TO PRESENT “PORTRAIT OF THE CUBAN-AMERICAN ARTIST AS A YOUNG NEW YORK FILMMAKER,”

NYS Writers Institute, October 8, 2010
7:30 p.m. Film clips and commentary | Page Hall, 135 western Ave.,
Downtown Campus
4:15 p.m. Seminar | (NOTE ROOM CHANGE) Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, Uptown Campus

CALENDAR LISTING:
Hugo Perez, emerging film director, will offer commentary on clips from his work as part of a program entitled “Portrait of the Cuban-American Artist as a Young New York Filmmaker,” at 7:30 p.m., Friday, October 8, 2010, in Page Hall on the University at Albany’s downtown campus. Earlier that same day at 4:15 p.m. the filmmaker will present an informal seminar in the Recital Hall, Performing Arts Center, on the uptown campus. Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute, the events are free and open to the public.

PROFILE
Hugo Perez, former NYSWI videographer and director of its WMHT television series, “The Writer,” is a rising filmmaker whose work often explores literary subjects as well as his Cuban-American heritage. Perez will talk about his career and show clips from a broad selection of his work in a program entitled, “Portrait of the Cuban-American Artist as a Young New York Filmmaker.”

Perez is the recipient of the 2009 Estela Award for Documentary Filmmaking presented by NALIP – the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. In 2008, he was the recipient of the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation/Tribeca Film Institute Emerging Artist Fellowship in support of his feature screenplay, IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, a Spanish language dark comedy which re-imagines the Virgin Mary story in Miami’s Little Havana. Perez is currently developing that screenplay for his feature film directorial debut.

Perez’s short film BETTY LA FLACA was the winner of the 2006 HBO/NYILFF Short Film Award and was broadcast on the HBO networks through Fall 2008. Perez’s previous short film JULIETA Y RAMON was broadcast as part of the 2005 Showtime Latino Filmmaker Showcase, which spotlights the work of emerging Latino directors, and was recently re-broadcast on the PBS series REEL NEW YORK.

Perez’s feature-length documentaries include NEITHER MEMORY NOR MAGIC (2007), which explores the life, work, and legacy of the Hungarian poet Miklos Radnoti who died in 1944 during the Holocaust. The film is narrated by the Academy Award- nominated actress Patricia Clarkson and edited by Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Francisco Bello and Tim Sternberg. Perez also produced and directed the ITVS-funded documentary SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON (2008), which follows quirky composer and conductor Rob Kapilow and Blackfeet poet Darrell Kipp through the process of creating a symphony about the Lewis and Clark expedition of 1803 from the point of view of American Indians today. (Note: the Institute will screen SUMMER SUN WINTER MOON on Friday, November 5, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. in Page Hall on the University at Albany’s downtown campus). His short documentary, THE OLD MAN AND HEMINGWAY (2004) was selected for a program of “Outstanding Short Films” by the Museum of Modern Art.

Perez directed 48 half-hour episodes of “The Writer” for the NYS Writers Institute and WMHT beginning in 1997, featuring a broad selection of participants in the Institute’s Visiting Writers Series. A writer himself, Perez has published pieces in the “New York Times” magazine and on the website, Salon.com. He currently serves on the board for the New York Council for the Humanities. In 2008, he was also spotlighted as a success story in the Chivas Regal “Spirit of Success” advertising campaign.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at https://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.