Charlie Kaufman

Born in 1958 in New York, Kaufman moved to Connecticut in 1972 where he attended high school. As a comedic actor, he performed in school plays and, after graduation, he transferred NYU to study film. Hired to write for the TV sitcom Get a Life he moved to Los Angeles in 1991. Between writing assignments, he wrote the inventive screenplay Being John Malkovich (1999), directed by Spike Jonze (Oscar nomination, BAFTA award). A year later, Michel Gondry directed the Kaufman-penned Human Nature, followed by more Gondry/Kaufman collaborations: Adaptation (2002) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), the latter winning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (both films are part of AFF’s 2010 Decade of Independents section). Kaufman’s trademarks include auto-thematic motifs, multi-level plots, irony, oscillation between reality and fiction as well as complex stories with sudden plot twists. Synecdoche, New York is his directorial debut.

Filmpography

2008 Synekdocha, Nowy Jork / Synecdoche, New York