A former University of Colorado at Boulder film studies student, Derek Cianfrance, has been awarded $1 million for winning the 2006 Chrysler Film Project competition.
The money will be used to help finance his independent film, "Blue Valentine," which he co-wrote and is set to direct.
The Chrysler Film Project is a joint venture between the automotive company, Silverwood Films in Los Angeles and the Independent Feature Project in New York. The Chrysler Film Project was created to help independent filmmakers bring their films to the big screen.
"'Blue Valentine' has been a labor of love for me -- it's a very personal story," said Cianfrance. "I have been working hard for the last nine years to get it produced and I'm just excited and thankful that this opportunity came along and I can finally get to work on making my film."
Cianfrance studied filmmaking at CU-Boulder from 1992 to 1994 under avant-garde and award-winning filmmakers Phil Solomon and Stan Brakhage. In 1995 he directed his first independent feature film, "Brother Tied," a film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to win several awards including the Orson Wells First Film Award at the Huntington International Film Festival in Huntington, N.Y.
A total of 550 filmmakers initially submitted a short film and screenplay to the Chrysler Film Project competition. The Independent Feature Project selected five finalists who were then required to develop, shoot and edit a Chrysler-branded short film. A panel of industry professionals and the Independent Feature Project then selected the winner.
"Blue Valentine" is the story of a couple whose marriage is in trouble. The film shows, over time, the paths taken by the couple that brought them to the current state of their relationship.
According to Cianfrance, "the film juxtaposes dualities -- love versus hatred, the past versus the present, fantasy versus reality, youth versus adulthood, man versus woman -- to present a portrait of an American marriage."
Cianfrance lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., and is currently putting the finishing touches on his screenplay.