Daniel Algrant
Daniel Algrant is an award-winning American filmmaker and writer based in New York City. He is best known for co-writing and directing Naked in New York (1993), a film produced by Martin Scorsesse which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received the Critics Prize at the Deauville International Film Festival. Algrant was a repeat director for the television series Sex and The City and the director of the films People I Know (2002), starring Al Pacino and Greetings from Tim Buckley (2012) starring Penn Badgley. Algrant is an alumnus of Harvard University and the Columbia University Film school. [1][2] [3][4] [5]
Introduction
Daniel Algrant is an award-winning American filmmaker and writer based in New York City. He is best known for co-writing and directing Naked in New York (1993), a film produced by Martin Scorsesse which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received the Critics Prize at the Deauville International Film Festival. Algrant was a repeat director for the television series Sex and The City and the director of the films People I Know (2002), starring Al Pacino and Greetings from Tim Buckley (2012) starring Penn Badgley. Algrant is an alumnus of Harvard University and the Columbia University Film school.
Early Life
Algrant was born on September 25th, 1959 in New York City to parents Roland Algrant, a Turkish immigrant and Rosalie Callahan a Russian immigrant -- both of whom worked in publishing. His father later became a prominent human rights activist helping to spur the development of Human Rights Watch and went on to lead The Children’s Rights Watch.
Algrant’s love for film and television was first seeded after a near-death fall from a tree at the age of eight that left him isolated and bedridden for an extended stretch of his childhood. An advanced student, Algrant attended Phillips Academy Andover High School, a top boarding school located in Massachusetts at just 12 years old. While attending school he moved in with his grandmother in Cornwall, Connecticut who was a formative figure in his young life. He attended Andover for four years where he began filmmaking.
After highschool, Algrant moved to Los Angeles where he took different jobs in lighting and became a gaffer in documentaries for independent filmmakers Joyce Chopra and Dick Rogers.
Education
Algrant attended Harvard University where he designed a Special Concentration in Sociology and Psychology or the American Religious Experience. As a freshman, visiting professor Dusan Makavejev, an influential Yugosolovian filmmaker, was impressed enough with an early piece by Algrant to enroll him in a course traditionally reserved for graduate students and select seniors. Algrant would draw great inspiration from this course, learning to combine fiction and reality in creative ways. Algrant continued as a Teaching Assistant for his advisor Robert Coles, the Pulitzer Prize winning Psychiatrist and would later complete an MFA at the Columbia University Film school, where he studied with Milos Forman and Martin Scorsese.
Early Work
Algrant’s first film,Cathedral, was a short documentary he co-directed centering on a young boy who had been severely burned by exposed heating pipes in Boston’s Cathedral Housing Project. The film won prizes at the Chicago International Film Festival and was screened for members of the Boston Housing Authority to help them improve conditions in their housing projects.
While studying at Harvard and Columbia he wrote and directed several short films including Sandra, Grandma Ida, and Some Film Chopping Wood, in which Algrant himself starred. In his second year at Harvard, Algrant created his first distributed film, Anything for Jazz (Rhapsody Films) a documentary on the legendary jazz pianist and composer Jaki Byard.
His first fictional films were The First Dance Ever, which won Best Student Film at the New England Film Festival, and Swimming, which was runner-up at Nissan’s National FOCUS Awards in Los Angeles for best student films of the year and would later premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Career
Algrant’s first feature film, Naked in New York (1993) was executive produced by Martin Scorsesse and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The cast includes Eric Stolz, Mary-Louise Parker, Ralph Macchio, along with Tony Curtis, Kathleen Turner, Tim Dalton and Whoopi Goldberg. It won the Critic’s Prize at the Deauville International Film Festival and went on to compete at the Tokyo International Film Festival. The New York Times called the film “as knowing and clever as it is charming”.
Following the success of Naked in New York (1993), Algrant went on to direct episodes of the popular sitcom Sex and The City (1999-2000).
Algrant went on to do People I Know (2002) starring Al Pacino. A film about a veteran publicist battling addiction and alcoholism. The piece was eventually ensnared in controversy before its premiere as it depicted the World Trade Center as a metaphor for cultural corruption prior to the attack that took place during editing. The film also includes a scene where a woman is forced to flee a man named Harvey in a limousine - which was intended as a reference to Weinstein’s abusive behavior in the film industry. Weinstein would purchase the film, request that scene to be removed, and eventually stall it’s global release.
How To Grow A Band (2011) is a documentary executive produced by Algrant about the early days of American progressive bluegrass band Punch Brothers.
Greetings from Tim Buckley (2012) is a film co-written and directed by Algrant, depicting rock star Jeff Buckley (Penn Badgley), making his debut performance honoring his estranged and late father Tim Buckley. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was bought by Focus World and Tribeca Pictures. It was described by Peter Travers in Rolling Stone as a “heartfelt and deeply moving film.” The Hollywood Reporter said it was a "sensitive, well-cast film about father-son musicians Tim and Jeff Buckley” and “gets the emotions and music just right".
Algrant has appeared as an actor in Steven Soderburgh’s films,The Girlfriend Experience (2009) and most recently as Kelvin Krantz in Let Them All Talk (2020) alongside Meryl Streep, Gemma Chan, Dianne Wiest, Lucas Hedges.
Educator
Algrant has taught third year advanced Directing at New York University Tisch Graduate School for Film; as well as graduate level writing and directing courses at The New School at Columbia University.
Activist
Algrant served for 20 years as a founding Advisory Board member for the Institute for Recruitment of Teachers, (IRT) dedicated to improving access for people of color to pursue advanced degrees and careers in education. Algrant has long been involved with The Directors Guild of America Independent Directors Committee, protecting the creative rights of independent filmmakers, currently serving as Co-Chair to their Director’s Guild of America East.
Current/Upcoming
Algrant is currently shepherding three projects toward production. La Perla is an original screenplay written by Algrant being produced by Barbara Broccoli. It is a romantic thriller based on historical events in 1950s Puerto Rico and Spanish Harlem, delving into the fight by Albizo Campos and Lolita Lebron for Puerto Rican Independence. In the Jungle, is an adaptation of the award-winning article written by South African writer Rian Malan about three sisters from Soweto fighting for the justice recognition and compensation of their father who wrote the world famous song, known by many as The Lion Sleeps Tonight. The original song was recorded in 1939. An adaptation of A Bend in the River, a Nobel Prize winning V.S. Naipaul’s seminal novel set in Central Africa about an Indian immigrant who struggles to find a home.
Personal Life
Dan Algrant currently lives in New Preston, Connecticut. He has two sons.
Filmography
Anything for Jazz (1980), Naked in New York (1993), Sex and The City (1999- 2000), People I Know (2002), How to Grow a Band (2011), Greetings From Tim Buckley (2012)
Festivals
Chicago International Film Festival, New England Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Munich Film Festival, Deauville International Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Roger Ebert Film Festival
Awards
Audience Award Deauville Film Festival, Critics Award nomination Deauville Film Festival, Nissan’s National FOCUS Awards
References
- ^ "Daniel Algrant Filmography". New York Times. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
- ^ Tobias, Scott (2 May 2013). "'Greetings From Tim Buckley,' And From His Shadow". NPR. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
- ^ "DGA Profile". Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ "Rolling Stone". Retrieved 31 August 2020.
- ^ "Hollywood Reporter". Retrieved 31 August 2020.
External links
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