Scoring at Columbia

ASCAP helps launch Annual Columbia University Film Scoring Workshop

ASCAP's Sue Devine, instructor Alex Steyermark, Kots and The ASCAP Foundation's Colleen McDonough.

ASCAP partnered this Spring with the Film Division at Columbia University to launch the ASCAP/Columbia University Film Scoring Workshop, sponsored by Film Musician's Secondary Markets Fund, AFM Local 802 and RMA, with support from the ASCAP Foundation. The program was launched under the guidance of course instructor Alex Steyermark (director, One Last Thing, Prey For Rock and Roll; music supervisor for directors Ang Lee and Spike Lee). Four ASCAP composers scored the graduate thesis films for four Columbia University film students, and recorded their scores with an 11-piece ensemble at NYC's Legacy Studio. The films were screened, along with many student films, at the Annual Columbia Film School Film Festival this past May. The four sets of collaborators and their films were: filmmaker Nina Chernik and songwriter/composer John Francis � Maine Story; filmmaker Julia Kots and composer Avner Dorman � New Business; filmmaker Jonathan Roessler and composer David Mazjlin � First Period; and filmmaker Jose Luis Orbegozo and composer Alfonso Molina Ruibal � Proof of Birth.

Two of the workshop's projects went on to garner awards and acclaim. Julia Kots' New Business had a terrific screening and won the IFP Audience Choice Award at the Columbia University Film Festival. Jose Luis Orbegozo's Proof of Birth premiered at the festival and was honored as a Faculty Selects film at the festival - the highest recognition for a thesis film. A few months later it won the Best Short Film Award at the Long Island International Film Expo in Bellmore, NY. This event was carbon neutral with NativeEnergy.