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| Photograph by Milton Kam |
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ELA THIER, Instructor
Ela Thier writes, directs and produces fiction films. Features
produced to date are: FOREIGN LETTERS (writer-director-producer), a dramedy about her personal immigration story, produced
with B&H Photo and distributed by Film Movement and Go2Films (2012). PUNCTURE (writer), is a legal drama about corruption
in the health-care industry, starring Chris Evans (Fantastic Four, Captain America). The film premiered at the Tribeca
Film Festival and released by Millenium Films (2011). THE WEDDING COW (writer), is a romantic comedy produced and released
by Sudwestrundfunk, a major German TV network. The film won eighteen international awards including four Best Feature
and four Audience Choice awards (2000). Thier is currently in development on a feature project in collaboration with
Palm Star Entertainment, to be produced in 2012. Thier wrote, produced and directed over a dozen short films including A SUMMER
RAIN (writer-director-producer) which won numerous Best Short awards and screened at over 200 festivals and venues
world wide; GENTLE CYCLE ONLY (director), won Brightest Emerging Director at The View From Here Film Festival,
and JUDO GIRL (writer-director-producer), produced by Fluidfilm. A prolific writer, Thier's scripts were selected four consecutive
times by the Independent Film Week (formerly IFP Market). Thier received a fellowship grant in screenwriting from the New
York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) in 2008, and was one of ten nominees for the White House Project Emerging Artist
Award in 2010.
In 2006 Thier independently
taught a screenwriting class; eight writers attended. Word spread, and within five years over two thousand working and aspiring
filmmakers had attended her writing, producing and directing workshops. Thier has been a guest speaker and instructor at numerous
universities and festivals. She currently teaches writing-directing seminars at the School of Visual Arts. |
