The Two River Film Festival Masters Award Recipient
jon kilik producer, director, writer
Jon Kilik has become one of New York’s most notable film producers, collaborating with a wide range of auteur directors to create a body of work with an emphasis on human values and social issues.
In 1988, Kilik began his partnership with Spike Lee and has gone on to produce twelve of Lee’s films. They include INSIDE MAN, CLOCKERS, MALCOLM X, and the groundbreaking DO THE RIGHT THING, which was recently selected by The Smithsonian Institute for The National Film Archives.
Kilik also produced Robert De Niro’s highly acclaimed directorial debut,
A BRONX TALE, based on the play by Chazz Palminteri.
In 1995, Kilik produced Tim Robbins’ Academy Award winner,
DEAD MAN WALKING, based on Sister Helen Prejean’s account of her work with Louisiana death row inmates, starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. The same year he produced Julian Schnabel’s directorial debut, BASQUIAT, starring Jeffrey Wright as Jean-Michel Basquiat and David Bowie as Andy Warhol.
Next, Kilik teamed with Gary Ross and Steven Soderbergh to produce Ross’ directorial debut, PLEASANTVILLE, a comic look at the alternate worlds of the American family in the 1950’s and 1990’s featuring Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon.
In 2000, Kilik produced Julian Schnabel’s BEFORE NIGHT FALLS, based on the autobiography of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, starring Javier Bardem. BEFORE NIGHT FALLS premiered at the Venice Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Best Actor awards. The same year, Kilik also produced Ed Harris’ directorial debut, POLLOCK, starring Harris as American painter Jackson Pollock. Ed Harris and Javier Bardem were each nominated for the Best Actor Oscar at the 2001 Academy Awards.
Next, Kilik traveled to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where he produced SKINS, directed by Chris Eyre. The film features Graham Greene as a Native American who returns home from service in Viet Nam but cannot survive in his Pine Ridge, South Dakota home.
In 2004, Jon produced Oliver Stone’s ALEXANDER. The epic journey followed the Macedonian King, Alexander The Great, from Greece to Persia to India and back as he conquered the known world in the 4th century B.C.
Kilik returned to New York in 2005 to produce the very personal BROKEN FLOWERS, by writer/director Jim Jarmusch, starring Bill Murray. BROKEN FLOWERS was the winner of the Cannes Film Festival Grand Jury Prize in 2005.
Kilik began another international production when he partnered with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu to produce BABEL. The shoot took place in Morocco, Mexico and Japan. The four uniquely interwoven stories are in Arabic, Spanish, English and Japanese. BABEL premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival where it won the prize for Best Director.
Kilik is currently producing Julian Schnabel’s third film, LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON, shooting in Calais and Paris.
Jon was born in Newark, New Jersey and grew up in Millburn. He graduated from the University of Vermont and moved to New York in 1979 to pursue a career in filmmaking. He returned to his Vermont alma mater to receive an honorary doctorate and deliver the commencement address to the Class of 2003. |
jon kilik
producer, director, writer |
The Two River Film Festival Masters Award celebrates merit and achievement in film making and art. It honors actors directors and artists whose sustained achievement marks them as vital contributors; it honors new talent who display a vibrancy and a future which must be encouraged. In particular the festival wishes to recognize the makers of independent film.
The award honors those whose accomplishments are consistent with those of the festival in the fields of art and education. In particular, those artists who have fostered a spirit of innovation, who have been generous in fostering the talents of others, who have created an atmosphere of collaboration and support for the development of children and for new entrants to film making will be recognized.
The Masters Award celebrates those whose work reflects an original, compelling creative vision.
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