Cathy Schulman does not hesitate to say which film festival she
prefers over all others.
“There’s nothing I love more than Sundance,”
said Schulman, who teaches in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and
Television’s producers program. “I always feel hopeful
that my films will premiere there, first and foremost.”
Schulman, a longtime film producer and executive, has reason to
feel affection toward the renowned Park City, Utah, film showcase.
For three years during the mid-1990s, she was the festival’s
co-director of programming, meaning that she was in part
responsible for which movies made the bill.
Additionally, she has entered Sundance multiple times as a
producer ““ including the 2006 festival, which kicks off
today.
This year Schulman is premiering “The Illusionist,”
a period piece set in Vienna in 1900. The film, written and
directed by Neil Burger and starring Edward Norton and Paul
Giamatti, tells the story of a magician who attempts to conquer
obstacles of social class for his love for a princess.
“I’m always looking for material that is highly
articulate and stands out as specific and distinctive,”
Schulman said. “(“˜The Illusionist’) is a period
piece done with a contemporary storytelling style ““ a mystery
with a great twist.”
She believes the film’s style isn’t the only thing
contemporary about it.
“The themes are so relevant to today ““ this is about
social stratification and how it destroys countries and personal
love,” she said. “That’s a universal theme that
will always exist. This is a fresh way to approach it in a period
piece.”
“The Illusionist” is not the only film Schulman has
produced that attempts specific social commentary. Her production
company, Bull’s Eye Entertainment, was responsible for
2005’s “Crash,” a simmering account of race
relations in Los Angeles that is receiving a lot of notice this
awards season.
“”˜Crash’ is the ultimate in
satisfaction,” Schulman said. “It is an example of a
film that is made with a social, ideological purpose, is not only a
success financially but critically, and has made an impact on the
society of the world over. It doesn’t happen often that you
can make people think about things.”
“Crash” is up for numerous guild awards, including
one for Schulman from the Producer’s Guild, and it looks to
have the inside track on an Academy Award nomination for Best
Picture. But for Schulman, the best reward for “Crash”
has already been handed out.
“The greatest honor was being nominated at the NAACP Image
Awards,” she said. “(Also,) being added to a lot of
curriculums ““ not just of film classes but also of history
classes. The fact that “˜Crash’ has made at least a
positive step in the national debate on racism, and that it
encourages filmmakers to make socially relevant work, is well worth
it.”
At UCLA, the film was part of the curriculum of Film and
Television 112, “Film and Social Change,” this past
quarter.
It has long been part of Schulman’s strategy as a producer
to bring new voices to the screen, usually in the form of
thought-provoking independent efforts.
“My whole background has been based in independent
film,” she said.
After working at the production company Vestron in the late
1980s, Schulman became an executive at Sovereign Pictures, which
was headed up by Barbara Boyle, the current chair of the department
of Film, Television and Digital Media at UCLA. At Sovereign,
Schulman worked on films such as “Cinema Paradiso,”
“My Left Foot” and “The Commitments,” which
became independent landmarks.
“The roots of the more successful, economically reasonable
independent films as a business began with (Sovereign),” she
said. “It was exciting because we had so much success early
on. We really paved the way for internationally co-financed film
production, which is independent film of today.”
After Sovereign, Schulman moved on to the job at Sundance, where
she programmed some of the first films by now-revered directors
such as Robert Rodriguez, Paul Thomas Anderson and David O.
Russell.
Following that position, Schulman worked at various independent
production companies before forming Bull’s Eye in 2002.
However, it was Schulman’s busy professional life of
producing films and rushing them off to festivals that eventually
led her to a position at UCLA.
“Teaching at UCLA comes entirely out of my association
with Barbara Boyle. We’ve done so many panels and conferences
together about independent filmmaking. She kept saying, “˜You
need to teach,'” said Schulman.
“I’m enjoying it a lot. Its been a great way to not
just give back, but also to get reinvigorated myself and to hear
new minds ready to tackle this business.”
For Schulman, succeeding in the business has always been tied to
an aspiration that predates film itself.
“The roots of my interest in producing is a real desire to
be a storyteller,” she said. “You’re responsible
for finding and identifying a story that touches you, and you get
the job of making it be able to touch the world.”
For additional coverage of the Sundance Film Festival, read
the A&E insert in today’s Daily Bruin.