Wednesday, August 3, 2005

E. Steven Fried: Bio

I began reading SIFFBLOG during this past SIFF. I attended 33 films, a few of them with Kathy Fennessy and Gillian Gaar, who mentioned me several times in her reviews. After some reflection, I figured, if my name was going to appear on the site, I might as well be writing for it. And so, here I am.

The first film I can remember seeing was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The first film I can remember being impressed with was 2001, which I saw in 1969 at the Park Lane Theater in Palisades Park, NJ (a town also known for its famous amusement park). Both the theater and the amusement park have long since vanished.

The first film I made was a Super 8 piece documenting my Christmas dinner in 1973. A copy exists on VHS, but is not available for screening.

The last film I made was a 3.5 minute short with the wicked and beautiful Dame Darcy. Julianne Escobedo Shepherd called it a "small gem of a movie." It's the only review I have ever gotten.

In between, I attended high school with Brooke Shields, studied art history at Columbia University, and studied film production, screenwriting and film criticism at the University of Texas at Austin, during which time I also worked on quite possibly the very first Renee Zellweger film.

The last critical writing I did, that was published, was a handful of CD reviews for Ear magazine. This was during the prior Bush administration. Hopefully, my critical faculties have improved since then, though I quite liked all five Cremaster pictures so, who knows? 

In any case, my goal here is to write my honest opinion without a shred of earnestness and, in the process, hopefully not engender any fistfights or spillage of blood, though I'm willing to fence anyone for points [I once beat the New Jersey varsity left-handed foil champion].

Image (Dick Van Dyke, Sally Howes, and kids) from TCM.  

2 comments:

  1. The Palisades Amusement Park WAS NOT located in the town of Palisades Park! The Park Lane Theatre was, though. The theatre closed in 1986. The amusement park (located in a neighboring town), much earlier.

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  2. My bad. I see by the wikipedia entry that the amusement park was on the border of Cliffside Park and Ft. Lee and that it closed in 1971. I think I went there for my birthday that year, so it's nice to know I enjoyed the place up till near the end.

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