User:George.ratliff/sandbox

George Whittenburg Ratliff (born October 11th 1968) is an American film director and screenwriter living in Portland, OR. He is most noted for his films Hell House (2001), Joshua (2007) starring Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga, and Salvation Boulevard (2011) starring Greg Kinnear, Pierce Brosnan, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly and Marisa Tomei. His most recent film, Welcome Home (2018), stars Aaron Paul and Emily Ratajkowski and will be released Nov 16, 2018.

Although born in Washington D.C. to an inventor/petroleum engineer father (Harvey L. Ratliff Jr.) and a German immigrant mother (Clara Hedwig Schneider), George Ratliff was raised in Amarillo, TX and is a fifth generation Texan, coming from a clan that numbers more than 150 in the Texas High Plains.

Ratliff studied English and Film at the University of Texas at Austin and made his first feature film, Plutonium Circus soon after film school, which won the award for Best Documentary Feature at South by Southwest Film Festival and received a theatrical release.

Ratliff directed and co-wrote Joshua starring Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Dramatic Competition and was bought and distributed worldwide by Fox Searchlight. Ratliff directed and co-wrote Salvation Boulevard starring Pierce Brosnan, Ed Harris, Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly and premiered at Sundance and was distributed by IFC and Sony Pictures. He directed and produced the feature documentary Hell House which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, found theatrical distribution, became a subject of This American Life, inspired an award-winning off-Broadway musical as well as an episode of The Simpsons.

Awards:

2007 Sundance Film Festival Nominated, Grand Jury Prize Dramatic for Joshua Joshua Won Best Cinematography 2007 Gen Art Film Festival Won, Best Feature Gen Art Chicago Grand Jury Prize for Joshua (2007)

2007 Locarno International Film Festival Nominated, Golden Leopard for Joshua

2007 Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival Nominated, Best Film for Joshua Won, Special Mention for Joshua

1995 SXSW Film Festival Won, SXSW Competition Award Documentary Feature for Plutonium Circus

2002 San Francisco International Film Festival Won, Golden Gate Award Film & Video - Society & Culture U.S. for Hell House

1997 SXSW Film Festival Won, SXSW Competition Award - Honorable Mention Narrative Feature for Purgatory County

1995 CINE Golden Eagle Film and Video Competition Won, Golden Eagle Independent Division Documentary Feature for Plutonium Circus

1995 Canyonlands Film Festival Won, Best of Festival for Plutonium Circus

Filmography:

Plutonium Circus (1995) Purgatory County (1998) Hell House (2002) Joshua (2007) Salvation Boulevard (2011) Welcome Home (2018)

External links:

George Ratliff imdb page [|Joshua Wikipedia page] NY Times review of Joshua NY Times review of Hell House NY Times review of Salvation Boulevard