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| GRANT RECIPIENTS: ELI AKIRA KAUFMAN |
 Eli
Akira Kaufman was born in San Francisco to a
pair of middle school teachers with a
passion for film. After teaching 8`h grade
himself for several years, Mr. Kaufman
decided to pursue the family love affair
with movies and enrolled in the MFA
directing program at The UCLA School of
Theater, Film and Television. In his second
year at UCLA Mr. Kaufman landed an
internship as the personal assistant to Mark
and Michael Polish (Twin Falls Idaho &
Jackpot) as an IFP/West Project: Involve
Honoree on their third film, NORTHFORK. In
addition to going on location in Montana
with the Polish brothers, Mr. Kaufman was
actually cast in the film as a gravedigger
in a scene opposite Nick Nolte. Mr. Kaufman
has written and directed several short
films, including Birthday Haiku, and just
completed Winning the Peace, which was
funded in part by Showtime Networks Inc. as
a part of a special series of student films
about images of war in the 21st century to
be broadcast on Showtime early next fall.
Beyond making films, he has also directed
live theatre for The UCLA Francis Ford
Coppola One Act Play Festival. Mr. Kaufman
has won several student filmmaker awards
including The Jim Morrison Prize for
Directing; The Caucus for Television
Producers, Writers & Directors Foundation
Production Grant; and the Alfred P. Sloan
Film Production Award for his thesis film
script The Laws of eMotion, currently in
preproduction.
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Past Recipients