Full Description
In this provocative and personal experimental short, four articulate children of Holocaust survivors participate in therapy sessions in which the therapist's perceptive, sarcastic, and occasionally irrelevant thoughts are printed in subtitles across the screen. A very thoughtful and honest film. Soundtrack includes Philip Glass' "Facades."
Filmmaker Bio(s)
Owen Shapiro
> Director, Film Program
> Syracuse University
> Art Media Studies, Shaffer Art Building 103
> Crawford Avenue
> Syracuse, NY 13224
> United States
> Phone: 315-445-0692 Fax: 315-443-1303
> Phone: Cellular:
> Email address:
> Website Address:
> Title(s):
> Dr. John Haney Sessions (1983) 17 minutes, 16mm. An experimental doc about 4
second generation, children of Holocaust survivors, recalling stories of
their survivor parents.
Open Secrets (1984), 30 minutes, color, 16mm, story about a 10 year old
boy who discovers that his parent survived the concentration camps
Thomas Szasz and the Myth of Mental Illnes (1989) 60 minutes, color,
16mm, experimental doc about arguably the most controversial psychiatrist of
our time. The film features William Buckley Jr. and Alan Dershowitz.
and Many Happy Returns (1995), 60 minutes, color, 16mm
experimental doc about Jewish Seniors in a summer camp in Brewster, NY
Trading Stories: the Czech Republic; 1996-1999 (1999) 60 minutes, video.
An experimental ethnographic doc about Jewish property restitution in the
Czech Republic.
Prisoners of Freedom: Greta's Story (2001) 30 minute, video about the 982
refugees at Fort Ontario, New York, allowed into this country by Pres.
Roosevelt in 1944. This is one of a 5 film project that involves over thirty
of these refugees and their children and grandchildren
Education
1966 Master of Fine Arts, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY
1964 Bachelor of Industrial Design, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Employment History
1973 Present Professor and Director of the Film Program, Department of
Art Media Studies, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse
University, Syracuse, New York
… Chair, Department of Art Media Studies (Film, Video, Computer Graphics,
and Photography) 1992 1995 and 1999
1984 Present Elder Hostel Professor, Educational Alliance, Brewster,
NY
1988 1989 Fulbright Scholar, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
1966 1973 Assistant Professor of Film and Photography, Northern
Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan
Administrative Experience at Syracuse University
… Designed and Developed BFA and MFA Film curricula.
… Designed space and furniture for film editing, animation, sound studio,
lighting studio, and film studies research lab for new film facility,
Shaffer Art Building.
… Responsible for the administration and operation of all filmmaking and
film studies facilities.
… Supervise all film faculty, teaching assistants, graduate assistants, and
work study employees.
… Administer course scheduling.
… Develop and Administer film program budget.
… Supervise film alumni and professional liaison.
… Direct faculty search committees.
… Mentor new faculty
… Advisor for BFA and MFA students and student thesis projects.
… Faculty mentor for Future Professorate Program (a university-wide
responsibility for supervising, evaluating, and teaching graduate assistants
to develop course syllabi and teaching methodologies).
… Administer student film showcases in the greater Syracuse area.
… Administer student film submissions to national and international film
festivals.
… Developed and Administered Summer Film Program for Syracuse University at
West Surrey College of Art and Design, Surrey, England, 1976 -1979
University, Community, and Professional Committee and Consultant Work
… Member, College of Visual and Performing Arts committee on Innovative
Curricula.
… Member, School of Art and Design Executive Council.
… Member, School of Art and Design Chairs Council.
… Member, School of Art and Design Ad-hoc Committee on Graduate Studies
… Member, School of Art and Design "Core Group" (an advisory committee on
the "future of the school").
… Member, Art Media Studies Promotion and Tenure Committee.
… Advisor, Hillel for its Jewish Film Festival.
… Consultant, Annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, Syracuse, N.Y.
… Consultant, Department of Film and Television, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
… Consultant, Educational Alliance Elder Hostel Program, Brewster, NY
… Member, Middle East Caucus, Society for Cinema Studies.
… Consultant, Jersey City College Media Arts Department, NJ, 1991-1995.
… Consultant, Charles Revson Foundation course development text on Israeli
Cinema, 1994
… Conference Director and Host, Society for Cinema Studies Annual
Conference, Syracuse, N.Y. 1980 and 1994
… Chair and member Fulbright Committee in Communications, Washington, DC
1990 1993
Teaching Experience
Filmmaking Studio Courses Film Studies Courses
Physical Aspects (intro to 16mm production) Film Aesthetics
Narrative Structures (intro to sync sound) Problems of Film
Perception
Experimental Production Surrealism and the Fantastic
Senior Project Problems of Intertext
Directing Music and Art in Film
Scriptwriting Experimental Forms
Graduate Project Hispanic Cinema
Graduate Thesis Project and Narrative Structures
Cinema Acting/Directing Luis Bunuel
Science Fiction and Fantasy
Godard and Experimental Narrative
Holocaust Cinema
Israeli Cinema
Film Pornography
Food and Dance in Film: The Semiotics of Coding
Theory of Narrative
Major Screenings, Awards, and Honors
2000 - Trading Stories: the Czech Republic; 1996-1999
… Screening at FAMU, Prague, Czech Republic
… Conference on the Study of Nations, Columbia University, NY
… Mount Holyoke College, Amherst, Mass
1999 Trading Stories: the Czech Republic; 1996-1999
… Dallas International Video Festival, Dallas, Texas
… Anthropology Department, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
1997 - and Many Happy Returns
… Free Speech TV cable broadcast on 60 stations nationwide
1996 - and Many Happy Returns
… 1st Prize, Athens International Film Festival, Ohio
… 1st Prize Jewish Video Festival, Berkeley, CA
… Director¹s Citation, Black Maria Film and Video Festival, NJ
… Invited to Melbourne International Film Festival, Australia
… Invited to World Wide Film and Video Festival, Berlin, Germany
… Tel-Aviv Cinematheque, Israel
… Jerusalem Cinematheque, Israel
1995 - and Many Happy Returns
… Premiere Screening, Manlius Cinema, Manlius, NY
… Rome Art Center, Rome, NY
1994 - Thomas Szasz and the Myth of Mental Illness
… Society for Cinema Studies Conference, Syracuse, NY
The Dr. John Haney Sessions
… Holocaust Remembrance Day, Morrisville, New Jersey, New York City,
Portland, Oregon, Tel-Aviv, Israel, London, England
1993 - Thomas Szasz and the Myth of Mental Illness
… Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
… 220 prints and videos sold to universities and libraries, world-wide
1991 - Thomas Szasz and the Myth of Mental Illness
… 8th Biennial John Muir Medical Center Film Festival, Walnut Creek, CA
1990 - Thomas Szasz and the Myth of Mental Illness
… Athens International Film Festival, Ohio
… Jerusalem Cinematheque, Israel
… Haifa Cinematheque, Israel
… Tel-Aviv Cinematheque, Israel
… WCNY, a PBS affiliate, broadcast, Syracuse, NY
… American Psychoanalytic Association Conference, Boston, Mass.
Highway Girl
… London Filmmakers Cooperative Showcase, England
… Haifa Cinematheque, Israel
… Utica College, Utica, NY
The Dr. John Haney Sessions
… Haifa Cinematheque, Israel
… National Symposium of Psychiatrists, Psychologists, and Social Workers,
Tel-Aviv, Israel
1988 - The Dr. John Haney Sessions
… London Jewish Film Festival, England
… National Film Theater, London, England
Highway Girl
… Athens International Film Festival, Ohio
Open Secrets
… Tel-Aviv Cinematheque, Israel
The Dr. John Haney Sessions
… Tel-Aviv Cinematheque, Israel
Metamorphic Architecture
… Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark
1987 - Highway Girl
… Orion Theater, Tel-Aviv, Israel
… Tel-Aviv Cinematheque, Israel
… Jerusalem Cinematheque, Israel
… Camera Obscura, Tel-Aviv, Israel
… University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont
… Media Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY
Open Secrets
… Jerusalem Cinematheque, Israel
… Tel-Aviv Cinematheque, Israel
… Haifa Cinematheque, Israel
The Dr. John Haney Sessions
… Jerusalem Cinematheque, Israel
… Tel-Aviv Cinematheque, Israel
… Haifa Cinematheque, Israel
… Camera Obscura, Tel-Aviv, Israel
… Fastlich Seminars, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
… Generation of Continuance, Tel-Aviv, Israel
… University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont
1986 Open Secrets
… Tel-Aviv University, Israel
… Holocaust Remembrance Day, Elmira, NY
The Dr. John Haney Sessions
… San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, San Francisco, CA
… C.E.P.E. Gallery, Buffalo, NY
… Tel-Aviv University, Israel
… Holocaust Remembrance Day, Elmira, NY
This That and Everything
… Cazanovia College Art Gallery, Cazanovia, NY
This That and Everything No. 2
… Cazanovia College Art Gallery, Cazanovia, NY
Chameleon
… Frames of Mind Exposition, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY
1985 - Open Secrets
… Colgate University Holocaust Remembrance Day, Hamilton, NY
The Dr. John Haney Sessions
… Colgate University Holocaust Remembrance Day, Hamilton, NY
1984 - This That and Everything
… Videopool, Winnipeg, Canada
This That and Everything No. 2
… Videopool, Winnipeg, Canada
1983 - Taped Sessions
… American Independent Film Expo Invitational, Hong Kong
This That and Everything
… Moving Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA
This That and Everything No. 2
… Moving Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Act 2
… American Independent Film Expo Invitational, Hong Kong
Begin Now What Will Be
… American Independent Film Expo Invitational, Hong Kong
1982 - Taped Sessions
… Athens International Film Festival, Ohio
… London Filmmakers Cooperative Showcase, England
… Filmworks, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
This That and Everything
… Athens International Video Festival, Ohio
… Hall Walls Gallery, Buffalo, NY
… Ontario College of Art, Women¹s Studies Symposium, Toronto, Canada
… Permanent collection, Long Beach Museum of Art, CA and Art Metropole,
Toronto, Canada
Act 2
… Filmworks, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
1981 - Paradigms
… Athens International Film Festival, Ohio
1980 - Act 2
… Golden Athena, best short film, Athens International Film Festival, Ohio
… New York Independent Filmmakers Exposition, Metropolitan Museum Of Art,
NYC
… London Filmmakers Cooperative Showcase, England
Metamorphic Architecture
… International Conference on Architecture, Moscow, USSR
… International Conference on Architecture, MIT, Cambridge, Mass.
1979 - Chameleon
… London Filmmakers Cooperative Showcase, England
1978 The Last Resort
… Merit Prize, Screenwriting competition, Athens International Film
Festival, Ohio
1978 - Chameleon
… Edinburgh International Film Festival, Scotland
… Athens International Film Festival, Ohio
… Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
… Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY
… London Filmmakers Cooperative Showcase, England
Begin Now What Will Be
… Festival Henri Langlois, Tours, France
1977 - Begin Now What Will Be
… Athens International Film Festival, Ohio
… Chicago International Film Festival, Illinois
… Cinemedia, Rochester, NY
… Artists For Democracy Gallery, London, England
Hide and Seek
… Cinemedia, Rochester, NY
… Artists For Democracy Gallery, London, England
A Public Service Announcement
… Cinemedia, Rochester, NY
1976 Begin Now What Will Be
… Cinematheque Francaise, "Homage Owen Shapiro" Paris, France
Metamorphic Architecture
… International Conference on Architecture, Warsaw, Poland
… International Conference on Architecture, Montreal, Canada
Hide and Seek
… Cinematheque Francaise, "Homage Owen Shapiro" Paris, France
… National Independent Filmmakers Expo, Brooklyn Academy Of Art, NY
… Film Series, Wilmington, Delaware
A Public Service Announcement
… Cinematheque Francaise, "Homage Owen Shapiro" Paris, France
Search and Discovery of A Victim
… Cinematheque Francaise, Paris, "Homage Owen Shapiro"
… Douglas Film Festival, New Brunswick, NJ
… National Independent Filmmakers Expo, NYU Graduate Center, NYC
… Everson Museum, Syracuse, NY
1974 - A Public Service Announcement
… TV broadcast, channels 9 and 51, NYC
1973 - A Public Service Announcement
… Special Jury Award, American International Film Festival, Washington, DC
1970 - A Flicker of Blank Sprocket Holes
… San Francisco International Film Festival, CA
… National Independent Filmmakers Expo, Brooklyn Academy Of Art, NY
Films Reviewed
1998 - The Dr. John Haney Sessions and Open Secrets
… Children Of Job: American Second-Generation Witnesses to the Holocaust by
Alan Berger, State University of New York Press, Chapter 5
… Paper on "Second Generation Films" by Michal Friedman, International
Conference in Film Studies, Tel-Aviv Cinematheque, Israel
1992 - Thomas Szasz and the Myth of Mental Illness
… "Cinema Journal", Israel
1990 - Thomas Szasz and the Myth of Mental Illness
… "Ha-aretz" (newspaper), Israel
1988 - The Dr. John Haney Sessions and Open Secrets
… "Ha-er" Arts Magazine, Israel
1985 - Open Secrets
… "Afterimage" article by Lester Friedman
1984 - The Dr. John Haney Sessions
… "Afterimage" article by Lester Friedman
Taped Sessions
… "South China Morning Post" Hong Kong
Act 2
… "South China Morning Press" Hong Kong
1982 - Taped Sessions
… "Time Out" London, England
Act 2
… "Time Out" London, England
Chameleon
… "Time Out" London, England
1980 - Act 2
… "Filmmakers Newsletter" article by Edgar Daniels
1979 - Chameleon
… "Afterimage" article by Scott McDonald
1977 - Begin Now What Will Be
… "Filmmakers Newsletter" article by Edgar Daniels
Publications and Conference Papers
1990 - Present "Point Of Contact"
… Associate Editor for this international arts journal (literature, media,
music, and fine arts)
2000 - "Israeli Cinema" chapter in the book International Film Industries
edited by
Gorham Kindem, Southern Illinois University Press
1999 - "David Perlov¹s Diary"
… Invited paper for the national honoring of David Perlov, Tel-Aviv, Israel
1998 - "Seeing the Personal: Two Israeli Masterpieces"
… Invited paper, International Symposium on Film Studies, Tel-Aviv, Israel
… Society for Cinema Studies, San Diego, CA
1997 - "Music and Film: A Conversation with Philip Glass"
… Article written with Andrew Waggoner, "Point of Contact"
" Filmmaking and Ethnic Boundaries: A Conversation with Wayne Wang"
… Article written with Chen-Tsung Yau, "Point of Contact"
"Israeli Cinema"
… Invited chapter for book on international cinemas, edited by Hap Kindem,
University of North Carolina
1996 - "Pornography: the Last Challenge to Cinematic Narrative"
… Invited paper, International Symposium on Film Studies, Tel-Aviv, Israel
1994 - "Visual Strategy and Point-of-View in Israeli Cinema"
… Society for Cinema Studies Conference, Syracuse, NY
… Invited paper, International Symposium on Film Studies, Tel-Aviv, Israel
1993 - "Imaging the Holocaust"
… Society for Cinema Studies, New Orleans, Louisiana
1992 - "Documentary Theory and Practice"
… Society for Cinema Studies, Pittsburgh, PA
"Theory of Film Acting"
… Keynote paper, International Symposium, International Student Film
Festival, Tel-Aviv, Israel
"David Mamet¹s On Directing"
… Film Literature Quarterly
1991 - "Confronting the Audience: Films on Children of Survivors"
… Society for Cinema Studies, USC, CA
1990 - "Their Holocaust Upon Seeing Ours"
… Article written with Tom Friedmann, translated and published in Hebrew for
"Cinema Journal" Tel-Aviv, Israel
… Lecture, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
"Music and Sound in Film"
… Introductory paper, International Symposium: International Student Film
Festival, Tel-Aviv, Israel
1989 - "Their Holocaust Upon Seeing Ours"
… Article written with Tom Friedmann, "Jump Cut"
"The Dr. John Haney Sessions"
… Paper for the International Conference on Jewish Film and Jewish Studies,
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
1988 - "Theory of the Script as Pre-textual Construction"
… International Symposium on Scriptwriting, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
1986 - "Re-constructing Bunuel"
… Article written with Pedro Cuperman, "LAMP 1986"
1985 - "The Artist As Critic"
… Invited paper, "Criticism On the Cumberland" Austen Peay University, Tenn.
"The Winter There Was Very Little Snow: the Films of Walter Ungerer"
… Article for "LAMP 1985"
"Re-constructing Bunuel"
… Society for Cinema Studies, NYU, NY
1984 - "The Imaginary Text of the Critic"
… "Critical Investigations" symposium, St. Laurence University, NY
1983 - "The Avant Garde in Film and Television"
… Society for Cinema Studies, University of Pittsburgh, PA
1979 - "Film Theory and the Tree of Life"
… Society for Cinema Studies, San Francisco State, CA
Additional Professional Activities
… Panelist, Media Arts, Ohio Arts Council, 1998
… Judge, International Student Film Festival, Tel-Aviv, Israel 1988, 1990,
1992, 1994, 1996
… Chair of Arts and Humanities Curriculum Committee, Manlius Pebble High
School, Manlius, NY 1995 1996
… Panelist, New York Foundation for the Arts, Film, 1994
… Originated, organized and operated the Critical Studies Seminars, an
all-university faculty symposium on the arts. Syracuse University, 1989
1994
… Judge, Black Maria Film and Video Festival, NJ, 1989
… Judge, New York Independent Film and Video Festival, BACA, 1989
… Co- Director, National Independent Filmmakers Expo, 1972 1979
Grants
2001 - $1,000
… From the Cultural Resource Council of Central New York for the production
of Prisoners of Freedom, a 2 hour video docu/drama on 1000 European
refugees placed in an abandoned army barrack in Oswego, NY in 1944. Other
grants are pending.
2000 - $7,000
… New York Foundation for the Arts for Prisoners of Freedom
$16,000
… Syracuse University for Prisoners of Freedom
$3,000
… Charney Foundation for Prisoners of Freedom
$1,500
… Niagara Council for the Arts for Prisoners of Freedom
$1,000
… Cultural Resource Council of Central New York for Prisoners of Freedom
1997 - $3,000
… From Eastman Kodak for Outstanding Film School
1994 - $7,500
… For the production of and Many Happy Returns, Syracuse University
1993 - $3,000
… From Eastman Kodak for Outstanding Film School
1991 - $4,000
… From the Academy Foundation, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
for Outstanding Film School
1989 - $8,000
… For the production of Learning With Shakespeare, New York State Council
for the Arts
1988 - $35,000
… For the production of Thomas Szasz and the Myth of Mental Illness, Health
Science Center, State University of NY, the Hartenstein Foundation
1988 - $6,500
… For the production of L¹Chaim, Isabelle Friedman Elder Center
1983 - $10,000
… For the production of The Dr. John Haney Sessions and Open Secrets, The
American Jewish Congress, the 1939 Club, World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust
Survivors, and the Syracuse Jewish Federation
1980 - $5,000
… For the production of Paradigms, Ford Foundation
1978 - $5,000
… For the production of Chameleon, Ford Foundation
1975 - $3,000
… For the production of Hide and Seek, Collaborations In Art, Science, and
Technology
1974 - $3,000
… For the production of Search and Discovery of a Victim, Collaboration In
Art, Science, and Technology
1972 - $10,000
… For the production of A Public Service Announcement, Office of Economic
Opportunity, Washington, DC, and the Alger-Marquette Community Action Board,
Michigan
1972 - $6,000
… For the production of Re-orientation, Northern Michigan University
1970 - $9,000
… For the production of Its Dark In The Woods Isn¹t It?, Northern Michigan
University
Projects in Progress
… Chamber of Multiplying Mirrors, a film theory book written with Pedro
Cuperman explores issues of intertextuality, parallelism, visual strategy,
and the sound/image relationship.
… Prisoners of Freedom, a feature length docu/drama, shot in digital video
for blow up to 35mm, on a group of 1000 European refugees held in an
abandoned army barracks from 1944 until the end of WW2. To be completed in
May, 2001.
References
… J. Leighton Pierce, film/video maker, University of Iowa
319-353-2260
leighton-pierce@uiowa.edu
… Peter Wollen, filmmaker/film theorist, UCLA
310-441-9145
Pwollen@ucla.edu
… Walter Ungerer, filmmaker/computer graphic artist
802-223-3369
Ungerer@plainfield.bypass.com
