News Release

BOISE STATE NEWS RELEASE/January 29, 2008

Boise State Instructor, Independent Filmmaker Takes Home Top Prize at Sundance Film Fest

When Heather Rae stands before her class this semester at Boise State University, she’ll command a little more respect than your average adjunct instructor. That’s because Rae, who is teaching a 16-week workshop on producing independent films, took home the coveted grand jury prize for drama at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The award was announced Sunday night.

“Frozen River,” produced by Rae and written by Courtney Hunt, had already been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for $1 million by the time the award was announced. The film, set in upstate New York, focuses on two women in desperate financial straits who turn to smuggling illegal immigrants across the Canadian border.

Prior to “Frozen River,” Rae served as producer of “Out of the Blue,” the documentary about the Boise State Broncos’ dramatic January 2007 Fiesta Bowl win against football powerhouse Oklahoma. An Idaho native who attended Boise State as a student in the late 1980s, Rae has spent several years honing her craft, including a stint as a production manager in Los Angeles and several years as the Native American program director for the Sundance Institute.

After returning to Idaho in 2004, Rae began teaching classes at Boise State, helped found the True West Cinema Festival, opened an artist cooperative with her writer husband Russell Friedenberg, and saw her documentary about Native American activist and poet John Trudell play at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.

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Media Contact: Kathleen Craven, University Communications, (208) 426-3275, kcraven@boisestate.edu

Boise State University is emerging as a metropolitan research university of distinction. This transformation is being powered by the university’s first comprehensive campaign to support students, faculty, strategic initiatives, research and infrastructure. That’s why the campaign to raise $175 million in private support is called Destination Distinction.
 

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Last reviewed on Tuesday, January 29, 2008