Daniel Nearing
American filmmaker
Daniel Nearing (born December 21, 1961) is a Chicago, Illinois-based director, screenwriter, and independent filmmaker.
Hogtown, his "period-less" American film, has been called "the most original film made in Chicago about Chicago to date" and named one of the 10 Best Films of 2016 by Ben Kenigsberg, who reviewed the film for The New York Times. Nearing was named the inaugural Filmmaker in Residence for the City of Chicago (Chicago Film Office, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events) and Chicagoan of the Year for Film (2016–17) by the Chicago Tribune
His earlier breakthrough film, the micro-budget production Chicago Heights (2010) garnered rave reviews, especially among fans of the original source material, Sherwood Anderson's influential collection of short stories, Winesburg, Ohio, a book long thought impossible to be adapted as a film. Noted film critic Roger Ebert included Chicago Heights in his list of the Top Art Films of 2010.
Nearing's storytelling style tends to be more circular than linear. He views plot as a veneer that ties together the more important, character-centered aspects of any story. Nearing is known for building sequences of vignettes and using powerful imagery to focus on the isolation and humility of human life. He works primarily in black and white, with moments of what he refers to as "ecstatic color" and with heavily shadowed, "idiosyncratic" shot compositions. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune says that "Nearing's chosen way of telling a story is poetic, elliptical and sometimes unhelpfully indirect, but if he chooses, this Canadian-born, Chicago-based filmmaker could very well become a significant and lasting talent." Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times says Nearing "is not the most accessible filmmaker, but with his new feature and his previous one, he has carved out an original and boldly unfashionable niche."
Life and career
Nearing studied for his MA in modern and contemporary literature at the University of Toronto, and went on to earn an MFA in film from Toronto's York University, and served as producer resident at the Canadian Film Centre. He has studied under Northrop Frye (Anatomy of Criticism) and Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient).
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