James Ponsoldt – Refresh, Refresh

INFO

James Ponsoldt was born and raised in Athens, Georgia, received a BA in English from Yale, and an MFA in directing from Columbia University's Graduate Film Program (where his thesis film, "Junebug and Hurricane," which starred Janeane Garofalo, won the Student Choice Award for Best Film and played at festivals internationally).

Ponsoldt's short films and debut feature as a writer/director, "Off the Black" (which premiered at Sundance '06, starred Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, Trevor Morgan, and was theatrically distributed by THINKFilm), have played at more than 100 festivals worldwide, including Sundance, Tribeca, Stockholm, Clermont-Ferrand, and Edinburgh.

His screenplay, "Refresh, Refresh," was developed at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab (with Atom Egoyan, John August, Howard Rodman, D.V. DeVincentis, and Ron Nyswaner as advisors), received the Lynn Auerbach Screenwriting Fellowship, was a finalist for the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award, included in the Hampton's Screenwriters' Lab, Film Independent's Fast Track program, No Borders at IFP's Independent Film Week, and was selected as the only U.S. project for the 2010 Cinemart at the Rotterdam Film Festival.

In September 2009, an adaptation of Ponsoldt's screenplay for "Refresh, Refresh" was published by Macmillan as a graphic novel (http://us.macmillan.com/refreshrefresh).

In addition to being a regular contributor to "Filmmaker" magazine, Ponsoldt is currently adapting the novel "City of Refuge" for acclaimed producer Jeff Sharp ("You Can Count on Me," "Boys Don't Cry") as well as the novel "Pyres" for Andrew Fierberg ("Secretary,"