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Spellbound (documentary)
Encyclopedia
Spellbound is a 2002 documentary that was directed by Jeffrey Blitz
. The film follows eight competitors in the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee
. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature
; Yana Gorskaya
's editing won the ACE Eddie
award for best editing of documentary. Spellbound won the Emmy for Cultural/Artistic Programming and Jeffrey Blitz was nominated for directing. In 2008, it was voted one of the "Top 5" documentaries of all-time by the members of the International Documentary Association. Frank Neuhauser
, winner of the first National Spelling Bee held in 1925, also appears in the film.
and spelled: seguidilla, disclaimant, kookaburra, viand, apocope, brunneous, clavecin (spelled incorrectly as "clavison"). She came in 6th place.
(she was 18) , a marketing consultant who had seen the movie managed to rally support from other viewers of the documentary to help Ashley into Howard University. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13893-2004Jun3.html The proctor of the Washington Informer regional spelling bee featured in the film is Mac McGarry
.
, Pennsylvania
, participated in the 1998 and 1999 bees, in the latter of which she placed third, representing the Times Herald of Norristown
, Pennsylvania. April graduated in 2007 from New York University
with a degree in Journalism.
wrote that he "has so many eccentricities that he'd be comic relief in a teenage comedy... He screws his face up into so many shapes while trying to spell a word that it's a wonder the letters can find their way to the surface". He went to the Academy for Engineering and Design Technology
in Hackensack
, New Jersey
. In autumn 2005, he enrolled in the University of Chicago
. Harry now attends the University of Michigan Ann Arbor pursuing a PhD in Mathematics.
. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
in Spanish in May 2007. Arenivar obtained her Master of Arts degree in Spanish at the University of New Mexico in May 2009. She hopes to become a university-level professor. Arenivar spent the first half of 2006 studying abroad
through Texas A&M at the University of Salamanca
in Salamanca, Spain
.
." In 2003, she entered University of Michigan at Ann Arbor to study brain and cognitive sciences and pre-medical studies and graduated in 2007 with a degree in Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science.
, Missouri
. One of the more notable stories from his experience is the congratulations posted by students on the marquee in front of his high school in which "champ" was misspelled (presumably as an ironic joke) as "chapm". Ted attended medical school in Kansas City, Missouri until his death in December 2007.
Jeffrey Blitz
Jeffrey Blitz is an American film director, producer and screenwriter from Ridgewood, New Jersey. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his 2002 documentary, Spellbound and he won the Dramatic Directing Prize at the Sundance Film Festival for his 2007 film, Rocket Science.Blitz won the 2009...
. The film follows eight competitors in the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee
Scripps National Spelling Bee
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a highly competitive annual spelling bee in the United States, with participants from other countries as well. It is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W...
. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature
Academy Award for Documentary Feature
The Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...
; Yana Gorskaya
Yana Gorskaya
Yana Gorskaya is a Russian-American film editor. She is best known for her work in the editorial departments of the films Spellbound , Rocket Science and Smart People .-Career:...
's editing won the ACE Eddie
American Cinema Editors
Founded in 1950, American Cinema Editors is an honorary society of film editors that are voted in based on the qualities of professional achievements, their education of others, and their dedication to editing itself. The society is not to be confused with an industry union, such as the I.A.T.S.E...
award for best editing of documentary. Spellbound won the Emmy for Cultural/Artistic Programming and Jeffrey Blitz was nominated for directing. In 2008, it was voted one of the "Top 5" documentaries of all-time by the members of the International Documentary Association. Frank Neuhauser
Frank Neuhauser
Frank Louis Neuhauser was an American patent lawyer and spelling bee champion, who won the first National Spelling Bee in 1925 by successfully spelling the word "gladiolus." Today, the bee is known as the Scripps National Spelling Bee.Neuhauser was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 29,...
, winner of the first National Spelling Bee held in 1925, also appears in the film.
Spellers
The spellers were Neil Kadakia, Emily Stagg, Ashley White, April DeGideo, Harry Altman, Angela Arenivar, Nupur Lala and Ted Brigham. As they appear from left to right on the DVD's cover:Neil Kadakia
Neil (as speller # 139) missed "hellebore" in the bee to get ninth place. Other words Neil spelled include: encephalon, desecration, mercenary, Darjeeling, and hypsometer. Neil is a graduate of UC Berkeley. Before he went to college, he went on a jet ski expedition with his father and his sister, Shivani, also a speller. He is currently the COO of Greens Global, a real estate company based out of San Clemente, CA. On July 3, 2011, he married Archana Sheth, also a UC Berkeley graduate. An interesting fact about Neil is that he is also an avid chess player, and has earned over 15 chess trophies in his life.Emily Stagg
Emily Stagg (speller # 148) was sponsored by the New Haven Register in New Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
and spelled: seguidilla, disclaimant, kookaburra, viand, apocope, brunneous, clavecin (spelled incorrectly as "clavison"). She came in 6th place.
Ashley White
Ashley White (speller 149) represented The Washington Informer in Washington, DC in the bee. Following Ashley's teenage pregnancyTeenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy is a pregnancy of a female under the age of 20 when the pregnancy ends. It generally refers to a female who is unmarried and usually refers to an unplanned pregnancy...
(she was 18) , a marketing consultant who had seen the movie managed to rally support from other viewers of the documentary to help Ashley into Howard University. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13893-2004Jun3.html The proctor of the Washington Informer regional spelling bee featured in the film is Mac McGarry
Mac McGarry
Maurice J. "Mac" McGarry is a retired game show host of the television quiz show It's Academic, which airs in Washington, D.C. on the local NBC-owned WRC-TV...
.
April DeGideo
April DeGideo, who lives in AmblerAmbler, Pennsylvania
Ambler is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, in the United States, approximately 16 miles north of Philadelphia.- Village of Wissahickon:...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, participated in the 1998 and 1999 bees, in the latter of which she placed third, representing the Times Herald of Norristown
Norristown, Pennsylvania
Norristown is a municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, northwest of the city limits of Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill River. The population was 34,324 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County...
, Pennsylvania. April graduated in 2007 from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
with a degree in Journalism.
Harry Altman
Many critics who reviewed Spellbound singled out Altman (speller # 8) as its most interesting "character". Yet Altman only makes it to the finals when he gets stumped by the word 'banns'. Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
wrote that he "has so many eccentricities that he'd be comic relief in a teenage comedy... He screws his face up into so many shapes while trying to spell a word that it's a wonder the letters can find their way to the surface". He went to the Academy for Engineering and Design Technology
Bergen County Academies
The Bergen County Academies is a magnet public high school located in Hackensack that serves the high school population of Bergen County, New Jersey. The school was conceived by the late Dr. John Grieco. The current principal is Russell Davis; Raymond Bath is the vice principal; Dr...
in Hackensack
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 43,010....
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. In autumn 2005, he enrolled in the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. Harry now attends the University of Michigan Ann Arbor pursuing a PhD in Mathematics.
Angela Arenivar
Angela Arenivar is a former student of Texas A&M UniversityTexas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Spanish in May 2007. Arenivar obtained her Master of Arts degree in Spanish at the University of New Mexico in May 2009. She hopes to become a university-level professor. Arenivar spent the first half of 2006 studying abroad
Study abroad
Studying abroad is the act of a student pursuing educational opportunities in a country other than one's own. This can include primary, secondary and post-secondary students...
through Texas A&M at the University of Salamanca
University of Salamanca
The University of Salamanca is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the town of Salamanca, west of Madrid. It was founded in 1134 and given the Royal charter of foundation by King Alfonso IX in 1218. It is the oldest founded university in Spain and the third oldest European...
in Salamanca, Spain
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
.
Nupur Lala
Nupur Lala was the champion of the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee (as speller # 165), spelling "logorrhea" to win. Nupur won the bee against David Lewandowski, a speller from Indiana who misspelled "opsimathOpsimath
An opsimath can refer to a person who begins, or continues, to study or learn late in life. The word is derived from the Greek οψε , meaning 'late' and μανθανω , meaning 'learn'....
." In 2003, she entered University of Michigan at Ann Arbor to study brain and cognitive sciences and pre-medical studies and graduated in 2007 with a degree in Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science.
Ted Brigham
Ted Brigham was speller # 1. He represented the Rolla Daily Record of RollaRolla, Missouri
Rolla is a city in Phelps County, Missouri, United States, midway between the larger cities of St. Louis and Springfield along I-44. The population in the 2010 United States Census was 19,559.It is the county seat of Phelps County...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. One of the more notable stories from his experience is the congratulations posted by students on the marquee in front of his high school in which "champ" was misspelled (presumably as an ironic joke) as "chapm". Ted attended medical school in Kansas City, Missouri until his death in December 2007.
Other notable spellers
- George Thampy was speller # 245 in the bee and was mentioned several times within the film. He misspelled "kirtle" as "curtle" for third place, tying with April DeGideo. Thampy eventually won the 2000 national bee.
- David Lewandowski finished second place in the spelling bee, spelling "opsimath" as "opsomath". After David's mistake, Nupur spelled "logorrhea" to win the competition.
- Allyson Lieberman was originally slated to be featured as one of the spellers in the documentary, but her clips were ultimately left out of the film; the scene involving her can be found in the special features of the DVD. The youngest contestant in the entire 1998 bee, she misspelled "purblind".
- Frances Taschuk and Ann Foley are shown in the final set of scenes prior to the last round of the spelling bee. Frances misspells "acoelous" and Ann "quinquevir".
- Vinay Krupadev is in a scene involving Harry's mother feeling "sorry for the boy from Texas who got 'yenta'". She was referring to Vinay, who is actually from Marietta, Ohio, and his pronunciation of "yenta," shown in the film. He eventually spelled it "yente".
- Jess Altham was mentioned in a scene by Harry Altman for being a terrific speller and that he was disappointed she didn't make the Nationals.