ALUMNI INNOVATOR

George Gage

B.F.A. ’63, Advertising Design

After graduating from Pratt, George Gage launched a successful career as a television commercial director and producer. He went on to direct the cult classic film Skateboard in 1977, but it is his work making “documentary films with a conscience” for the past 30 years that he has found most rewarding. His current film Bidder 70 follows Tim De Christopher, a University of Utah student who foiled President Bush's last minute, 2008 fraudulent oil and gas lease auction by bidding $1.8 million dollars to save 22,000 pristine acres surrounding Utah's national parkland. While De Christopher was instrumental in saving the land, it was not without significant sacrifice.

Among other accolades, Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival called the film, "the one great environmental film of 2012," and awarded it "Best American Film" at this year's festival. Bidder 70 opens in theaters in April.

Text and Production: Bay Brown
Video and Production: Peter Tannenbaum