Left: Gac Filipaj.
Photo: Vera Anderson/WireImage and Courtesty of Columbia University
Gac Filipaj, a 52-year-old immigrant from the former Yugoslavia, came to the United States in 1992 in search of a dream — specifically, that one day his life story would form the basis for an inspirational film starring Gene Hackman, who kind of looks like him. This weekend Filipaj will reach a major milestone on his way to achieving that dream after he receives a bachelor’s degree in classics from Columbia, which he earned over the course of twenty years while working at the school as a janitor. The film will be called School of Hard Mops, and it will also feature Anna Kendrick as a young, idealistic professor who forms a close platonic friendship with Filipaj and helps him on his journey.
