Years active 2002 – present Name Andrew Bujalski | Role Film director | |
 | ||
Born April 29, 1977 (age 47) ( 1977-04-29 ) Boston, Massachusetts Parents Sheila Dubman, Edmund C. Bujalski Awards Independent Spirit Someone to Watch Award Movies Results, Computer Chess, Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation, Beeswax Similar People | ||
results anatomy of a scene w director andrew bujalski the new york times
Andrew Bujalski, born April 29, 1977 in Boston, Massachusetts, is an American film director, screenwriter and actor, who has been called the "Godfather of Mumblecore."
Contents
- results anatomy of a scene w director andrew bujalski the new york times
- A Conversation with Andrew Bujalski and David Lowery SXSW Film 2016
- Biography
- Style and content
- Awards
- References
A Conversation with Andrew Bujalski and David Lowery | SXSW Film 2016
Biography
Bujalski, born in Boston in 1977, is the son of artist-turned-businesswoman Sheila Dubman and businessman Edmund Bujalski. Andrew studied film at Harvard's Department of Visual and Environmental Studies where the Belgian filmmaker Chantal Akerman was his thesis advisor.
He shot his first feature, Funny Ha Ha, in 2002 and followed it with Mutual Appreciation in 2003 – though neither film received theatrical distribution until 2005 and 2006, respectively. Bujalski wrote both screenplays and appears as an actor, playing a major role in both films. In 2006 he appeared as an actor and contributed to the screenplay of the Joe Swanberg film Hannah Takes the Stairs.
Beeswax and Computer Chess, Bujalski's third and fourth independent films, were filmed in Austin where the director lives now. Beeswax was released in the summer of 2009. While making Beeswax Bujalski wrote a screenplay adaptation of Benjamin Kunkel's 2005 novel Indecision for Paramount Pictures.
His fourth feature Computer Chess, a period film set at a computer programming tournament in 1980, premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and won the Alfred Sloan Feature Film Prize. It is his first feature edited digitally and it is the only feature film shot almost exclusively with original Sony 1968 AVC-3260 B&W video cameras.
Style and content
Bujalski's rough-edged, realistic films are often compared to the works of directors John Cassavetes, Maurice Pialat and Mike Leigh. All of his feature films were photographed by Austrian cinematographer Matthias Grunsky. The first three are shot on hand-held 16mm, have a sometimes decidedly "lo-fi" feel (reinforced by Funny Ha Ha's distorted mono sound), and are often included in the mumblecore movement. The actors who appear in these films are non-professionals, many drawn from other media, including animator Kate Dollenmayer as the lead in Funny Ha Ha, musician Justin Rice as the lead in Mutual Appreciation and experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison in a supporting role in the same film. Funny Ha Ha featured a cast and crew of Harvard grads.
Though his films often appear improvised, they are for the most part scripted; the dialogue is often noted for its drawn-out, awkward nature, and characters frequently evade key topics. Many of the films seem to start and end in medias res, giving the films a "slice of life" feeling that suggests a larger narrative or world that the audience is looking in on.
The characters in Bujalski's films are mostly post-collegiate and middle-class; many work white collar jobs. The desire for stability is a recurring theme, and many characters rush headlong into attempts at a more controlled existence – this is exemplified by one of the main characters in Funny Ha Ha, who elopes with his ex-girlfriend.