University of Hartford

Daniel Nearing

Candidate for Director, Cinema Program

University of Hartford - 2017

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

Program Coordinator / Professor
Master of Fine Arts - Independent Film & Digital Imaging
Division of Communication, Visual & Performing Arts
College of Arts and Sciences
Governors State University
University Park, Illinois

2001–Present

2006, 2009, 2010 GSU Faculty Excellence Award winner
Designed and implemented a new degree path in the College of Arts & Sciences – The Master of Fine Arts in Independent Film & Digital Imaging
Oversaw accreditation process (still pending) by the National Association of Schools of Art & Design (NASAD). The path was singled out by NASAD external consultants as a “star program” and a model for the development of subsequent MFA degrees.
Oversaw documentation for two successful cyclical program reviews, in 2010 and 2016
Undergraduate and Graduate Instruction in Producing, Directing, Screenwriting, Editing, Film Seminar and Survey of the MFA
Oversaw the making of Chicago Heights and Hogtown, both critically acclaimed, award-winning faculty-student feature film collaborations
Graduates include award-winning filmmakers and photographers such as Jason Knade, Seth McClellan, Mercedes Kane, and Dirk Fletcher.
Committee for Intellectual Life, 2006-present
Division/ College Personnel Committees, 2006-present
CAS Grievance Committee, 2004-present
CAS Strategic Planning Committee 2012-2014
GSU Planning and Budgetary Advisory Council 2013-2015
Extensive service in the community including presentations locally, nationally, and internationally
Numerous additional independent functions as an undergraduate and graduate advisor, overseeing theses, internships, independent studies
Uniformly strong student and faculty evaluations

SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY

Sister Carrie
(Writer-Director-Producer) 2016-present

A hybrid narrative drawn from multiple literary sources, including three proto-feminist novels: Sister Carrie (Theodore Dreiser’s landmark Chicago story), Alexander Dumas’ (Fils) La Dame aux Camélias, Abbé Prévost’s Manon Lescaut, and Sherwood Anderson’s Brothers
Project selected in association with Director being named inaugural Filmmaker in Residence for the City of Chicago (Chicago Film Office, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events), 2017
Named Chicagoan of the Year for Film (2016-17) by the Chicago Tribune in relation to the development of Sister Carrie
Project development supported by a fellowship and grant with the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, 2015-16
Screenplay written in residence as a Fellow at The MacDowell Colony, 2016
Project profiled in the Chicago Reader and ALIVE magazine
Final film in a trilogy started by Chicago Heights and Hogtown
The 2017 Sister Carrie "look book"

Hogtown
(Writer-Director-Producer) 2015

A feature-length, multi-lingual, multi-racial Chicago detective story set circa 1919
“The most original film about Chicago made in Chicago to date.”- Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times
“Daniel Nearing has carved out an original and boldly unfashionable niche. Hogtown feels like a find from a forgotten archive.” – Critics’ Pick - Ben Kenigsberg, The New York Times. Named subsequently to Kenigsberg's list of the Ten Best Films of 2016 (in a poll by the Village Voice, rogerebert.com, and Indiewire)
Best of Chicago Awards: the best film made in Chicago for 2015 – J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
“Chicago’s mysterious, sometimes painful beauty is revealed.” – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
“a multilayered, multicultural tapestry of a city and a century. HOGTOWN is epic in its scope and ravishingly photographed, designed, and scored." – Marty Rubin, Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
“a remarkably daring piece of work” – rogerebert.com
awarded Best Picture, Los Angeles Black Film Festival 2015
awarded Best Feature Film, International Black Film Festival (Nashville) 2015
awarded Best Film in a Fine Arts Discipline, 30th Black International Cinema Berlin
Additional screenings: Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Calgary International Film Festival, European Film Market, Charlotte Black Film Festival, St Louis Black Film Festival, in competition: International Festival of World Cinema – Milan, Critical Edge Film Festival, African Diaspora International Film Festival - Washington, DC, and New York City, Festival International de Films de la Diaspora Africaine, Paris (with French subtitles)
Paired retrospective screening of Chicago Heights and Hogtown at Columbia University, New York City (December 2016) and the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Feburary 2015)
North American and World rights held by ArtMattan Films, New York City / Paris
View behind the scenes video of the making of Hogtown
McKenzie Chinn on playing the role of Aaliyah Carter in Hogtown

Goalie
(Director) 2011

An adaptation of the highly regarded Canadian short story by Rudy Thauberger
North American premiere at the 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival

Chicago Heights / The Last Soul on a Summer Night
(Writer-Director) 2010

An experimental interpretation of the landmark American novel, Winesburg, Ohio
Named to Roger Ebert’s list of the Best Art Films of 2010
“brilliant… a beautiful book has inspired this beautiful film.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Film of the Week – Time Out Chicago
“[They] took my favorite book of all time, which is almost universally understood to be unadaptable, and made a magnificent film out of it.” – Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Winner, Best Film in a Fine Arts Discipline, Black International Cinema Berlin 2010
“This stunning adaptation of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio... is an aesthetic and political knockout… both profoundly affecting on its own right and as a beau ideal of detournement.” Monica Westin, Flavorpill
“poetic and haunting” – Sergio Mims, Shadow and Act: On Media of the African Diaspora
“a gorgeously photographed, beautifully scored tour de force.” – Marty Rubin, The Gene Siskel Film Center
distributed (2012) by Rogue Arts and Vanguard Cinema, now available on Netflix and through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Best Buy and many more retailers
Feature profiles in Creative Screenwriting, on NPR and in the Chicago Reader
Official Selection, Black Harvest Film Festival 2010, invited back for a week-long run at the Gene Siskel Film Center, December 2010
Official Selection, San Francisco Black Film Festival 2010; Official Selection, Montreal Black Film Festival, 2010; In Competition, Flash Forward, Pusan International Film Festival 2009; Honorable Mention, Columbus International Film and Video Festival 2009
View The Making of Chicago Heights

Literary Olympics

Bravo

(Writer-Director) 1999

Documentary retrospective on the world’s premier authors gathering, the Toronto Festival of Authors
Featuring interviews with and on-stage appearances by Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Richard Ford, Tom Wolfe, John Irving, Alice Munro, and more of the world’s best-loved novelists and poets

The Island Hibernia

Discovery Channel
(Writer) 1998

An hour-long documentary about drilling for oil while fending off icebergs in the North Atlantic

Bomb Tech

Discovery Channel

(Writer) 1998

An hour-long documentary: taking “the long walk” with bomb technicians as they attempt to defuse terrorist devices

Giant’s Playground

Discovery Channel

(Writer-Director-Editor) 1997

Hour-long documentary overview of the historic construction of the fixed link between mainland Canada and Prince Edward Island, celebrating the spirit of the Island while documenting the mammoth task of constructing the world’s longest marine-span bridge
Aired on The Discovery Channel’s Forbidden Places
Highest-rated episode of the season; “hugely popular” (network head Trina McQueen)
“Fascinating... nothing beats the awesome footage...but what gives Giant’s Playground its richness is the attention it pays to peripheral details.” Feature review, Henry Mietkiewicz, The Toronto Star

Soviet Reunion: The Russian Red Wings

TSN - The Sports Network, Canada
(Writer-Director) 1996

A reflection on the impact of glasnost on Russian National Hockey League players, including profiles of Sergei Fedorov, Vyacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Vladimir Konstantinov, and Viacheslav Kozlov of the Detroit Red Wings Hockey Club

The Big Train

CBC - TSN
(Writer-Director) 1994

A half-hour documentary on the life of Lionel Conacher, Canada’s Athlete of the Half-Century
Developed with the assistance of CBC-TV; contract bought out by TSN Inside Sports
“A... revelation to those of us who have never heard of the once-acclaimed athlete of the half-century.” (John Haslett Cuff, The Globe and Mail)
Distributed educationally by The Canadian Learning Company

When Children Kill

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) National Network

(Writer-Director) 1992

MFA thesis documentary about juvenile homicide
“Riveting... documentary of the week” (John Doyle, The Globe and Mail)
Second window with repeated airings on CBC Newsworld

EDUCATION

The Canadian Film Centre
Producer Resident

1997

Founded by Norman Jewison, the Centre is a national, advanced training institution for the Canadian film and television industry.

York University
Master of Fine Arts in Film and Video

1992

Intensive study of all aspects of film production, screenwriting and theory
Wrote, produced, and directed nationally broadcast documentary on juvenile homicide for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as thesis film
Studied with Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient) and Robin Wood (CineACTION!)