Scene Last Night: David O. Russell, Blake Lively, Melissa Leo
David O. Russell, director of “The Fighter,” organized some other shout-outs while he was being honored at the Ghetto Film School’s Seventh Annual Spring Benefit.
Russell, a board member and guest lecturer at the school, which trains young people in narrative filmmaking, accepted the GFS Champion Award while standing under the trees in the Standard Hotel’s Biergarten last night.
Then he asked Blake Lively and Melissa Leo to read aloud the names of more than 50 others associated with the school.
Lively, in a short Marchesa skirt, began with board chairman Greg D’Alba, CNN executive vice president and chief operating officer for advertising sales. Leo noted Mark Wahlberg, her co-star in “The Fighter,” which earned her an Oscar for best supporting actress. Lively ended with Andres Santiago, program coordinator for the Cinema School, the public high school the Ghetto Film School opened two years ago.
“Now we’re going to read the names of every student who ever went to a Ghetto Film School program,” Russell joked, as waiters in plaid vests quietly served steak and branzino paired with Andre Balazs Sunset Beach Reserve Rose.
Several students had already come up to the lectern to accept scholarships from celebrities including Marisa Tomei, Luis Guzman and Sanaa Lathan. The school seeks to increase the representation of blacks and Latinos in the film and advertising industries. Two alumni were recently hired by the advertising firm Wieden+Kennedy.
“We learn from them,” said the managing director of Wieden+Kennedy’s New York office, Neal Arthur.
The school runs a 15-month program that culminates with a filmmaking trip abroad; this year the students are going to Shanghai. At the Cinema School, students take all the regular high-school subjects as well as a film class.
Awaiting Next ‘Transformers’
The gala’s guests had plenty of time to do what so many Biergarten customers do on a typical night: hang out and talk about movies. Russell said he’s looking forward to the next “Transformers” as well as “Bad Teacher” with Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake. He also had some viewing suggestions for Ghetto Film School students including “Heaven Can Wait” and “French Connection.”
As for his contributions to the school, “Here’s what I do,” Russell explained. “I say to people, ‘Bring it! Tell me your movie.’ I tell the whole class, let’s do it right now, and let’s not be precious about it.
“I call it ‘spitball without shame.’ We get the ideas on the table and then I tell them what I think. It’s about storytelling and craft, that’s where the rubber meets the road.”
(Amanda Gordon is a writer and photographer for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. Any opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the writer on this story: Amanda Gordon in New York at agordon01@bloomberg.net or on Twitter at @amandagordon.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
Ghetto Film School Gala
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Blake Lively.
Blake Lively. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Ghetto Film School Gala
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David O. Russell accepts the Ghetto Film School Champion Award with assistance from Melissa Leo and Blake Lively.
David O. Russell accepts the Ghetto Film School Champion Award with assistance from Melissa Leo and Blake Lively. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Ghetto Film School Gala
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Marisa Tomei presents a scholarship to Ghetto Film School student Sharif Anthony.
Marisa Tomei presents a scholarship to Ghetto Film School student Sharif Anthony. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Ghetto Film School Gala
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Neal Arthur, managing director of the New York office of Wieden+Kennedy, with Stosh Mintek, Ghetto Film School's director of development and special projects.
Neal Arthur, managing director of the New York office of Wieden+Kennedy, with Stosh Mintek, Ghetto Film School's director of development and special projects. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Ghetto Film School Gala
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Joe Hall, president of the Ghetto Film School, Sanaa Lathan, and Ghetto Film School board member Rachael Horovitz.
Joe Hall, president of the Ghetto Film School, Sanaa Lathan, and Ghetto Film School board member Rachael Horovitz. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Ghetto Film School Gala
Ghetto Film School students Kirsten Tanjutco and Amber Vanterpool are headed to Shanghai later this month to film "Prank." Vanterpool will edit and Tanjutco will direct. "It's a horror film with a twist," said Vanterpool of the project, written by fellow student Jared Ray.
Ghetto Film School students Kirsten Tanjutco and Amber Vanterpool are headed to Shanghai later this month to film "Prank." Vanterpool will edit and Tanjutco will direct. "It's a horror film with a twist," said Vanterpool of the project, written by fellow student Jared Ray.
Ghetto Film School Gala
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Christopher E. Duffy, a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP; Kevin Rudden, a banker at JPMorgan Chase; and Judy Price.
Christopher E. Duffy, a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP; Kevin Rudden, a banker at JPMorgan Chase; and Judy Price. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Ghetto Film School Gala
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Rex Bobbish, principal, Cinema School, and Keisha Warner, assistant principal, Cinema School.
Rex Bobbish, principal, Cinema School, and Keisha Warner, assistant principal, Cinema School. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Ghetto Film School Gala
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Angela Mayfield, Gwen Sung, Paul McConnell and Sarah Corapi, all of ZenithOptimedia.
Angela Mayfield, Gwen Sung, Paul McConnell and Sarah Corapi, all of ZenithOptimedia. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Ghetto Film School Gala
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Greg D'Alba, chairman of Ghetto Film School and CNN's executive vice president and chief operating officer, with his wife, Jenny D'Alba.
Greg D'Alba, chairman of Ghetto Film School and CNN's executive vice president and chief operating officer, with his wife, Jenny D'Alba. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
Ghetto Film School Gala
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Marvin Scott, associate manager of multicultural marketing at HBO, with Christopher Butler, a sophomore at City College and a graduate of the Ghetto Film School's 15-month program.
Marvin Scott, associate manager of multicultural marketing at HBO, with Christopher Butler, a sophomore at City College and a graduate of the Ghetto Film School's 15-month program. Photographer: Amanda Gordon/Bloomberg
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