Congrats to Christopher Boyes and Steven Okazaki

Congratulations to two outstanding alumni: Christopher Boyes (B.A., ’85), who was just nominated for an Academy Award in Sound Editing for “Ironman,” and Steven Okazaki (B.A., ‘76), who earned an Oscar nomination for his short documentary, “The Conscience of Nhem En.” The nominations are Boyes’ 11th, Okazaki’s fourth and together mark the 10th consecutive year an SF State alum has made the list of Oscar nominees.  

Okazaki will be present for a screening of “The Conscience of Nhem En” at 8 p.m. Feb. 17 at San Francisco’s Sundance Kabuki Cinemas. The event is part of the SF State Documentary Film Institute’s fourth annual screening of Oscar-nominated documentaries.

Memoir receives rave review, latest movie news

Alumna Robin Romm’s memoir “The Mercy Papers” is “a furious blaze of a book,” writes a critic in The New York Times Book Review. Romm’s book, subtitled “A Memoir in Three Weeks,” focuses on the author’s anguish over her mother’s impending death following a nine-year battle against cancer. Read the entire review here: www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/books/review/Cohen-t.html?em

 

In movie news, alumnus David Gropman (Oscar nominee, Best Art Direction, “Cider House Rules”) provided the production design for the recently released “Doubt,” while fellow Gator Shawn Murphy (Oscar winner, Best Sound, “Jurassic Park”) served as scoring mixer for both “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Australia.” SF State alumni can also be found behind the scenes of films just out on video, including “Kung Fu Panda” (Ethan Van Der Ryn, sound designer) and “Ironman” (Christopher Boyes, sound designer/recording mixer). Van Der Ryn is a two-time Academy Award winner (Best Achievement in Sound Editing, “King Kong,” and Best Sound Editing, “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”).

 

As for films we can look forward to in the future, alumnus Steve Zaillian (Academy Award winner for the “Schindler’s List” screenplay) is rumored to be working on the screenplay adaptation of Michael Lewis’ book, “Moneyball.” Alumna Sandra Nettelbeck, who directed and wrote the critically acclaimed film “Mostly Martha,” wrote and produced “Helen,” a film starring Ashley Judd and scheduled for release later this year.