May 8, 2002
New York, NY (March 6, 2002) – Filmmaker Spike Lee, television pioneer Don Hewitt, actress, author, and past Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts Jane Alexander, the trio heading Sony Pictures Classics – Michael Barker, Marcie Bloom and Tom Bernard – 15th Congressional District of New York Representative Charles B. Rangel, and the John Huston Award recipient Elliot Silverstein will be among those honored at the at the third annual Directors Guild of America Honors. The University of California Los Angeles' (UCLA) Film Program will be presented a $10,000 scholarship award at the black-tie gala that will be held at The Waldorf-Astoria on June 9, 2002.
"Since its inauguration in 1999, the DGA Honors has built a place for itself in the television and film community as one of the most exciting events in the performing arts calendar," commented DGA President Martha Coolidge.
The evening will celebrate individuals and organizations that have made distinguished contributions to our nation's culture in support of filmmaking and television. The membership of the Directors Guild of America, other top entertainment industry professionals, union, government and business leadership from across the nation are expected to attend. All honorees will be present to accept their award.
"Directors Guild of America Honors is proud to acknowledge remarkable contributions to American culture," said DGA National Vice President Ed Sherin. "The honorees are each highly accomplished individuals distinguished in their respective fields of endeavor, and we are proud to recognize their outstanding talents through DGA Honors. And the Directors Guild of America Honors scholarship is given to foster the artistic and creative spirit of the next generation of filmmakers. This award acknowledges the tremendous contribution that the UCLA Film Program has made to the world of film."
Filmmaker Spike Lee has directed and produced more than 25 films, including Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, She's Gotta Have It (winner of the Prix de Jeunesse Award at Cannes), School Daze, Do the Right Thing (which won him a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination), Mo' Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X, Crooklyn, Girl 6, Get on the Bus, 4 Little Girls (nominated for a Best Documentary Feature Oscar), He Got Game, and Summer of Sam. Considered one of the most influential filmmakers in contemporary cinema, Spike Lee played a role in ushering in a climate of newfound respect for African-American filmmakers and actors.
During his career at CBS News, which has spanned more than a half century, Don Hewitt was the first executive producer of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, produced and directed the coverage of the flights of the seven Mercury Astronauts, produced the first television debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, and directed the CBS coverage of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and Pope John XXIII, as well as the funeral of Winston Churchill.
Despite his hand in all those news-making events and others, Don Hewitt's is best known to millions of television viewers for his pioneering role in bringing to television the American institution known as 60 MINUTES. He kept the broadcast in the Top Ten for a record-breaking 22 consecutive years, during which 60 MINUTES became America's most watched broadcast once in the 1970s, once in the 1980s and twice in the 1990s.
Jane Alexander won a Tony Award for her Broadway debut performance in 1968 in The Great White Hope, and has since been nominated for performances in six other roles. Her film and television career has been equally active, and her extensive credits include Oscar-nominated roles in The Great White Hope, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, and Testament, as well as her notable television roles of Eleanor Roosevelt in the much heralded miniseries Eleanor and Franklin, Georgia O'Keeffe in the PBS production A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Steiglitz, and an Emmy-winning turn as Alma Rosé in Playing for Time, as well as five other Emmy nominations.
In addition to her remarkable acting career, Jane Alexander has recently penned and published her autobiography Command Performance: An Actress in the Theater of Politics, which examines her term as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts under President Clinton during his first term in office. A champion of public arts funding, Jane Alexander is widely credited with saving the NEA from extinction during her tumultuous term in office. Under her leadership, the NEA was carefully reorganized, partnerships were formed with other agencies to offset the lack of resources and measures were implemented in the grant-making process. The NEA gave Jane a platform from which she could enhance her active promotion of the importance of the arts in communities across America and encourage a cooperative attitude amongst national arts organizations. Although Jane has since resigned from the NEA, she continues to be a key proponent for the arts and First Amendment rights.
Michael Barker, Tom Bernard, and Marcie Bloom are the Co-Presidents of Sony Pictures Classics, a company founded in January 1992 that distributes, finances and produces independent films from America and around the world.
As Co-Presidents, Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marcie Bloom have distinguished themselves as champions of the world's finest independent filmmakers including Akira Kurosawa, John Boorman, Louis Malle, David Mamet, James Ivory, Zhang Yimou, Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, Allison Anders, Agniezska Holland, John Sayles, Errol Morris, Alan Rudolph, Hal Hartley, Pedro Almodovar, Mike Figgis, Woody Allen, and Ang Lee. They have released some of the best and most successful independent films over the past decade including Howards End, Crumb, Safe, Vanya on 42nd Street, Persuasion, Orlando, Welcome to the Dollhouse, Lone Star, Waiting for Guffman, In The Company of Men, The Spanish Prisoner, The Opposite of Sex, Central Station, Run Lola Run, The Winslow Boy (which they produced and fully financed), The Tao of Steve, and multiple Academy Award-winner Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Congressman Charles B. Rangel is serving his sixteenth term as the Representative from the 15th Congressional District of New York, comprising East and Central Harlem, the Upper West Side, and Washington Heights/Inwood. As a Congressional advisor to the U.S. Trade Representative, Rangel is a member of several committees and participates in international conferences and negotiating sessions on trade issues. He is the senior Democratic Member of the Committee on Ways and Means, Deputy Democratic Whip of the House of Representatives, a Co-Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Dean of the New York State Congressional Delegation. He is also the principal author of the five billion dollar Federal Empowerment Zone demonstration project to revitalize urban neighborhoods throughout America.
Congressman Rangel is a founding member and former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus; he was also chairman of the New York State Council of Black Elected Democrats and was a member of the House Judiciary Committee during the hearings on the articles of impeachment of President Richard Nixon. He was elected to the 92nd Congress on November 3, 1970, and has been re-elected to each succeeding congress.
The John Huston Award was established by the DGA's Artists Rights Foundation in 1993 to advance the cause that Director John Huston passionately believed in and for which he campaigned throughout his lifetime – artists' rights. Elliot Silverstein has served as President of the Artists Rights Foundation since its inception in 1991. He has earned many directing credits including Cat Ballou, starring Jane Fonda and Lee Marvin, which won an Academy Award for Marvin; The Happening, starring Faye Dunaway; and A Man Called Horse, starring Richard Harris, which was awarded Best Western of the Year by the Western Heritage Center. His theater credits include directing the world premiere, Trouble in Tahiti, an opera by Leonard Bernstein, A Swim in the Sea by Jess Gregg and Maybe Tuesday by Mel Tolkin.
The UCLA Film Program brings together the arts of theater, film and television in one academic institution. At UCLA, filmmakers learn valuable stage production skills and designers explore every aspect of the visual - from soap opera to grand opera, and many of the most respected names in the entertainment and communication arts are UCLA alumni.
Consistently ranked among the leading institutions in the nation, the School is made up of the Department of Theater and the Department of Film and Television. The School offers comprehensive production and teaching facilities, and attracts outstanding faculty, distinguished visiting artists and scholars, and superior students from this country and abroad. Students have access to the internationally recognized UCLA Film and Television Archive, the largest university based archive in the world, second only in size and scope to the Library of Congress.
The Second Annual DGA Honors honorees included filmmakers Mike Nichols, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, labor leader Thomas C. Short, Screen Gems Studios/North Carolina president Frank Capra, Jr. and filmmaker Sydney Pollack, and the DGA Honors Scholarship was awarded to the Columbia University Film Program. The presenters included Tom Cruise, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ron Howard and Shirley Maclaine, with Ellen Degeneres as host. A committee of DGA members appointed by DGA National Vice President Ed Sherin selects honorees.
This year's presenters include:
Halle Berry
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Francis Ford Coppola
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Tipper Gore
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Tim Robbins
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Martin Scorsese
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Howard Stringer
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Founded in 1936 by 13 of Hollywood's leading filmmakers, including the legendary John Ford and King Vidor, the Directors Guild of America is the nation's pre-eminent organization representing directors and members of the directorial team. The Directors Guild of America represents 11,872 members who work in feature film, filmed, taped and live television, commercials, and documentaries, including Directors, Unit Production Managers, Assistant Directors, Associate Directors, Technical Coordinators, Stage Managers and Production Associates.
The DGA Honors were originally scheduled for November 17th, 2001 and were postponed following the tragic events of September 11th. The National Board of the DGA voted unanimously to donate $100,000 to aid the victims of the attacks to the September 11 Fund.
Directors Guild of America Honors 2002, on Sunday, June 9th, will begin with a cocktail reception at 6:00 PM, dinner at 7:00 PM, followed by the awards presentation at 8:00 PM at the Waldorf-Astoria (301 Park Avenue, between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan).