Jan Lisa Huttner | |
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Born | December 10, 1951 Newark, New Jersey, USA |
Occupation | Film Critic/Feminist Activist |
Parent | Edwin Huttner Helen Hecht Huttner |
Jan Lisa Huttner (born December 10, 1951) is an American film critic, journalist, activist, and independent scholar. Huttner has authored columns for prominent publications, including Women's eNews, the Huffington Post, and The Forward, and is the author of a blog, "The Hot Pink Pen," which is devoted to reviewing films by women filmmakers. [1] [2] She is also known for her work as a proponent of Jane Addams Day, which was officially adopted by the State of Illinois on December 10, 2007. She is one of the founders of International Swan Day.
Jan Lisa Huttner was born on December 10, 1951, at the Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. Her family moved to Livingston, New Jersey, in 1960, where Huttner completed high school. [3] Huttner completed her undergraduate studies at St. John’s College in 1973, and subsequently earned master's degrees from Harvard University and the University of Chicago. [4] In 1973, Huttner was awarded a grant from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation to study Israeli education administration. [5] Huttner's papers are part of the "Women of U of C" archive at the University of Chicago Library. [6]
Huttner worked as a computer system consultant for nearly 20 years, before starting a career as a film critic and feminist activist in 2002. During her work as a healthcare consultant, Huttner worked for Price Waterhouse Coopers and KPMG.
In late 2008, Huttner launched a campaign to recognize Loveleen Tandan as a nominee for Best Director at the 66th Golden Globe Awards. [7] Tandan was credited as "Co-Director: India" on the film Slumdog Millionaire, but the film's Best Director nomination recognized only Danny Boyle as a directing nominee. Huttner launched a campaign to have Tandan recognized, as well. Although Tandan distanced herself from the campaign and claimed she had no interest in sharing the nomination with Danny Boyle, under pressure from the Women's Media Center, she was invited to the Oscars in 2009. [8]
Huttner is the co-creator of SWAN (Support Women Artists Now) Day along with Martha Richards. [9] Swan Day is an annual international celebration of women’s creativity and gender parity activism that began in 2008. [10]
In late 2011, Huttner published her first book, Penny’s Picks: 50 Films by Women Filmmakers 2002-2011. The book, which is a compilation of Huttner’s reviews from various publications, focuses on films that involved female screenwriters and directors.
In September 2014, Huttner published a second book, Tevye's Daughters: No Laughing Matter, to honor the 50th anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof's Broadway debut. [11] In the book, Huttner discusses the "synergies” that account for Fiddler on the Roof's popularity and argues that the musical's creators were participants in a great conversation about women’s rights.
In late 2016, Huttner published her third book, Diamond Fiddler: Laden with Happiness & Tears.
Huttner served as a story consultant and talking head in the 2019 documentary feature film, Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles. [12] [13]
Huttner supported the effort to recognize Jane Addams with an official holiday. The Illinois chapter of the AAUW also supported the effort and encouraged students to lobby for the holiday to be officially recognized by the state. [14] In May 2006, Governor Rod Blagojevich signed legislation officially declaring December 10 to be “Jane Addams Day.” [15] Addams was one of the first women to have a commemorative day in the entire United States. [16]
Huttner also successfully campaigned for the Louise Bourgeois’ commemorative Addams sculpture series “Helping Hands” to be removed from storage. [17] A recreation of the sculpture series is on display near the Clarke House Museum.
Huttner has received Silver Feather Awards on three separate occasions from the Illinois Woman's Press Association. [18] In 2005, she also received a first place certificate for "Best News Writing for the Web" from the National Federation of Press Women. In 2012, Huttner was named the AAUW-IL Agent of Change at the State Convention luncheon on Saturday, April 28. [19]
Chaim Topol, mononymously known as Topol, was an Israeli actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Tevye, the lead role in the stage musical Fiddler on the Roof and the 1971 film adaptation, performing this role more than 3,500 times from 1967 through 2009.
Tevye the Dairyman, also translated as Tevye the Milkman is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem, and their various adaptations, the most famous being the 1964 stage musical Fiddler on the Roof and its 1971 film adaptation. Tevye is a pious Jewish dairyman living in the Russian Empire, the patriarch of a family including several troublesome daughters. The village of Boyberik, where the stories are set, is based on the town of Boyarka, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. Boyberik is a suburb of Yehupetz, where most of Tevye's customers live.
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters and other tales by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, a milkman in the village of Anatevka, who attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon his family's lives. He must cope with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters who wish to marry for love; their choices of husbands are successively less palatable for Tevye. An edict of the tsar eventually evicts the Jews from their village.
Laura Jane Addams was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, philosopher, and author. She was a leader in the history of social work and Women's suffrage. In 1889, Addams co-founded Hull House, one of America's most famous settlement houses, in Chicago, Illinois, providing extensive social services to poor, largely immigrant families. Philosophically a "radical pragmatist", she was arguably the first woman public philosopher in the United States. In the Progressive Era, when even presidents such as Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson identified themselves as reformers and might be seen as social activists, Addams was one of the most prominent reformers.
Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of Chicago, Hull House, named after the original house's first owner Charles Jerald Hull, opened to serve recently arrived European immigrants. By 1911, Hull House had expanded to 13 buildings. In 1912, the Hull House complex was completed with the addition of a summer camp, the Bowen Country Club. With its innovative social, educational, and artistic programs, Hull House became the standard bearer for the movement; by 1920, it grew to approximately 500 settlement houses nationally.
Dame Elizabeth Jane Campion is a New Zealand filmmaker. She is best known for writing and directing the critically acclaimed films The Piano (1993) and The Power of the Dog (2021), for which she has received two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Campion was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM) in the 2016 New Year Honours, for services to film.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 members and supporters, 1,000 local branches, and 800 college and university partners. Its headquarters are in Washington, D.C. AAUW's CEO is Gloria L. Blackwell.
First Impressions is a Broadway musical with music and lyrics by George Weiss, Bo Goldman, and Glenn Paxton, and book by Abe Burrows, who also directed the musical. It is based on Helen Jerome's 1935 stage adaptation of Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice.
Rosalind Harris is an American theater and film actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Tzeitel, the eldest daughter of Tevye, in the 1971 film version of Fiddler on the Roof. She also starred as Tzeitel in the Broadway musical, having replaced Bette Midler. Nearly 20 years after the film, Harris played mother Golde in a touring stage revival of Fiddler on the Roof; Topol, the Israeli actor who played her father Tevye in the film, reprised his role, now playing her husband.
Ellen Gates Starr was an American social reformer and activist. With Jane Addams, she founded Chicago's Hull House, an adult education center, in 1889; the settlement house expanded to 13 buildings in the neighborhood.
Fiddler on the Roof is a 1971 American period musical film produced and directed by Norman Jewison from a screenplay written by Joseph Stein, based on the 1964 stage musical of the same name by Stein, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick. Set in early 20th-century Imperial Russia, the film centers on Tevye, played by Topol, a poor Jewish milkman who is faced with the challenge of marrying off his five daughters amidst the growing tension in his shtetl. The cast also features Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann, Rosalind Harris, Michèle Marsh, Neva Small and Paul Michael Glaser. The musical score, composed by Bock with lyrics by Harnick, was adapted and conducted by John Williams.
Tandon is a surname found among the Hindu Khatris and Sikhs of Punjab, India.
Ada Louise Comstock was an American women's education pioneer. She served as the first dean of women at the University of Minnesota and later as the first full-time president of Radcliffe College.
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British drama film that is a loose adaptation of the novel Q & A (2005) by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It narrates the story of 18-year-old Jamal Malik from the Juhu slums of Mumbai. Starring Dev Patel in his film debut as Jamal, and filmed in India, it was directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and produced by Christian Colson, with Loveleen Tandan credited as co-director. As a contestant on Kaun Banega Crorepati, a Hindi Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Jamal surprises everyone by answering every question correctly so far, winning ₹1 crore, and he is one question away from winning the grand prize of ₹2 crore. Accused of cheating, he recounts his life story to the police, illustrating how he was able to answer each question.
Freida Selena Pinto is an Indian actress who has appeared mainly in American and British films. Born and raised in Mumbai, Maharashtra, she resolved at a young age to become an actress. As a student at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai she took part in amateur plays. After graduation, she briefly worked as a model and then as a television presenter.
Loveleen Tandan is an Indian film and casting director. She is the co-director (India) of Slumdog Millionaire along with Danny Boyle. She has also been the casting director for several other films, including Monsoon Wedding (2001) and Brick Lane (2007). She has been a casting consultant for The Namesake (2007).
The film Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight Academy Awards in 2009, has been subjected to a number of criticisms, notably regarding how it portrays Indian society and alleged exploitation of some of the actors.
Marie Waife was an American writer best known for writing the 1968 biography, My Father, Sholem Aleichem, about the brilliant Yiddish author and playwright.
Yasmin Ponnappa is an Indian model and actress from Bangalore. After appearing in print media and television commercials, Yasmin first worked as an actress in Thiagarajan Kumararaja's gangster film Aaranya Kaandam (2011).
Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles is a 2019 American documentary film about the creation and significance of the 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof. Directed by Max Lewkowicz, it features interviews with Fiddler creators such as Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, Joseph Stein, and Harold Prince, as well as scholars, actors, and other musical theatre figures such as Stephen Sondheim and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The documentary includes rarely-seen footage of the original Broadway cast as well as interviews with creators, actors, theatrical figures, and scholars.