a special program series, entitled Digital Futures/Personal Journeys, to
be held during the year. The series, organized by the
Communication Arts program, will bring
leading artists and media makers to campus to discuss the impact
of digital technologies on their creative fields.
After her first film, True Love, won
the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film
Festival, it went on to win an OCIC Award Honorable Mention
and a San Sebastián
Film Festival Award.
In 1991, she directed Dogfight for Warner Brothers, starring
River Phoenix and Lili Taylor. Her next big success was the 1993
film Household Saints, which won an Independent Spirit
Award for best actress, Lilli Taylor, and
was nominated for two additional Independent
Spirit Awards for best screenplay and best male lead. The film, which Robert Ebert calls “a jewel
of a movie,” blends poignant scenes with laughter as it
follows the story of an Italian American
woman and her developing obsession with sainthood.
Savoca
then went on to produce two television series, Dark
Eyes and Murder One. In 1996, she worked on
film segments for the controversial HBO
special on abortion, If
These Walls Could Talk.
Nancy Savoca
attended New York University Film School. She
currently resides in West Nyack, NY.
For more information,
contact Renata Gangemim (201) 684-7367 or mgangemi@ramapo.edu.
