FILMMAKERS

Charles Matthau -- Director and Producer

Charles Matthau won acclaim for directing and producing the 1992 television movie "Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love," the moving story of a woman who takes to the road to save her grandson from becoming a foster child. The film earned Matthau numerous awards including a Golden Angel Award for Best Television Special, and the Gold Medal Award for Best Drama Production from the Houston International Film Festival. It was characterized by The Hollywood Reporter in its review as " . . . wise affecting television that should not be missed."

Matthau made an auspicious feature directorial debut at age 24 with the off-beat comedy Doin' Time On Planet Earth, which was nominated for the Best Director Award by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The film was also selected as one of the "10 Best Films of 1989" by the Council of Film Organizations. For The Grass Harp, Matthau was voted Best Director of the Year by the Academy of Family Films, chosen over such noted directors as Chris Noonan (Babe) and Stephen Herek (Mr. Holland's Opus). Matthau, a graduate of the University of Southern California Film School, wrote and directed The Duck Film, which became one of the most highly awarded films in the history of the school.

Jerry Tokofsky -- Producer

Jerry Tokofsky, whose motion picture Glengarry Glenn Ross won numerous awards throughout the world, including an Academy Award nomination for Al Pacino, began his involvement in the motion picture industry 35 years ago. Born in Brooklyn, he attended New York University and studied law at New York Law School. While at New York University, he joined The William Morris Agency where he worked his way up from the mailroom to eventually represent clients including Steve McQueen, George Segal, Peter Falk, Natalie Wood, Tom Courtenay, Sydney Pollack and Mark Rydell.

Tokofsky left the agency for Columbia Pictures, where as production vice-president he oversaw the production of such films as Funny Girl, A Man For All Seasons, To Sir With Love, The Professionals, Oliver and Georgy Girl. His first film as an independent producer was the cult classic Where's Poppa? He then produced Ivan Passer's Born to Win, Paternity with Burt Reynolds, followed by Dreamscape, Fear City and Wildfire.

In 1996, he is slated to produce High Rollers written by Kirk Ellis, John Steinbeck's In Dubious Battle starring Alec Baldwin and Life On Mars. Tokofsky is a professor at the University of Southern California's Graduate School of Film where he teaches the producer's class. Tokofsky resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Karen Oliver, an executive at Christian Dior Perfumes.

Stirling Silliphant -- Co-Producer and Screenwriter

Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant received an Academy Award in 1967 for his work on In The Heat of the Night. He has written screenplays for over 25 feature films including Forbidden Planet, Operation Pizzaro, Catch The Heat, When Time Ran Out, The Enforcer, The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, Murphy's War, The New Centurions and Charly.

Kirk Ellis -- Co-Producer and Screenwriter

A Texas native steeped in the tradition of Southern gothic writing, pioneered by authors like William Faulkner, Thomas Wolfe, Truman Capote, Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor, Kirk Ellis makes his feature film debut with The Grass Harp. A former film and theatre critic, his pieces have appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, the Los Angeles Times, the Journal of Popular Film & Television and Sight and Sound. Most recently, he served as editor-in-chief of the London-based European trade magazine Moving Pictures. He is also the author of several screenplays that are in development, including the period epic Rebel Heart and Tweedle Dum, with Charles Matthau producing.

A student at the University of Southern California School of Cinema/Television (where he became the first undergraduate to achieve degrees in both film production and history/criticism), Ellis was named The Hollywood Reporter's international editor at age 24 -- the youngest journalist to ever serve in the post. At independent company Omega Entertainment, he cut his screenwriting teeth on a successful series of low-budget films, including The Wind, Terminal Exposure and Nightmare at Noon. Since 1989, Ellis has served at the helm of his own Shadow Catcher Productions, providing writing and creative consultancy for clients including The Grass Harp director Charles Matthau and veteran animator Chuck Jones.

John A. Alonzo -- Director of Photography

John A. Alonzo, A.S.C. was born in Texas and began his professional film career as a still photographer. His internationally recognized cinematography scans the full spectrum of visual styles, from Chinatown for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, to Sounder, Norma Rae, Scarface,Steel Magnolias, Lady Sings the Blues, Navy Seals and Star Trek: Generations.

Alonzo continues to be at the forefront of the latest technology in film. To that end he shot the first high-definition movie to be aired on television, "World War II: When the Lion Roared" starring John Lithgow and Bob Hoskins, for which Alonzo was nominated for an Emmy Award.

Sidney Levin -- Editor

Sidney Levin's feature film credits include Nashville, Norma Rae, Nuts, Murphy's Romance, Sounder, Guarding Tess, Stanley & Iris, Clara's Heart, The Front, The River and Cross Creek. His television credits include "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."

Tim O'Meara -- Editor

Tim O'Meara's feature film credits include Malice, Point of Impact, Hoosiers, All the President's Men and Blazing Saddles. His television credits include "The Thorn Birds," "Canaan's Way" and "The Last Outlaw."

Paul Sylbert -- Production Designer

Production designer Paul Sylbert received an Academy Award for his work on Heaven Can Wait and was nominated for The Prince of Tides. His credits reflect a wide diversity of films, and include such classics as A Face in the Crowd, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Kramer vs. Kramer.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Sylbert studied art at Temple University's Stella Elkins Tyler School of Fine Arts, and trained with Hans Hoffman in New York. Sylbert's first work in the entertainment industry was designing a number of live television shows during the Golden Era. He designed sets and costumes for the New York City Opera Company, where he also directed "Oedipus Rex." In addition, Sylbert has designed sets and costumes for the Spoletto Festival in Italy and designed and directed at the Theatre Kentrikon in Athens.

After directing episodes of such series as "The Defenders" and "The Nurses," Sylbert wrote and directed the 1971 feature film, The Steagle starring Richard Benjamin, and wrote the story that would become the film Nighthawks. He is also the author of the book "Final Cut."

Albert Wolsky -- Costume Designer

Albert Wolsky is a two-time Academy Award winner, having received the coveted prize for his designs for All That Jazz, and Bugsy. Other films for which he received Academy Award nominations include Toys, The Journey of Natty Gann, and Sophie's Choice. Most recently, Wolsky worked on The Pelican Brief, Junior and Up Close and Personal. He and Ivan Reitman collaborated on the romantic adventureLegal Eagles.

Wolsky has worked extensively with Paul Mazursky, having designed his last 11 films, including Enemies: A Love Story, and Tonto. He also collaborated with Bob Fosse on his last three films, one of which was Lenny, a project Wolsky considers to be his breakthrough in costume design for film.

At the age of 30, Wolsky left the travel agency business to follow his passion for theater and fashion and became an apprentice in the theater. Among his impressive Broadway credits are "Hamlet," "The Sunshine Boys," and "Sly Fox," starring George C. Scott.

Patrick Williams -- Composer

Patrick Williams, one of the most versatile and highly respected composers, is involved in every aspect of the music business. Composing hundreds of scores for feature films and television, records and concert works, Williams is a man of diverse talents.

Williams' work has garnered an Academy Award nomination for Breaking Away and a Pulitzer Prize nomination for "An American Concerto" (for Jazz Quartet and Symphony Orchestra). He also has received three Emmy Awards, 19 Emmy nominations, two Grammy Awards and ten Grammy nominations. In 1994, he was honored with two Emmy nominations, a Grammy nomination, two Cable ACE nominations and a Cable ACE award for TNT's "Geronimo." He received a 1995 Emmy nomination for TNT's "Kingfish" starring John Goodman.

Truman Capote -- Novelist

Truman Capote was born in New Orleans on September 30, 1924. At the age of 17 he secured a job at The New Yorker, where he published many short stories as well as some of the best travel writing, profiles and reportage of our time. His first novel "Other Voices, Other Rooms" was published when he was 23 years old, and gave the author a prominent place among the writers of America's post-war generation.

Capote sustained this position with his celebrated short-story collections, his novels and a genre he pioneered, which he named the "non-fiction novel," exemplified by his true crime masterpiece "In Cold Blood." This and several other Capote novels and short stories have been made into films, among them Breakfast at Tiffany's and A Christmas Memory. Regarding his novel, "The Grass Harp," Capote once remarked to his editor, "It is very real to me, more real than anything I've ever written, probably ever will."

In addition to his winning the O. Henry Memorial Short Story Prize twice, Capote was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He died in August 1984 shortly before his sixtieth birthday, already a legend for his literary achievements as well as his flamboyant and dazzling personal life.