James Schamus

Born: 1959-09-07

James Allan Schamus (born September 7, 1959) is an American screenwriter, producer, business executive, film historian, professor, and director. He is a frequent collaborator of Ang Lee, the co-founder of the production company Good Machine, and the co-founder and former CEO of motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company Focus Features, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal. He is currently president of the New York–based production company Symbolic Exchange and is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University, where he has taught film history and theory since 1989. Schamus was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a Jewish family.He is the son of Clarita (Gershowitz) Karlin and Julian John Schamus and was raised in Los Angeles. He is married to writer Nancy Kricorian, with whom he has two children. His output includes writing or co-writing The Ice Storm, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Hulk (all directed by Ang Lee) and producing Brokeback Mountain and Alone in Berlin. At Focus he oversaw the production and distribution of Lost in Translation, Milk, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Coraline, and The Kids Are All Right. In addition to his tenure at Columbia University, he has also taught at Yale University and at Rutgers University. He is the author of Carl Theodor Dreyer's Gertrud: The Moving Word, published by the University of Washington Press. He earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D. in English from the University of California, Berkeley. Schamus made his feature directorial debut with Indignation, an adaptation of Philip Roth's novel of the same name. Schamus also wrote the script for the film, which stars Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, and Tracy Letts, and is the story of a Jewish student at an Ohio college in 1951. The film premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released by Roadside Attractions on July 29, 2016. He was president of the jury for the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. He has also been on the jury of the New York International Children's Film Festival and has served on the editorial boards of Film Quarterly and Cinema Journal, as well as on the board of Creative Capital and the Heyman Centre for the Humanities. Description above from the Wikipedia article Stephen Rosenbaum, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.


Placeholder

Attack of the Hollywood Clichés!

as Self - Screenwriter
Released: 2021-09-27

One-man armies, meet-cutes, casual strolls away from huge explosions — stars and industry...

Movie page

These Amazing Shadows

as Self
Released: 2011-01-22

Tells the history and importance of The National Film Registry, a roll call of American cinema...

Movie page

Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema

as Self
Released: 2006-02-12

A chronological look at films by, for, or about gays and lesbians in the United States, from...

Movie page

Keep It for Yourself

as uncredited
Released: 1991-01-01

Sophie comes to New York from France with the intention of joining a man she met a few months...

Movie page

Lost Forever: The Art of Film Preservation

as Himself
Released: 2011-11-22

This documentary short takes you inside the fascinating world of film preservation and restoration.

Movie page

Frames

as Narrator (voice)
Released: 2019-12-14

James’s film provides us with a thoughtful history of photography and the moving image that both...

Movie page