Discipline: Film/Video

Alan Brown

Discipline: Film/Video
Region: New York, NY
MacDowell Fellowships: 1986, 1987, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2005
More: alanbrown.me
Alan Brown is an American director and author. His first film, the half-hour narrative O Beautiful, won the Future Filmmaker Award at the 2002 Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, and was an official selection of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Singled out by critics as "powerful and ultimately beautiful", and "a rare piece of film making," it is available on the Strand Releasing DVD, Boys Life 4. Brown's feature debut, Book of Love, which stars Simon Baker, Frances O'Connor, Gregory Smith, and Bryce Dallas Howard, was praised by critics for its "creepy eroticism and sly intelligence," and as "a movie that feels about as real as it's possible to be." It premiered in the Dramatic Competition at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and was broadcast on Showtime, the Sundance Channel, and Starz. The DVD was released by Sundance Channel Home Entertainment. His second feature film, Superheroes, the story of an Iraq War veteran with posttraumatic stress disorder, has been described by critics as "wrenching" and "brimming with rare compassion." It was the winner of numerous prizes, including the Feature Filmmaker’s Award at the 2007 Avignon/New York Film Festival, the Maverick Spirit Award at the 2008 Cinequest Film Festival, Special Jury Mention at the Austin Film Festival 2008, and both the Narrative Feature and Best Film Awards at the 2008 Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival. Brown's third feature, Private Romeo is a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet set in an all-male high school military academy. The film stars New York stage actors Seth Numrich, Matt Doyle, and Hale Appleman. Singled out by critics for being "hugely adventurous and highly liberated," Private Romeo was a New York Times Critics Pick and won a Grand Jury Prize at Outfest 2011. Brown's most recent narrative feature film Five Dances was shot in New York City in the winter of 2012. Set in the downtown modern dance world, Five Dances features some of New York's most talented dancers performing choreography by Jonah Bokaer. Brown currently has several film projects in various stages of development, including Swan Lake, a thriller set in a small college town, and an adaptation of his novel Audrey Hepburn's Neck, which is set in Japan. The novel has been translated into eight languages and won the Pacific Rim Book Prize. The recipient of National Endowment for the Arts and New York Foundation for the Arts fellowships, he was also awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in Journalism to Japan, where he lived for seven years. He has been the recipient of many artist residency fellowships, including those to MacDowell, Yaddo, Ucross Foundation, and Edward Albee Foundation.

Studios

Phi Beta

Alan Brown worked in the Phi Beta studio.

Funded by the Phi Beta Fraternity, a national professional fraternity of music and speech founded in 1912, Phi Beta Studio was built between 1929–1931 of granite quarried on the MacDowell grounds. The small studio is a simple in design, but displays a pleasing combination of materials with its granite walls and colorful slate roofing. Inside is…

Learn more