Honoring Miranda July
Texas’ premiere microcinema Aurora Picture Show has named acclaimed artist Miranda July, creator of the recent Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize Winner Me, You, and Everyone We Know, as its 2006 Aurora Award recipient. The award will be presented at the annual Aurora Award Gala on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. Chaired by Katherine and Mark Yzaguirre, the gala will take place at the Houston home of hosts Carlisle Vandervoort and Gabriela Trzebinski. The Aurora Award is presented annually to an artist who has demonstrated extraordinary talent and originality in the field of media arts. Previous honorees include Tony Oursler (2001), William Wegman (2002), Laurie Anderson (2003), the Ant Farm collective (2004), and Isaac Julien (2005).
Miranda July is a filmmaker, performing artist and writer. She grew up in Berkeley, California where she began her career by writing plays and staging them at a local club. July's videos, performances, and web-based projects have been presented at sites such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and in the 2002 and 2004 Whitney Biennials. Her short fiction has been published in The Paris Review, The Harvard Review, and Zoetrope All Story, and a collection of stories is forthcoming from Scribner in spring 2007. July created the participatory website learningtoloveyoumore.com with artist Harrell Fletcher and a companion book will be published by Prestel in fall 2007. She wrote, directed and starred in her first feature-length film, Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), which also won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in addition to the Jury Prize at Sundance.
The Sixth Annual Aurora Award Gala will include a special screening of excerpts from July’s body of work, followed by a dinner menu by Culinaire. Aiding Chairs Katherine and Mark Yzaguirre are host committee members Domenick Ammirati, Leslie and Brad Bucher, Deborah and Bill Colton, Rachel Cook, Kim Davenport, Elaine Dillard and Juan Walker, Cindy and David Donnelly, Marita and JB Fairbanks, Diane and Harry Gendel, Molly Gochman, Penelope Gonzalez and Lester Marks, Twila Huso and Tom Ajamie, Jill and Dunham Jewett, Frazier King, Rainey Knudson and Michael Galbreth, Laura Lark, Victoria and Marshal Lightman, Chris Lockwood, Marian Luntz, Linda Marroquin, Nancy and Rob Martin, Adan Medrano, Valerie Cassel Oliver, Jennifer and Jeff Shankman, Terrie Sultan and Christopher French, Cynthia Toles and
Lillian and Bob Warren.
Individual tickets to the Sixth Annual Aurora Award Gala start at $150 and tables range from $1000 to $10,000. To purchase tickets or for more information, contact Aurora Picture Show Membership Manager Melissa Sonzala at 713-868-2101.