Charles Kaufman '80 BFA Kanbar Institute of Film & TV, and Jim Taylor '96 MFA Kanbar Institute of Film & TV, were winners at the 77th annual Academy Awards which were held in Los Angeles on February 27, 2005. Kaufman's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind won for Original Screenplay, and Taylor (together with co-writer Alexander Payne) earned the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay for Sideways, which was also nominated for Best Picture, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, and Best Director.
Other Tisch alumni who worked on nominated films included: director Martin Scorsese's The Aviator (nominated for eleven and receiving five awards for Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Film Editing, Art Direction, and Costume Design), director Marc Forster's Finding Neverland (nominated for seven awards, and winning for Orginal Score), producer Chris Columbus's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban (nominated for two awards), producer Laurence Mark's I, Robot (nominated for Visual Effects), director Joshua Marston's Maria Full of Grace (singled out for a Best Actress nomination), screenwriter Keir Pearson's Hotel Rwanda (nominated for three awards, including Original Screenplay), producer Jack Rapke's The Polar Express (nominated for three awards), director M Night Shyamalan's The Village (nominated for Original Score), and director Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me (nominated for Best Documentary Feature).
Photos: Top: Charlie Kaufman (left) shared the Original Screenplay Oscar with Director Michel Gondry (center) and Pierre Bismuth (right) for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Middle: Jim Taylor, co-writer (with Alexander Payne) of the script for Sideways which won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Bottom: Morgan Spurlock, director of Super Size Me.
