Steve Garfinkel, probably best known for his 14-year tenure at Eastman Kodak Company, serving as Eastern regional manager for the company’s Entertainment Imaging Division, collapsed and died on Aug. 18. His sudden passing was felt by the many in the industry whose lives he touched.
Garfinkel, who had recently begun a new chapter in his career when he joined PostWorks, New York, as director of cinematography services, was also a cinematographer and a member of IATSE Local 600, and an associate member of the American Society of Cinematographers.
Garfinkel had a camera in his hand since childhood. He borrowed the family movie 8mm camera at the age of nine, bought an old Bolex at 13 and continued to work in film ever since. Garfinkel graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in film. He worked at NBC TV News, Showtime Network, both in postproduction and broadcast engineering, served on the TV crew of Live From Lincoln Center, and landed at Movielab in N.Y. before coming aboard Kodak, working with studio feature productions and film students.
John Johnston, whose experience includes 33 years in the Kodak Motion Picture Business Unit, holding positions in sales, marketing and management, had Garfinkel as a member of his sales team. Now executive director of the Production Equipment Rental Association (PERA) as well as of the New York Production Alliance, Johnston reflected on Garfinkel, describing him as “a teacher, a giver and a friend. He was probably the most knowledgeable person I will ever meet on film and the history of Kodak. I always said if George Eastman had any offspring, the DNA test would prove Steve was a prodigy. He was creative, smart, funny, quirky and loveable….Speaking as his friend, there is none better. Steve was known and loved by cinematographers, film students and I swear almost everyone in New York City.
“Upon moving to the city in 1997, I stopped into the Cornelia Street café one night after an event, with a swag bag in tow. The bartender asked me what I did. I said, ‘worked for Kodak.’ He asked me if I knew Steve Garfinkel. Steve had helped him on his student film at NYU. Steve dedicated his career to his customers, especially those who needed a little help. Of course as a manager watching budgets, he held perennial first place on the cost side. But I’m sure those few rolls of film have paid many, many dividends to Kodak over the years, a good investment in the future. Steve moved on from his career at Kodak last fall and reinvented himself with PostWorks New York. Doing what he knew, knowing what he did and always, always there for the customer.
“We are all shocked and saddened that Steve has left us so unexpectedly,” continued Johnston. “I took some time to think about Steve today. I laughed and cried. But I smiled when I imagined the first person he looked up upon entering heaven was George Eastman. I figured that after a serious discussion with George on the current situation at Kodak, he declared Kodachrome as the Official Film of Heaven and organized a Celestial Cinematographer Society with Connie Hall and Lazlo Kovacs.”
Garfinkel is survived by his wife Denise, his first wife Jodie and their children Ariel, Jesse and Daryl.
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More