stone reader
a film by Mark Moskowitz
PRESS CONTACT:
Mary Litkovich
JEREMY WALKER + ASSOCIATES
171 West 80th St. #1
Tel. 212-595-6161
Fax. 212-595-5875
www.stonereader.net/press for photographs and additional news
stone reader
Synopsis
In 1972, 18-year-old Mark Moskowitz read an enthusiastic New York Times review of a novel called “The Stones of Summer” by first-time author Dow Mossman. He bought it, convinced it was the book of his generation, but, in spite of being an avid reader, couldn’t get past the first twenty pages. He closed the book.
Twenty-five years later, he opened it again. But this time he couldn’t put it down. Enthralled with its originality, Moskowitz looked for copies to send to friends and for other works by the author. He couldn’t find the book. He couldn’t find a record of the author. He couldn’t find anyone who had even heard of the author’s name, let alone read the book.
The film chronicles filmmaker Mark Moskowitz’s year-long search for Dow Mossman. Pursuing answers to the literary mystery, he crisscrossed the country, meeting, among others, Robert Gottlieb, editor of “Catch-22,” Frank Conroy, head of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and critic Leslie Fiedler. Cinematic, humorous and obsessive, the journey is a wistful, passionate affirmation of reading and what it means to us.
Shot on 16mm film. Running time 128 minutes.
stone reader
Director's Notes
STONE READER follows my quest to find a long out-of-print book The Stones of Summer and a forgotten writer, Dow Mossman. The novel is one of youth and rebellion, written from 1965-1971 when I was a teenager and rebellion was at the heart of the arts and the new consciousness of young Americans.
Although I was a passionate reader, I couldn’t get into the book back then. But when I came across it again in 1998, the pages of the old paperback literally coming unglued in my hands, I found myself as moved and as struck by its originality as I remember the reviewer to have been in 1972.
As soon as I finished it I hopped onto the internet to find the writer’s other books. There were none. Nor was there any trace of the writer, or even the publisher. Why no readers? Why no books? Did Mossman just stop writing? Was he even alive? I took time out from my other work and started filming what I found. Joined by cinematographer Joe Vandergast and then others who became intrigued by the quest, I looked for clues.
What began as a quest had now became an obsession. Months turned into seasons, seasons into years. I crisscrossed the country ruminating with others about books that have gone in and out of favor, about the future of reading, and about the fate of other ambitious first novels.
Robert Gottlieb, the editor of Catch-22, who ran Knopf for 20 years, told me how and why “fiction has changed” and speculated on problems Mossman may have encountered. Frank Conroy, head of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, who didn’t publish a second novel for nearly 20 years after Stop-Time, reflects “it may have been too late” for such a novel in 1972. Leslie Fiedler, critic and author of Love and Death in the American Novel, a book I clutched in my hand for months, reading it everywhere in college, even as The Stones of Summer lay forgotten on my apartment floor, told me he has been “fascinated by ‘one book’ writers for years.”
The more I learned, the more I realized the answers I had been seeking were buried in the novel. Using the book as a compass, I solved one mystery only to open the door to others. While some see Mossman’s silence as an abandonment of talent, others see it as part of a larger dilemma: the course American literature has taken over the last thirty years, the demise of the novel in the digital age, and, as reading wanes, the conversion of the book from reading object to collectible.
As I worked on the film I realized something I must have known all along—how books create lifelong bonds among their readers in a way few other experiences do. And how friendships begin even after the story is over.
stone reader
Credits
Written, Produced and Directed by Mark Moskowitz
Producers Mark Moskowitz
Robert Goodman
Cinematographers Joseph Vandergast
Jeffrey Confer
Mark Moskowitz
Editors Mark Moskowitz
Kathleen Soulliere
In Order of Appearance Joseph Vandergast
Clare Quinn
Andy Hertzfeld
John Goldstein
Gloria Moskowitz
Robert Ellis
Leslie Fiedler
Tom Furlong
John Seelye
Alice Seelye
Jim Blankura
Robert Gottlieb
Robert C. Downs
Bruce Dobler
John Kashiwabara
Frank Conroy
William Cotter Murray
Richard Wright
Dan Guenther
Carl Brandt
Additional Photography Michael Confer
Damon Sinclair
Stephen Carey
Jason Zimmerman
Vince Ellis
Sound David Marks
Richard Kane
John Gooch
Rob Whitehurst
Jim Machowiski
Assistant Camera Rob Wright
Stephen Carey
Rick Amundson
Christopher Burke
Lighting and Grip Crew Michael Stahr
Rick Seberg
Kevin McGlinchey
Kevin Hackenberg
Nelson Goforth
James Goldworthy
Bruce Williams
Ralph Ring
Consulting Editor Josh Waletzky
Film Colorist Bob Lovejoy
Website Naveen Mallikarjuna
Legal Alex Murphy
NLE Incite Editor
Film-to-Tape Shooters Post & Transfer
Laboratory Duart
Lablink
Sound Recording Baker Sound
Digital Cinema Quvis
Laser Pacific
NPR “Fresh Air” Excerpt WHYY
Film Stock Kodak
Music Consultant John Diliberto
“Ancient Art of Soul Travel” Written & Performed by Michael Mandrell
Courtesy of Michael Mandrell
Bonsuris arranged and performed by Heidi Hachlan
All other Music Written and Performed by Michael Mandrell
Courtesy of Michael Mandrell
© 2002 JETFilms, LLC, All Rights Reserved
stone reader
featuring;
Carl Brandt
Literary agent at Brandt & Brandt, whose firm has represented Theodore Dreiser, John Marquand, John Dos Passos, Carlos Fuentes, Scott Turow, Michael Cunningham and many other well-known writers
Frank Conroy
Head of the Iowa University Writers’ Workshop, and author of the groundbreaking book "Stop-Time," "Midair," and "Body and Soul"
Bruce Dobler
Author of several novels and works of non-fiction, currently Professor at the University of Pittsburgh
Robert Downs
Professor of Literature at Penn State and the author of six novels, most recently "The Fifth Season"
Robert Ellis
Political image-maker, novelist, first book published during production
Leslie Fiedler
Foremost American literature critic, author of "Love and Death in the American Novel"
Robert Gottlieb
Former Editor-in-Chief of Simon & Schuster, where he edited Joseph Heller’s "Catch-22," and for 20 years the Editor-in-Chief at Knopf, where he edited the novels of Toni Morrison, among many other writers
Ed Gorman
Author of mystery novels and editor of many crime fiction compilations
Dan Guenther
Poet and Vietnam veteran whose book about the war, "China Wind," was critically acclaimed
Andy Hertzfeld
Co-creator of the first Apple McIntosh computer, widely known software developer and innovator
John Kashiwabara
Graphic artist, designer of the "The Godfather" book jacket, among other bestsellers
William Cotter Murray
Novelist and longtime professor at the Iowa Writers Workshop
John Seelye
Professor at the University of Florida, and author of many critical works on American Literature
Pennsylvania - Maine - Florida - California - Iowa - Colorado - New York - Texas
Maryland - Indiana
stone reader
Biographies
Mark Moskowitz, Director/Producer
Mark Moskowitz, producer and director of STONE READER, is known for his issue-oriented media, including more than three thousand political spots for hundreds of races nationally and worldwide. He has been awarded “Pollies,” political media’s highest award, for five consecutive years. Newsweek described his media as “brilliantly targeted,” and CNN called it “a model of the medium.”
Besides his political work, Moskowitz has created promotional media for high profile athletes, musicians, CEOs, and others in the public eye. For over twenty years he’s specialized in telling reality stories by bringing amateurs to life on-camera. Moskowitz has also worked as a strategic communications consultant to blue chip companies as well as produced media for leading technology centers such as Lawrence Livermore National Labs, and the new National Constitution Center project. His recent film on the issue of nuclear stockpile stewardship is being used internationally by the U.S. Department of Energy. His network public-image commercials for both the PGA Tour and National Basketball Association were hallmarked as the first of their kind. Commercial work numbers hundreds of spots for regional and national campaigns. He has handled budgets in excess of $5 million and filmed in 44 states. His work as been the subject of national television programs and he has been featured in publications as diverse as Sports Illustrated and the Wall Street Journal.
STONE READER, his first feature film, won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film (a first for a nonfiction narrative) and a Special Grand Jury Honor (the festival’s top prize) at the 2002 Slamdance Festival. The International Documentary Association (IDA) nominated STONE READER for its Distinguished Achievement Award in the Feature category. IDA is the largest association of nonfiction filmmakers in the world and an IDA nomination is one of the most prestigious honors a nonfiction film can receive.
He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, is married and lives with his family in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania.
Joseph Vandergast, Director of Photography
Joseph Vandergast "captures the moment" in a way few can match. While working as a news cameraman in the mid-seventies, he filmed the commercials for Jimmy Carter's fledgling campaign, and the success of his work defined the way political ads have been made ever since. Joe specializes in a spontaneous documentary form that brings STONE READER alive. He has a knack for anticipating the action and getting the camera to the right spot at the right moment. Besides political work, he has established himself as a top-flight commercial cinematographer, shooting hundreds of national commercials and television shows, and continues to film a broad range of important issue-oriented productions.
Jeffrey Confer, Director of Photography
Jeffrey Confer has been shooting film for nearly thirty years, and for every type of production imaginable. His nonfiction work has a flair for strong compositions that also capture the scene. He’s put that talent to work in award-winning films for National Geographic, network television, and hundreds of commercials, documentaries, and interview segments.
Kathleen Soulliere, Editor
Kathleen Soulliere has more than 25 years experience editing film and television. Credits include many nationally and internationally televised documentary and arts programs. Her work has won numerous Emmy awards, been screened at INPUT, and acquired by the Museum of Modern Art and the Louvre. Recent national PBS broadcasts include “An Angel in the Village,” which won Outstanding Documentary from the Philadelphia Chapter of Professional Journalists and was praised in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and “Landowska,” which received critical acclaim from the Dallas Morning News, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.
Robert Goodman, Producer
Robert Goodman is an Emmy-nominated director and award-winning writer, with broadcast, documentary, and feature credits including: “The Road Taken” recipient of a Silver Reel in the International Video Festival; and “America’s Dream Highway,” a Telly award-winning history about the first superhighway in the United States. He’s been featured on John Pierson’s Split Screen, which airs on Bravo and has presented workshops at the Independent Feature Film Market in New York, South by Southwest, Los Angeles Independent, San Francisco International and Portland International film festivals and for AIVF, IFP, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Sony Corporation, and Women in Film. Goodman is a contributing editor for Digital Cinema and The Independent Film & Video Monthly and, coauthor of Editing Digital Video, a new book from McGraw-Hill and of the American Society of Cinematographer’s Digital Video Manual 3rd edition.
stone reader
Awards
WINNER, SPECIAL GRAND JURY HONOR, 2002 SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
WINNER, AUDIENCE AWARD BEST FEATURE FILM, 2002 SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY ASSOCIATION (IDA) FINALIST for DISTINGUISHED
ACHIEVEMENT
9