Accomplished film editor to attend WMU screening
Nov. 7, 2002
KALAMAZOO -- The English department at Western Michigan University is teaming up with the Kalamazoo Film Society and the Western Film Society to bring film editor Lee Percy to town for a presentation of his film, "The Believer."
The screening is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, in The Little Theatre on Oakland Drive. A discussion will follow the film along with a demonstration on how parts of the film were assembled.
Free tickets to the screening will be available beginning at 6 p.m. at the Little Theatre Box Office. Only ticket holders will be admitted.
The film is about skinheads and is loosely based on the story of Daniel Burros, the New York Neo-Nazi leader who killed himself after it was revealed he was Jewish. The film has generated its share of controversy, with the Anti-Defamation League praising it, but the Simon Wiesenthal Center condemning it as "a primer for anti-Semitism."
Viewers are warned that the film contains violence and some anti-Semitic language.
Percy has worked with director Barbet Schroeder on his films "Our Lady of the Assassins," "Desperate Measures," "Before and After," "Kiss of Death," "Single White Female," and "Reversal of Fortune." Percy, originally trained as an actor at the Juilliard School, finds his theater background invaluable since he feels the actor's performance is his main responsibility, followed closely by structure and pace. He says he considers himself fortunate to have worked with many excellent actors and to have edited three films which won top acting Oscars: William Hurt for "Kiss of the Spiderwoman," Jeremy Irons for Schroeder's "Reversal of Fortune," and Hillary Swank for "Boys Don't Cry."
More recently, he edited Henry Bean's "The Believer," winner of the 2001 Sundance Grand Jury Prize, as well as "Lift," a Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee. He also edited two films with director Wayne Wang, "Slam Dance" and, most recently, "Center of the World." Percy was recognized by his peers when he received an American Cinema Editors Eddie Award for his work on HBO's "Against the Wall," directed by John Frankenheimer. He also edited Frankenheimer's "Year of the Gun." Percy's most recent film is "Murder by Numbers," directed by Schroeder, while his earliest was the cult classic "Re-Animator."
Media contact: Mark Schwerin, 269 387-8400, mark.schwerin@wmich.edu