Richard Brick and Geri Ashur collection, 1968-2014, bulk 1975-2005

Richard Brick was born in New York, September 20, 1945. Richard Brick began as a documentary film maker, having attended the Robert Flaherty Seminar. He received his BA in 1968 from New York University, and MFA in film from Columbia's Film Department in 1971, and then served on the Columbia faculty in the School of the Arts as chair and taught film production for the rest of his career. Brick had a long involvement with the graduate film program at Columbia, serving as chairman and as co-chairman of the Film Division at Columbia in 1988 and 1989, and was an adjunct professor of producing from 1989 until his death. He had been featured and published in Film Culture and Film Comment. During his tenure, Brick created the first Columbia University Film Festival, which is still continuing.

As the Production Manager, Brick worked on Places in the Heart (1984), Silkwood (1983), Little Gloria...Happy at Last (1982), Part of the Family (1994), Six American Families (1976), Hangin' with the Homeboys (1991), The Trials of Alger Hiss (1980), and as the Location manager for Ragtime (1981), and many more. As the Associate producer, he worked on Andrea Doria: The Final Chapter (1982) and The Body Human: The Vital Connection (1978). He produced the English-language versions of From the Lives of Marionettes (1980), Autumn Sonata (1978), the award winning documentary Last Stand Farmer (1976), and the television spots for Bob Fosse's Pippin' and Dancin'. He also worked as the co-producer for Arizona Dream (1992). Brick is also known for producing three pictures directed by Woody Allen, Deconstructing Harry (1996), Celebrity (1997) and Sweet and Lowdown (1998). He received the American Film Institute Grant, 1972; Vermont Council on the Arts Grant, 1974; Blue Ribbon and John Grierson awards (American Film Festival); and the Gold Ducat (Mannheim Filmwoche) for Last Stand Farmer (1976), as the producer-director.

Brick served as New York City's first commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (MOFTB) from 1992 through 1994, appointed by Mayor Dinkins, and following the studio boycott of New York City during 1990 to 1991. In addition, Brick was involved with the labor side of the film industry as a member of the Directors Guild of America. He was also a Chairman and a member of the board of directors for the Independent Feature Project (IFP), the Chairman of the Advisory Board and Founder of the Geri Ashur Screenwriting Award of New York Foundation for the Arts from 1984 until his death. Richard Brick died in New York, 2014 at the age of 68.

Geri (Geraldine) Ashur was born in New Jersey, 1947. She attended the Barnard College and graduated in 1968. She was a screenwriter, film editor, foreign language dubbing specialist, and documentary film director. Geri specialized as a dubbing editor, worked on Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata, Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900, Francois Truffaut's The Last Metro and Lina Wertmuller's Seven Beauties. Geri began making films with the New York Newsreel, a political collective where she directed Janie's Janie, and Me and Stella, a portrait of Elizabeth Cotten. She married Richard Brick in 1979 and had one child together. She died in 1984 at the age of 37.