Zoje Stage (Writer/Director) is the moving force behind Master Builder, an independent film company that has produced two feature-length and more than a half dozen short films. In 2008 Ms. Stage was awarded a Fellowship in Playwriting/Screenwriting from the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), joining the ranks of previous NYFA Fellows including Spike Lee, Todd Haynes, Tamara Jenkins, Julie Taymor and Tony Kushner. In 2009 her script "The Machine Who Loved" won the first Screenplay Live! screenwriting competition, which afforded her the opportunity to direct a very successful staged reading of the script for the Rochester High Falls International Film Festival. She is also a two-time semifinalist for the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, the industry's largest and most prestigious competition, sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Ms. Stage was named "Best Hollywood Hopeful" in the Rochester City Newspaper's Best of Rochester 2008 after the writer of the piece read "The Machine Who Loved" and declared: "WOW! I was captivated... It is really beautiful - the dialogue, the characters, the really superb, intricate subtext... Bravo!" She has garnered other press attention over the years, including:
"an amusing take on the travails of aspiring writers" (The New York Times review of her documentary short "Best of Luck")
"Ms. Stage now makes her own contribution to holocaust literature with a demanding and intensely felt play... a must-see for those wanting another view of why and how the holocaust happened." (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette review of her stage play "Monster")
"With the right inspiration, it's true: A script really can almost write itself... witty" (Pittsburgh City Paper review of her feature-length mockumentary "Happy Walter")
Her storytelling and directing skills were also enhanced by her experiences as a theatrically-trained and former professional actor. Acting highlights include winning "Best Supporting Actress" at the 1996 Pittsburgh New Works Festival and two seasons of voice over work for FOX-TV, in addition to regional and Off-Off Broadway theatre and independent films.
Transplant (2009, 3 min.): Created for the HF3 Shorts Contest (now 360/365) themed: Rochester's 175th Anniversary - Coming Home. After a rocky start, Simi Singer made Rochester her home.
Tea Ceremony at the End of the World (2008, 6 min.): The last woman says goodbye to civilization. PREMIERED AT EMERGING FILMMAKERS - ROCHESTER, NY - AUG. 2009
Happy Walter (2006, 79 min.): The daughter of an eccentric Andy Warhol-meets-Homer Simpson artist tries to reconnect with her wayward father in this mockumentary about art, fame, and dysfunctional families. PREMIERED AT FILM KITCHEN - PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 2007. FIRST THEATRICAL BOOKING AT THE TWO BOOTS PIONEER THEATER - NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 2007
poetica.cinema./trilogy. (2006, 20 min.): The eleven poetic films from the previous poetica.cinema. shorts are combined here in a loopable project intended for video installation. PREMIERED AT THE UNITED NATIONS PHILOSOPHY DAY @ ST. JOHN FISHER COLLEGE - ROCHESTER, NY - NOV. 2006
Mt. Hope (2005, 14 min.): Two women cross paths in the middle of a trying day, finding temporary solace in one another's company. PREMIERED AT FILM KITCHEN - PITTSBURGH, PA - JAN. 2006
poetica.cinema./erotica.(2005, 6 min.): Three original poems exploring longing and vulnerability.
poetica.cinema./new york. (2005, 8 min.): Four original poems inspired by New York City.
Against Her Skin (2005, 22 min.): A young woman starts a new job as a live-in nanny, expecting to make a better life for herself. Instead, she finds herself in a strange house and begins to suspect that something is being hidden from her. PREMIERED AT EMERGING FILMMAKERS - ROCHESTER, NY - AUG. 2005
poetica.cinema. (2005, 6 min.): Four original poems. PREMIERED AT THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR POETRY THERAPY 25TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE - ST. LOUIS, MO - MAY 2005
Avi & Sylvan (2004, 8 min.): Two sisters - Avi, the goddess of flying things, and Sylvan, the goddess of growing things - create a world better suited to their needs. PREMIERED AT EMERGING FILMMAKERS - ROCHESTER, NY - DEC. 2004
1988 (2004, 21 min.): This personal project combines materials all originally created by the filmmaker during the second half of 1988 and the first half of 1989 - audio cassettes of original music, badly-transferred Super-8 films, and interview footage. Combined, they capture the creative ambitions of the then nineteen-year-old artist, and the difficulties that shaped the next few years of her life.
Best of Luck (2003, 25 min.): Over a ten year period Zoje Stage received nearly 1,000 rejections for her writing efforts. What keeps a writer going in the face of constant rejection? Creative compulsion. Eternal hope. Stupefying masochism. PREMIERED AT FILM KITCHEN - PITTSBURGH, PA - FEB. 2004
Bewilderness (2002, 92 min.): A writer with an existential crisis struggles to find a more meaningful life in the aftermath of 9/11. Her offbeat quest is compounded by the fact that she finds her fantasy life to be infinitely more interesting than her day-to-day reality. PREMIERED AT NEWFILMMAKERS @ ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES - NEW YORK, NY - FEB. 2006