The Filmmakers
|
From filmmaker LIzzie Gottlieb:
When you meet Nicky, you might find him offensive and rude, or charming and quirky, or brilliant and adorable, or aggressively intrusive. It is my hope that this film could explain Nicky and those like him to people who might otherwise write him off, take offence or become angered by him. I would like them instead to see his humor and charm and intelligence and warmth and enthusiasm and enormous potential.
One in 160 children born today are on the autistic spectrum. That is a staggering number. There are more and more resources for children with autistic spectrum disorders, which is wonderful. But I have found that there is so little for adults. No one seems to be asking what happens to these children when they grow up. Most of the adults I know with Asperger Syndrome are living with their aging parents. Some have successful jobs, others less so. These people have such a tremendous amount to offer society. We need to create ways for their energy and intelligence to be used productively. We need to figure out living situations that work for them. I hope that my brother and this film will encourage people to find these solutions.
Her four favorite films:
The 400 Blows
Grey Gardens
Best Boy
Dog Day Afternoon
(but the movie Elf reminds me most of my brother)
Her advice for aspiring filmmakers:
I think I am an aspiring filmmaker.
But I think what kept me going on this project was having a subject that I was passionate about and that I didn’t have all the answers to.
Her most inspirational food for making independent film:
Pasta.
Bios
Lizzie Gottlieb
Director
Gottlieb directs theater and film in New York City. She was a founder and producer of Pure Orange Productions, a theater company dedicated to producing new plays Off Broadway. She directed their productions of Keith Bunin’s Principality of Sorrows, Julia Jordan’s Tatjana in Color and Marking by Patrick Breen, which was later made into the film Just a Kiss. Gottlieb’s short film, Why Don’t You Dance, which was based on a Raymond Carver story, screened at festivals across the country.
Ben Forgash
Editor
Forgash has edited everything from music videos to television commercials to documentaries. He began his editing career producing short biographical segments for CBS during the day and editing them overnight. He then worked as the assistant to the director/editor of the PBS American Masters Special documentary The Lives of Lillian Hellman. In the same capacity he worked on a documentary for Castle Hill Productions entitled Shakespeare’s Women: Claire Bloom. Forgash entered the features world by assisting the editor on director Marc Forster’s film Everything Put Together, which premiered at Sundance and won the Independent Spirit Award. He has edited for the human rights organization Witness, where his piece A Right for Justice was featured at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at the Walter Reade Theater in Lincoln Center. He also worked on the HBO documentary The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt.
Jen Small
Co-Producer
Small was a producer with the independent film company Gigantic Pictures for seven years. During her tenure there, she produced Nisha Ganatra’s Cosmopolitan, Julia Solomonoff’s The Suitor and Jeff Winner’s Satellite. Independently, she was the executive producer on Solomonoff’s feature, Hermanas, and produced The Smile of Isaac for Arte. She’s currently producing Emily Hubley’s feature debut, The Toe Tactic and Sherman Alexie’s adaptation of his award-winning short story What You Pawn I Will Redeem. She has also contributed to NPR’s This American Life.
the National Endowment for the Arts