Steven Lippman

Director Steven Lippman's (aka Flip) works have been screened at director tribute programs at the Sound Unseen Film Festival (US); In-Edit Music Film Festival/Barcelona; and the Music Doc Festival/Sweden. His work included a collaboration with Oscar-winning singer/songwriter Jorge Drexler on a dazzling experimental music short film, 2 segundos de oscuridad (2007), which premiered at the Denver Film Festival. "Oscuridad" follows Mariners & Musicians (2006) with Rosanne Cash, which screened at film festivals worldwide including a special screening at the Sydney Arts Festival. The project is a companion piece to her highly acclaimed album "Black Cadillac." "Mariners" is another in a continuing series of innovative music short films directed and conceived by Flip including "Life On A String" based on five songs by Laurie Anderson. "String" was an official selection of Cannes/Directors' Fortnight and the Berlin Film Festival. Other festival screenings included Athens, London, Sao Paolo, and Denver. "String," along with others in his series were broadcast on IFC (Independent Film Channel) - an unprecedented showcase for the combination of music and cinema. A recent joyous detour included conceiving and directing the mini-movie music video for Dolly Parton's Dolly Parton: Better Get to Livin' (2007), featuring special appearances by Amy Sedaris in multiple roles. The video was cited by Newsweek on their "Best of 2007" list. Flip returned for a follow-up collaboration on Ms. Parton's "Jesus & Gravity." Both pieces are available on iTunes Video. Flip's half-hour conceptual film for David Bowie, "Reality," was also featured on the DualDisc release. The film was hailed by Rolling Stone as a highlight on a list of "five essential Dual Discs you need." "Reality" had its world premiere public screening at the Woodstock Film Festival. Select images from the film were interpolated into the video projections of Bowie's "Reality" tour. Flip also directed a documentary for Bette Midler "Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook," which interweaves 4 intimate performances by Ms. Midler, interviews with Nicki Lee Foster and Holly Foster Wells (Miss Lee's daughter and granddaughter) and rare never before seen home video footage from the Peggy Lee archive. The program is featured on the special DualDisc edition of Bette Midler's album of the same name. Flip has also directed several performance videos, documentaries and EPKs for such diverse artists as Chris Thile & Michael Daves, Emmylou Harris, Julia Fordham, The Manhattan Transfer, Duncan Sheik, Janis Siegel, Paula West, Fazil Say, and others. His short profiles on Philip Glass, Harold Pinter, Trisha Brown, and Cirque Plume were broadcast on PBS as part of Live from the Lincoln Center Festival of the Arts. Flip directed the film version of Lee Nagrin and Basil Twist's acclaimed and singular theater experience Behind the Lid (2014). This feature film blurs the lines between avant-garde cinema and theater documentary. Flip was the recipient of a Peter S. Reed Foundation grant in recognition of his film directing. He was chosen for Filmmaker Magazine's annual "25 New Faces of Independent Film", and listed as the highest ranked director. Before his death, Flip was in pre-production on the feature documentary "Stay All Night." The project would have chronicled the experience of the never-filmed yet legendary Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall concert of April 23rd, 1961 as told by those who were there in the audience. In turn, oral history and witness would have created an intimate mosaic portrait of intersecting lives and "the greatest night in show business history," along with the city and era in which it all took place. "Stay All Night" would have been executive produced by Oscar-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and produced by Mary Wharton. Steven Lippman passed away on August 12, 2018, at the age of 58.