American Cinematheque Filmmaking Seminar Series
with Thomas Ethan Harris
IN THE CUT
EMPLOYING THE ART OF EDITING
Thursday, February 17, 2011
7:30pm – 10:30pm
Spielberg Screening Room
Egyptian Theatre – Hollywood, CA
Cost: $15.00 for HOLLYWOOD SHORTS filmmakers
at the Egyptian Theatre Box Office
The shower scene in PSYCHO.
Two glamorous bank robbers’s final end in BONNIE AND CLYDE.
A runaway baby carriage in BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN.
Lack of continuity in BREATHLESS.
Chances are you first remember these master works for their editing. But when do you employ the jump cut, avoid a reverse shot, or elliptically cut? What is their actual effect?
What is “dialectical montage”, “suturing” and how does “cutting to a character’s POV” enhance a film?
Film and Festival Consultant Thomas Ethan Harris leads a discussion where everything’s in the cut.
All HOLLYWOOD SHORTS filmmakers & community are invited to join the February installment of the Cinematheque’s monthly seminar series with a discount on the ticket price when purchased at the box office on the day of the seminar. Mention HOLLYWOOD SHORTS at the box office when purchasing your tickets to received our member discount. Tickets are available at the box office 90 minutes prior to the event.
Cheap Parking! The American Cinematheque’s Egyptian and Spielberg Theatres validate only for HOLLYWOOD AND HIGHLAND, $2 for 4 hours (each additional 20 minutes is $1.) LA Film School Lot, 6363 West Sunset Boulevard (enter on east side of Ivar, north of Sunset). $5 Lot closes at 1am.
Please visit the American Cinematheque website for more information www.americancinematheque.com
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Thomas Ethan Harris
Thomas Ethan Harris has served as the Director Of Programming for numerous organizations and non-profits including the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films and the Palm Springs Cultural Center. The experience of overseeing these selection committees has given Harris a unique insight into the contemporary world of independent filmmaking.
Harris holds a Masters Degree in World Film History/Film Theory and Criticism from the University of Southern California, School of Cinema-Television.
From 1996-2002 Thomas served as Director of Programming/Co-Creator of the highly regarded Los Angeles Film Festival (LAFF). Under his guidance, the Los Angeles Film Festival introduced such films as THE CRUISE (Artisan), THE CHATEAU (IFC), DEAD MAN (Miramax), GEORGE WASHINGTON (Cowboy), KAATERSKILL FALLS (IFC), BETTER LIVING THROUGH CIRCUITRY (Palm Pictures), THE LIFESTYLE (Sony Classics) and KISSING JESSICA STEIN (Fox Searchlight). He is credited with having introduced to the film world such acclaimed contemporary filmmakers as Academy Award nominee Bennett Miller (CAPOTE), New York Film Critics Circle Prize Winner, David Gordan Green (ALL THE REAL GIRLS), Charles Wurmfeld (KISSING JESSICA STEIN) and Thomas Bezucha (THE FAMILY STONE). Also in 1995, Mr. Harris founded (with Margot Gerber) and programmed the American Cinematheque’s critically acclaimed, on-going screening series, THE ALTERNATIVE SCREEN. The Alternative Screen, which celebrated its 10th Anniversary in 2005, focuses on cinema that is more expressive in its narrative dimensions and more formally challenging than most American film work today. Upon leaving LAFF in late 2002, Mr. Harris was selected as one of Variety’s “TOP 10 Industry Professionals to Watch” in the American Independent Film arena. Mr. Harris has served as a jury member to countless film festivals and as the Director Of Programming to both the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films (2003-4) and the Palm Springs Native American and Indigenous Peoples Film Festival (2005-present). Most recently, Mr. Harris has offered his talents as a curator and a consultant/film festival creator to the International Emerging Talent Film Festival in Monte Carlo, Monaco, which had its film festival debut in May 2007. Most recently, Mr. Harris served as the co-creator and Artistic Director of the Palm Springs Cultural Center which focuses on emerging talent in all realms of the arts. Since 2003, Mr. Harris has owned and operated his own successful Los Angeles-based consulting business which works closely with a variety of film artists and producers from all over the United States and the international film community in all aspects of film financing, film production, screenwriting, film direction and visualization. Harris’ company was founded with the principle that we have yet to see the potential of cinema and we must secure a way for a new generation of film artists and for new filmic expressions. Among his many clients are filmmakers from Argentina, China, England, France, Norway, Uruguay, and the United States and such motion pictures as THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, BIG EDEN, KISSING JESSICA STEIN, ADIOS MOMO, Disney’s 2004 Oscar-nominated Salvador Dali/Walt Disney short DESTINO, TWO SOLDIERS, winner of the 2004 Academy Award for “Best Live Action Short Film” and RYAN, winner of the 2005 Academy Award for “Best Animated Short Film.“
American Cinematheque Filmmaking Seminar Series
The American Cinematheque debuted its Filmmaking Seminars for Filmmakers and other artists in September 2007 with the concept of offering concrete, practical information on a variety of filmmaking, marketing, creative and business practices at a very reasonable cost to the many independent filmmakers working in the Los Angeles area.
Film consultant and festival programmer Thomas Ethan Harris leads many of the seminars in tandem with guest speakers working in the spotlighted fields.
MEN OR MICE
THE “F” WORD
So much to say about George, and yet words seem so deficient. This short film was a collaboration between Billy Bob Thornton and George, born from a character study Billy Bob developed as part of his 1986 one-man play “Swine Before Pearls”. George and Billy Bob first worked together on George’s feature “Ghost Brigade”, then George came on to direct Billy Bob’s short script. The film was shot in three days in a Simi Valley hospital that was the location of “Terminator 2”. Billy Bob went on to win the Academy Award for Best Screenplay for the feature version of Karl’s story, which he also directed and starred in. Watching the short film navigate the process from short fest programs to Academy Award Winning Feature was a gamechanger for me personally. The power of this film changed the way I thought of shorts, and their place in my own life and filmmaking career. I started HOLLYWOOD SHORTS the next year. 
