2011 Documentary Film Fund winner 'Cutie and the Boxer'
Photo by Eric Jonsson
SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grant 2010 winner
Cutie and the Boxer
Dir. Zachary Heinzerling
Procuders: Patrick Burns, Sierra Pettingill,Caroline Waterlow
Awarded $50,000 for Post production 2011
Link: www.cutieandtheboxer.com
THE FILM
A meditation on companionship, sacrifice, and the creative spirit, this love story explores the chaotic forty-year marriage of two New York-based Japanese artists. Cutie & the Boxer chronicles a unique love story between two Japanese artists and reveals the roots of their relationship. Ushio Shinohara achieved notoriety in postwar Japan with his avant-garde boxing paintings, and in 1969 moved to New York City in search of international recognition. Three years later, at age 19, Noriko left Japan to study art in New York and was instantly captivated by the middle-aged Shinohara. She abandoned her education and became the wife of an unruly, alcoholic husband. Forty years into their marriage the Shinoharas’ art and personalities are the basis for a deep and challenging symbiosis. Cutie & the Boxer reveals painful, universal truths about the lives of artists and examines how the creative process intersects with reality, identity and marriage.
THE FILMMAKERS
Zachary Heinzerling Director/DP most recently was a field producer on the Emmy award-winning HBO documentary series 24/7. He has worked on several feature length documentaries for HBO, including three Emmy award-winners, Lombardi, Breaking the Huddle, and Assault in the Ring, as an Associate Producer and DP. Other DP credits include spots for MTV, Pitchfork TV, and Esquire Magazine.
Patrick Burns Producer/2nd Camera, is a journalist and photographer based in New York. He began studying Japanese art and culture while living in Japan, where he became conversant in the language. As a reporter in the New York bureau of the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper, he covered political and cultural events in the U.S. and Latin America. His writing and photographs have appeared in several online and print publications, such as the Huffington Post, the Guardian, and National Geographic.
Sierra Pettengill Producer, has worked in various research and production capacities on many award-winning documentary films. For PBS’s AMERICAN EXPERIENCE series, she was the Associate Producer of the Emmy-nominated Walt Whitman, as well as Triangle Fire and Buffalo Bill. Most recently, she was the Associate Producer of Wartorn: 1861 – 2010.
Caroline Waterlow Co-Producer, is an Emmy award-winning producer who has been working in documentary production for 14 years. Most recently she was co-producer of HBO’s Wartorn: 1861 - 2010. Waterlow was a co-Producer of Teddy: In His Own Words, winner of a Prime-Time Emmy Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special. Waterlow has produced and contributed to historical documentaries, public affairs programming and reality television for a variety of networks including History Channel, Discovery Channel, TLC, PBS, AMC and Hallmark.
Andy Grieve Editor. Andy Grieve’s editing credits include The Carter, a feature documentary about rap-sensation Lil’ Wayne that premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival; Jason Kohn’s Manda Bala (Send a Bullet), winner of the 2007 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best U.S. Documentary as well as the 2008 Cinema Eye award for Best Editing; Errol Morris’s Standard Operating Procedure, winner of the 2008 Berlin Film Festival Grand Jury Prize; and Lionsgate’s recently released narrative feature The Burrowers, directed by JT Petty.
Lydia Dean Pilcher Executive Producer, has produced over 27 feature films and is currently preparing to produce The Reluctant Fundamentalist, based on the highly acclaimed novel by Mohsin Hamid, to be directed by Mira Nair. Also headed for production this year is Fela: Music is the Weapon, which she developed at Focus Features with Steve McQueen attached to direct and Chiwetel Ejiofor set to play Fela Kuti. In 2010, Pilcher was nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for producing HBO Films’ You Don’t Know Jack, directed by Barry Levinson. The film, starring Al Pacino, follows Jack Kevorkian’s battle to legalize assisted suicide. Prior to that, Pilcher produced Amelia, starring Hilary Swank as the famous aviatrix, Amelia Earhart; The Darjeeling Limited, directed by Wes Anderson; and The Namesake, based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri and directed by Mira Nair.
Kiki Miyake Executive Producer, has a long history of acquiring award-winning films at script stage for distribution in Japan. She has pre-bought films such as: Academy Awards winner The Pianist directed by Roman Polanski , Quentin Tarrantino’s Pulp Fiction, international hit franchise Resident Evil, and Finding Neverland starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. Next year, Miyake will be producing an English language remake of a Thai horror thriller 13: Game of Death to be directed by Daniel Stamm of The Last Exorcism. Previously she has produced Spun, starring Mickey Rourke and Brittanyy Murphy, Vigo, based on the life of Jean Vigo, The Magnum Eye, a series of socio-political video documentaries shot by photojournalists from the Magnum Photo Agency and Ile Aiye: The House of Life, music documentary directed by David Byrne.
Cutie and the Boxer
Dir. Zachary Heinzerling
Procuders: Patrick Burns, Sierra Pettingill,Caroline Waterlow
Awarded $50,000 for Post production 2011
Link: www.cutieandtheboxer.com
THE FILM
A meditation on companionship, sacrifice, and the creative spirit, this love story explores the chaotic forty-year marriage of two New York-based Japanese artists. Cutie & the Boxer chronicles a unique love story between two Japanese artists and reveals the roots of their relationship. Ushio Shinohara achieved notoriety in postwar Japan with his avant-garde boxing paintings, and in 1969 moved to New York City in search of international recognition. Three years later, at age 19, Noriko left Japan to study art in New York and was instantly captivated by the middle-aged Shinohara. She abandoned her education and became the wife of an unruly, alcoholic husband. Forty years into their marriage the Shinoharas’ art and personalities are the basis for a deep and challenging symbiosis. Cutie & the Boxer reveals painful, universal truths about the lives of artists and examines how the creative process intersects with reality, identity and marriage.
THE FILMMAKERS
Zachary Heinzerling Director/DP most recently was a field producer on the Emmy award-winning HBO documentary series 24/7. He has worked on several feature length documentaries for HBO, including three Emmy award-winners, Lombardi, Breaking the Huddle, and Assault in the Ring, as an Associate Producer and DP. Other DP credits include spots for MTV, Pitchfork TV, and Esquire Magazine.
Patrick Burns Producer/2nd Camera, is a journalist and photographer based in New York. He began studying Japanese art and culture while living in Japan, where he became conversant in the language. As a reporter in the New York bureau of the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper, he covered political and cultural events in the U.S. and Latin America. His writing and photographs have appeared in several online and print publications, such as the Huffington Post, the Guardian, and National Geographic.
Sierra Pettengill Producer, has worked in various research and production capacities on many award-winning documentary films. For PBS’s AMERICAN EXPERIENCE series, she was the Associate Producer of the Emmy-nominated Walt Whitman, as well as Triangle Fire and Buffalo Bill. Most recently, she was the Associate Producer of Wartorn: 1861 – 2010.
Caroline Waterlow Co-Producer, is an Emmy award-winning producer who has been working in documentary production for 14 years. Most recently she was co-producer of HBO’s Wartorn: 1861 - 2010. Waterlow was a co-Producer of Teddy: In His Own Words, winner of a Prime-Time Emmy Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction Special. Waterlow has produced and contributed to historical documentaries, public affairs programming and reality television for a variety of networks including History Channel, Discovery Channel, TLC, PBS, AMC and Hallmark.
Andy Grieve Editor. Andy Grieve’s editing credits include The Carter, a feature documentary about rap-sensation Lil’ Wayne that premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival; Jason Kohn’s Manda Bala (Send a Bullet), winner of the 2007 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best U.S. Documentary as well as the 2008 Cinema Eye award for Best Editing; Errol Morris’s Standard Operating Procedure, winner of the 2008 Berlin Film Festival Grand Jury Prize; and Lionsgate’s recently released narrative feature The Burrowers, directed by JT Petty.
Lydia Dean Pilcher Executive Producer, has produced over 27 feature films and is currently preparing to produce The Reluctant Fundamentalist, based on the highly acclaimed novel by Mohsin Hamid, to be directed by Mira Nair. Also headed for production this year is Fela: Music is the Weapon, which she developed at Focus Features with Steve McQueen attached to direct and Chiwetel Ejiofor set to play Fela Kuti. In 2010, Pilcher was nominated for Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for producing HBO Films’ You Don’t Know Jack, directed by Barry Levinson. The film, starring Al Pacino, follows Jack Kevorkian’s battle to legalize assisted suicide. Prior to that, Pilcher produced Amelia, starring Hilary Swank as the famous aviatrix, Amelia Earhart; The Darjeeling Limited, directed by Wes Anderson; and The Namesake, based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri and directed by Mira Nair.
Kiki Miyake Executive Producer, has a long history of acquiring award-winning films at script stage for distribution in Japan. She has pre-bought films such as: Academy Awards winner The Pianist directed by Roman Polanski , Quentin Tarrantino’s Pulp Fiction, international hit franchise Resident Evil, and Finding Neverland starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet. Next year, Miyake will be producing an English language remake of a Thai horror thriller 13: Game of Death to be directed by Daniel Stamm of The Last Exorcism. Previously she has produced Spun, starring Mickey Rourke and Brittanyy Murphy, Vigo, based on the life of Jean Vigo, The Magnum Eye, a series of socio-political video documentaries shot by photojournalists from the Magnum Photo Agency and Ile Aiye: The House of Life, music documentary directed by David Byrne.