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Thursday, February 8, 2007

Fresh Blood On The Indie Circuit: Ryan Fleck

Title: Ryan Fleck


Stats: Attended NYU. Also attended Columbia Film School. Best Director Nominee for Half Nelson.


Listed in Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Indie Film Ryan Fleck has had quite a successful, yet underrated career as a filmmaker. He's one of those guys that has been all around the festival circuit, but you really didn't know who was until now. That is because his film Half Nelson has an Academy Award nomination thanks to the film's star Ryan Gosling with his ground-breaking perfromance.


Ryan Fleck wrote along with his girlfriend, Anna Boden the screenplay to Half Nelson. The film is about a drug addicted teacher in Brooklyn who teaches inner city pre-teens. Although he manages to keep his addiction concealed in the classroom, one day a student catches him getting high after school. From this unexpected turn of events, the teacher and student begin an unanticipated friendship.


Half Nelson was selected for Sundance's 2004 Writer's Lab. The script is based on a short film he directed called Gowanus, Brooklyn. About an African-American girl who falls for her White teacher who is also addicted to drugs. The film Gowanus, took home the Grand Jury Prize for short filmmaking at Sundance in 2004.

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