Spellbound

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jeffrey Blitz directs. Yana Gorskaya cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 24 years ago.
• 2Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
• 3Editor Yana Gorskaya shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 4Marketing tagline: "Everyone wants the last word.".
• 5IMDB entry: tt0334405 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 6Classified under 12 themes, including "immigrant", "small town", "washington dc, usa", "competition".

The technical file

Editing

Yana Gorskaya

Sound

Peter Brown

Runtime

97 min · 1h 37m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

IMDB

Spellbound (2002) ↗

Also by

Jeffrey Blitz

• 
  The Office

  2005 · ★ 8.6
• 
  Parks and Recreation

  2009 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous

  2013 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Upload

  2020 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Superstore

  2015 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Stumble

  2025 · ★ 7.1

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Spellbound - Trailer

  Trailer
• 

  ▶
  SPELLBOUND - Official Trailer

  Trailer

Production companies

Who made it

• BL

  Blitz / Welch

• 

  Cinetic Media

  US

Key crew

• MusicDaniel Hulsizer
• ThanksBreck Eisner
• ProducerJeffrey Blitz
• ProducerSean Welch
• EditorYana Gorskaya
• Set Dressing ArtistNancy Lowry
• Sound Re-Recording MixerPeter Brown
• Sound Effects EditorJoe Dzuban
• Sound RecordistSean Welch
• Camera OperatorJeffrey Blitz
• Additional CameraMac Carter
• Additional CameraRob Lyall
• Editorial ServicesChris Perkel
• PublicistSally Steele
• PublicistWinston Emano
• PublicistDavid Magdael
• OtherAndy Blitz
• Supervising Sound EditorPeter Brown

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• immigrant
• small town
• washington dc, usa
• competition
• success
• based on true story
• teacher
• spelling
• spelling bee
• work ethic
• championship
• contests and competitions

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere2002-03-14· South by Southwest Film Festival
• Premiere2002-05-10· Tribeca Film Festival
• Premiere2002-06-05· Atlanta Film Festival
• Premiere2002-11-16· Deep Ellum Film Festival
• Premiere2003-01-10· Palm Springs International Film Festival
• Premiere2003-02-22· Portland International Film Festival
• Premiere2003-03-23· Dallas Video Festival
• Premiere2003-03-28· Cleveland International Film Festival
• Premiere2003-03-29· Wisconsin Film Festival
• Premiere2003-04-06· Philadelphia International Film Festival

Also known as

International titles

• Agonisma orthografiasGR
• Mistrzowie ortografiiPL
• ЗавороженныйRU
• Al pie de la letraES
• チャレンジ・キッズ 未来に架ける子どもたちJP