WINSTON-SALEM – Filmmaker Barry Blaustein will make a return visit to the North Carolina School of the Arts on May 3 and 4, to conduct filmmaking seminars for students in the School of Filmmaking.

His critically acclaimed documentary on professional wrestling, BEYOND THE MAT, will also be screened for students. Proclaimed by the Los Angeles Times as one of the best films of 1999, BEYOND THE MAT was one of the finalists for an Academy Award (for Best Documentary) and garnered Blaustein a Director’s Guild nomination.

Blaustein was one of the distinguished panelists at Cinethics, A National Conference on Ethics in Filmmaking, held in November 2000 at the NCSA School of Filmmaking.

Blaustein’s credits as screenwriter include the films POLICE ACADEMY 2: THEIR FIRST ASSIGNMENT (1985), COMING TO AMERICA (1988), BOOMERANG (1992), THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (1996) and NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS (2000).

As head writer and supervising producer on “Saturday Night Live” during the 1980s, Blaustein, along with his frequent screenwriting partner, David Sheffield, wrote and developed many of Eddie Murphy’s more famous characters.

Blaustein also co-wrote and co-produced WHAT’S ALAN WATCHING (1989) for CBS, which won the National Television Critics Award as best special of the year.

His most recent credit is THE RINGER (2001), which he directed.

For more information, contact Marla Carpenter at 336-770-3337 in the public relations office at NCSA.