Dreams do come true, Mike Medavoy is living
proof. He is an inspiration to the next
generation of filmmakers and us all. The
ISFFH Lifetime Achievement Award was
established to honor a single honoree based
on the recipient’s active career.
Medavoy began his career at Universal
Studios in 1964. He rose from the mailroom
to become a casting director. In 1965, he
became an agent at General Artist
Corporation and then vice-president at
Creative Management Agency. Joining
International Famous Agency as
vice-president in charge of the motion
picture department in 1971, he worked with
such prestigious clients as Steven
Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Terrence
Malick, Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Gene
Wilder, Jeanne Moreau, and Jean-Louis
Trintignant among others. United Artists
brought him in as senior vice president of
production in 1974 where he was part of the
team responsible for “One Flew Over the
Cuckoo’s Nest”, “Rocky”,and “Annie Hall”,
all of which won the Best Picture Oscars
over three successive years in 1975, 1976,
and 1977. Other notable pictures included
“Apocalypse Now”, “Raging Bull”, “Network”,
and “Coming Home”.
In 1978 Medavoy co-founded Orion Pictures.
During his tenure “Platoon”, “Amadeus”,
“Robocop”, “Hannah and Her Sisters”, “The
Terminator”, “Dances with Wolves”,and
“Silence of the Lambs” were released. In
1990, after twelve fruitful years at Orion,
Medavoy became Chairman of TriStar Pictures.
Under his aegis, critically acclaimed, box
office successes, “Philadelphia”,
“Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (with Carolco),
“Sleepless in Seattle”, “Cliffhanger” (with
Carolco), “The Fisher King”, “Legends of the
Fall” and Steven Spielberg’s “Hook” debuted.
Of all the films Medavoy has been involved
with, sixteen have been nominated for Best
Picture Oscars and seven have won Best
Picture Academy Awards and numerous
international festival awards.
Today, as chairman and co-founder of Phoenix
Pictures, Mike Medavoy has amongst other
films brought to the screen “The People vs.
Larry Flynt”, “The Mirror Has Two Faces”,
“U-Turn”, “Apt Pupil”, “ The Thin Red Line”,
“The Sixth Day”, “Basic” and “Holes.” These
films have received many nominations and won
two Golden Bears at the Berlin Film Festival
and five Golden Satellite Awards, a
cinematography award for John Toll from the
ASC and nominations from the DGA and WGA for
Terrence Malick. Two of his films, “The Thin
Red Line” and “The People vs. Larry Flint”,
a Milos Forman movie received Academy
nominations.
Recently Phoenix also released, among
others, “All The King’s Men” (starring Sean
Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Anthony
Hopkins and Mark Ruffalo, written and
directed by Steven Zaillian), “Zodiac”
(starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey
Jr., Mark Ruffalo, directed by David
Fincher). “Miss Potter” (starring Rene
Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, directed by Chris
Noonan). “Pathfinder” (starring Karl Urban,
directed by Marcus Nispel)and has started
production on both “Shutter Island,” a film
directed by Martin Scorsese, starring
Leonardo Di Caprio and “Shanghai,” starring
John Cusack.
In 2002, Simon & Schuster published Mr.
Medavoy’s best-selling book, “You’re Only As
Good As Your Next One: 100 Great Films, 100
Good Films and 100 For Which I Should Be
Shot” – which was subsequently released in
paperback in 2003. Mike is also currently
working on a book regarding the impact of
media on U.S. Foreign Policy together with
co-author Nathan Gardel, editor of the
National Political Quarterly.
Medavoy has made a mark not only within his
industry, but in his community as well,
earning numerous awards. He has served on
many boards and is one of the original
founding members of the Board of Governors
of the Sundance Institute (1978) and is
chairman emeritus of the American
Cinematheque and the Stella Adler Actors
Studio. In addition, he was also inducted
into the Hollywood Walk of Fame and received
a star on Hollywood Boulevard (2005).
Throughout his career Mike Medavoy has also
been active in politics; he actively
participated in President Clinton’s election
campaigns in 1992 and 1996. In 2002,
Governor Gray Davis appointed Mike to the
California Anti-Terrorism Information
Center’s Executive Advisory Board.
Mike was born in Shanghai, China in 1941 of
Russian-Jewish parents, and lived in Chile
from 1947 to 1957. At UCLA he was in the
honors program and is involved with a number
of organizations. He is married to Irena
Medavoy, who is a founder of Team Safe-T and
the Industry Task Force, as a charity
executive and fundraiser. She is also a
national finance chair for Senator Obama.
Mike Medavoy has two sons, Brian and
Nicholas, and resides in Beverly Hills,
California.
Hollywood is the capital city of the
entertainment world. The ISFFH offers
student filmmakers from all over the world a
unique opportunity to gain the recognition
of film industry leaders. It is a forum for
student filmmakers to showcase their
independent films in Hollywood. This event
at the epicenter of the film industry puts
these students face to face with working
Directors, Producers, and other industry
professionals throughout the event, giving
them the invaluable opportunity to promote
themselves and their films.
After years of work in film and theater and
passionate about the opportunity to offer
student filmmakers well-deserved recognition
for their talents, entertainment industry
veteran, Robin Saban founded the
International Student Film Festival
Hollywood , focused solely on students in
September of 2003.
This year the winner of Best Comedy will
receive a paid distribution deal from Fun
Little Movies giving their film a worldwide
audience on mobile devices.
www.funlittlemovies.com.
6th annual
International Student Film Festival
Hollywood Awards Ceremony on Sunday,
November 9, 2008 at Beverly Garland’s
Holiday Inn in the NoHo Arts District of
North Hollywood.
For more information about the ISFFH or to
purchase your Festival tickets, please visit
our website
http://www.isffhollywood.org
The ISFFH is sponsored by American Building
Supply, Wells Fargo, CRA/LA, CisCorp, Saban
Enterprises, A Matter of Pixels, Creative
Handbook, Production Hub, Discmakers,
Turkla.com, RobinSaban.com,
CaliforniaExploration.com, Marilyn Bradbury,
Turkish Journal, Fun Little Movies, and
www.NoHoArtsDistrict.com
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