After graduating from Vassar College in 1999, Mike Attie dabbled in Internet marketing, advertising and even law school before finally landing in the wonderful world of documentary film. Prior to attending Stanford’s MFA in Documentary Film program, Mike worked as a production assistant and assistant editor for Academy Award-winning filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond on films for HBO and PBS. While freelancing Mike worked on a few of his own projects including documentaries on a bicycle co-op, urban fishermen and Vietnam War reenacting.  At Stanford he produced and directed films about aspiring circus performers, an elementary school cooking team, Victorian grieving, and an inventor trying to replicate the human walking motion.  The latter film, Bob’s Knee, premiered at SilverDocs and went on to win awards at the Black Maria Film Festival and the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival.  Mike lives in Menlo Park with his wife Sarah and cats Eddie B and Lucy.

 

SCHOLARSHIPS AND GRANTS:

PIFVA Subsidy Grant, 2007
WYBE's Philadelphia Stories Grant, 2007

 

 

 

 

Famous 4A

hd video

19:16 min.

 

For patients living in "Famous 4A", the hospice unit at a Palo Alto Veteran's hospital, life goes on and even progresses.  Famous 4A challenges stereotypes of aging and dying.  It's about how we hold on to routines and still seek out humor, truth and purpose in the last moments of life.

 

AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS:

CILECT Prize -- First Place, Documentary, 2010

Nominee - IDA/David Wolper Award, 2009

Semi-Finalist, Angelus Awards, 2009

Jury Award - Best Short Film, Kos International Health Film Festival, 2010
Honorable Mention, Local Sightings - Northwest Film Forum, 2010
Audience Award, Red Hook Film Festival, 2010
Nominee - IDA/David Wolper Award, 2009 Semi-Finalist, Angelus Awards, 2009
Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, 2010
Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival, 2010

 

 

Mr. Mack's Kitchen

16mm color film

6:16 min.

 

To survive in Mr. Mack's kitchen you need respect, discipline and intense focus. Can the children of Lafeyette Elementary take the heat?

 

AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS:

Best of the Northwest, Children's Film Festival, Seattle, 2010

San Francisco International Film Festival, 2010

Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, 2010

Brooklyn Independent Cinema Series, 2010

REDCAT International Children’s Film Festival, 2010

Red Hook International Film Festival, 2009

Cinequest Film Festival, 2009

 

 

 

 

circus is life

Co-directed with Charlene Music

digital video

9:27 min.

 

circus is life is the story of the close ties of teenage friendship, on stage and off, and the hope that some things will never change.

 

AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS:

Dam Shorts Film Festival, 2009

Woods Hole Film Festival, 2008

Dam Shorts Film Festival, 2009

Encuentro Internacional de Escuelas de Cine, 2008

 

 

 

 

Bob's Knee

16mm black and white film

4 min.

 

Bob had a simple question: "How do we walk?" If you wanted to understand this problem what would you do? Read a book? Talk to a doctor or physiologist? But as Bob says, "the way to really know how something works is to make a model of it."

 

AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS:

Director's Choice, Black Maria Film and Video Festival, 2009

Jury Award - Best Short, Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival, 2009

Finalist, NextFrame: UFVA’s Touring Festival of International Student Film and Video, 2008

Finalist, WNET's Reel13 Online Shorts Competition, 2008

Children's Film Festival Seattle, 2010

Dam Short Film Festival, 2009

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, 2009

Silverdocs/AFI Discovery Channel Documentary Film Festival, 2008
SF Shorts, San Francisco International Festival of Short Films, 2008

Red Hook International Film Festival, 2008

Salt Lake Film Center's Sidewalk Cinema, 2008