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Jin Kyu Ahn (Film & Video BFA 08; Film & Video MFA 11) will have a solo exhibition at Leigh Wen Fine Art [1] in New York, opening on October 16 with a reception from 6-8 pm. The show runs through November 1.
Hanul Bahm (Flim/Video MFA 12) is Producer, Music Video for She Lives on My Block by Chicano Batman with Qvole Collective, an independent artist management and development company.
Gregg Barbanell (Film/Video BFA 77) received an Emmy nomination (as he has for the past three years) for his work as a foley artist as part of the sound editing team for Breaking Bad. This year, the team won a Golden Reel Award, the annual award handed out by the Motion Picture Sound Editors, for its work on the show.
On the 103rd anniversary of the birth of legendary Disney artist and animator Mary Blair (Chouinard 33), ComicsAlliance [2] has invited several artists, including Jeaux Janofsky (Character Animation BFA 05) to celebrate Blair's legacy with original pieces inspired by her work.
Don Device (Live Action BFA 88), Head Professor for Directing at E.I.C.A.R., The International Film School of Paris, is currently working on a 3D documentary in Andorra on a miniature museum as well as developing a television series and a feature titled "Perfect."
Isabela Dos Santos (Experimental Animation BFA 14) spent her summer with the internship program at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and is now working full-time at the National YoungArts Foundation in Miami as its Social Media and Video Officer. In that position, she interacts daily with artists while continuing her independent writing/animation projects. Also this past summer, her animation work was shown at the Anima Mundi Animation Festival in Brazil and was accepted into the ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival in Berlin.
A recent article in The Huffington Post [3] on the new web series Transparent featured Rhys Ernst (Film & Video MFA 11) and Zackary Drucker (Art MFA 07), consultants and associate producers on the show. Drucker and Ernst were also recently included in OUT magazines OUT 100 [4] for 2014.
The 20th Century Fox animated film The Book of Life, directed by Jorge Gutierrez (Experimental Animation MFA 00; BFA 97) is set for release on October 17. A feature on Gutierrez appeared on the front page of the Los Angeles Times [5] Calendar section on October 14.
The films of Karissa Hahn (Film & Video BFA 14) have screened at numerous film festivals recently. Magellan and Began To have screened at the Winnipeg Underground Film Festival. Before the Portrait has screened at numerous festivals, including the Venice Experimental Film Festival in Italy. Assumptions of Your Phantom(sy) has screened at Analogica Film Festival in Italy, Romsey Art Festival in England, and the Winnipeg Underground Film Festival. In Effluence accord; Emulsion has screened at the Montreal Underground Film Festival, Transient Visions in New York and Underexposed Film Festival in South Carolina. Before the Portrait and Assumptions of Your Phantom(sy) were part of the Warnborough Arts Conference in Canterbury, England. Assumptions of Your Phantom(sy), Reveries, and In Effluence accord; Emulsion are part of Another Experiment by Women Film Festival, screening online and at the Anthology Film Archives in the coming year. And Inkjet 3056A and Assumptions of Your Phantom(sy) will screen at the Antimatter Film Festival in Canada.
Chris Innis (Live Action MFA 91) is serving on this year's 25th annual New Orleans Film Festival [6] film jury, taking place in New Orleans from October 16-23. The Academy-award-winning editor (she won the 2010 best editing Oscar for The Hurt Locker) will be on hand to select and present this year's award for Best Editing. Innis has also recently joined the board of American Cinema Editors (ACE) as an associate director.
Francisco Janes (Film & Video MFA 12) is currently filming a project in Lithuania funded by the Gulbenkian Foundation. The documentary is called Gojus, and is about two Lithuanian artist-farmers. It will premiere in his first solo museum show next year in Portugal.
For news about Jeaux Janofsky (Character Animation BFA 05) see Mary Blair (Chouinard).
Brooke Keesling (Experimental Animation MFA 99) has left Cartoon Network Studios to take a new position as the director of Animation Talent Development at Disney Television Animation.
As part of the 2014 AxS Festival [7] in Pasadena, the collaborative group EDGES will perform, featuring media artist Carole Kim (Integrated Media MFA 03), multi-woodwind performer and CalArts music faculty Vinny Golia, video artist Jesse Gilbert (Music MFA 02) and Makoto Taiko, led by master drummer Koji Nakamura. Performances are October 4 and 5 at 7:30 pm. at the USC Pacific Asia Museum.
Will Kim (Character Animation BFA 07) was animation director for Symphony of the Soil, a documentary feature film selected as a New York Times Critics Pick [8]. Amazon Gold, another documentary feature film for which he served as animation director, was chosen by the U.S. government as one of four projects to be presented during the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP20 Lima [9] in Peru.
Let Them Eat Cake, the global documentary by writer/director Alexis Krasilovsky (Film/Video MFA 84) premiered at the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala, India this summer and the High Falls Film Festival in Rochester, N.Y. this fall. It won Special Jury Mention for Best Editing at the Sole Luna Film Festival in Treviso, Italy. The film, about the pleasures and perils of pastry, is available on VOD [10].
According to a recent story in the Los Angeles Times [11], John Lasseter (Character Animation BFA 79), the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation, will direct Toy Story 4, featuring the series' characters that Lasseter created. According to the article, the idea for the film stemmed from a lunch that Lasseter held in his office with Pixar directors Pete Docter (Character Animation BFA 90), Andrew Stanton (Character Animation BFA 87) and Lee Unkrich. In addition to his role at Pixar, Lasseter is also the chief creative officer at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Toon Studios, and is the principal creative advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering.
For news about Alexis Macnab (Directing MFA 13), see Janet Sternburg.
Pearl was Here, a film by Kate Marks (Film Directing MFA 12) will air in late October on a digital subchannel of many public television stations as part of KQED's national half-hour weekly series Film School Shorts [12].
Combining performance with digital art, Miwa Matreyek (Experimental Animation MFA 07) performed The World Made Itself and Myth and Infrastructure at Dartmouth College's Bentley Theater at the Hopkins Center for the Arts on October 10. Her work was described in the college publication, The Dartmouth [13].
Andre Rosa (Film/Video 84) is executive producer at the Brazilian animation studio Vetor Zero, which just produced a stop motion film on the war on drugs [14] for the Global Commission on Drug Policy.
Square Dance, a film by Silvia Salgueiro (Film & Video MFA 14) is included in the Viennale-The Vienna International Film Festival [15], taking place from October 23 through November 6. She will also be taking part in a panel discussion titled "Be Sand Not Oil" about Amos Vogel and the legacy of Cinema 16. It will take place on October 26 at 7:30 pm.
An essay on the influence of artist James Ensor on the work of Allison Schulnik (Experimental Animation BFA 00) appears in the summer issue of The Getty [16] magazine on the occasion of the exhibition, The Scandalous Art of James Ensor. The show opens at the Art Institute of Chicago on November 23 and runs through January 25, 2005. Her film Eager won the Best Laika Experimental/Abstract Animation award at The Ottawa International Animation Festival [17] in September.
Jigyasa Taneja Sethi (Film Directing MFA 04) heads JAM Productions [18] based in Delhi, producing content for national and international clients. She has recently written a screenplay for an independent Bollywood production that is a romantic comedy about a Delhi Punjabi Girl. Julaab Gang, her online channel, took off this year on Youtube, focusing on women's comedy and entertainment.
Finding Dory, the Pixar Animation sequel to Finding Nemo is being co-directed by Andrew Stanton (Character Animation BFA 87), who directed the first film, and Angus MacLane. It is slated for release in 2016.
The Fifth String, a new play by Janet Sternburg linking Spain's expulsion of Jews and Arabs to the issues of our current day, will be performed in a work-in-progress showing at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater on October 8 at 2 pm and 8:30 pm. The invitation-only performance is directed by Alexis Macnab (Directing MFA 13). For information, click here [19].
Work by Erika Vogt (Film/Video MFA 03) was featured in the October issue of Art in America, marking a collaboration between Otherwild and Bullhorn Press. Her work, along with the work of 17 other artists, including several other CalArtians, is available for purchase online [20].
Jesper Wachtmeister (Live Action BFA 95) is a director/producer with Solaris Filmproduktion [21], a film and multimedia production company that he founded, based in Stockholm, Sweden. He has directed more than 10 films and also produces multimedia installations.
Tara Beyhm (Experimental Animation BFA 00) has a new position as animation producer for Acme Filmworks in Culver City.
Wossene Tiruneh Bowler (Live Action BFA 90), a survivor of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, is working to build a hospital and cancer treatment facility in Sheno, Ethiopia through Life's Second Chance Foundation [22], which she established in 2006.
Minimal Additions, an exhibition including two animations by W.S. Cheng (Experimental Animation MFA 05) along with work by Sol LeWitt and James Turrell, is on view through August at the Spencer Museum of Art [23] at the University of Kansas.
Scott C. Cummings (Film Directing MFA 08) has been included in Filmmaker magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film [24].
The neo soul/indie pop band Fitz and the Tantrums [25], founded by Michael Fitzpatrick (Film/Video 95) and featuring multi-instrumentalist James King (Music BFA 99), is on a national tour, including an appearance August 2 at Lollapalooza in Chicago.
Full Burn, the latest film by Mariah Garnett (Program in Film & Video MFA 11) is included in Made in LA 2014 at the Hammer Museum [26] through September 7.
Work by eleven CalArtians has been included in the New York Film Festival's Projections program. The selections include Field Notes by Vashti Harrison (Film & Video MFA 14), Under the Atmosphere by Mike Stoltz (Film & Video MFA 14) and Second Sighted by Deborah Stratman (Live Action MFA 95). Among faculty, films include Detour de Force by Rebecca Baron, The Hummingbird Wars by Janie Geiser, The Occidental Hotel by Lewis Klahr and End Reel by visiting faculty Julie Murray. Films made by current students include Friday Mosque by Azadeh Navai (Film & Video MFA-3), Babash by Behrouz Raei (Film & Video MFA-2) and Lisa Trutmann (Film & Video MFA-2), and Against Landscape by Joshua Gen Solondz (Film & Video MFA-2). Screening days and times are available here [27].
James C. Hart (Live Action 76) is the producer of Drones, a thriller directed by Rick Rosenthal and based on the stage play by Matt Witten. The film, about two Air Force personnel and their crisis when they spot an apparent terrorist thousands of miles away on surveillance video, was released on June 27 theatrically and is now available on VOD/iTunes.
Among many recent projects, Meejin Hong (Experimental Animation MFA 12) was an on-site animator for Commonwealth Projects, providing after effects animation for six songs included in Bruno Mars' Moonshine Jungle tour. She was also co-director/animator for Zombie Heart, a live action/animated music video for singer/songwriter Cynthia Lin.
Men in LA: Three Generations of Drawings at The Box, LA [28] through July 5, includes work by Naotaka Hiro (Film/Video MFA 01), Paul McCarthy and Benjamin Weissman (Art BFA 81).
Travers Jacobs (Film & Video MFA 12) is currently training with NFL Films and will be working with the Miami Dolphins this season managing its camera team. He has recently started working with realtors and developers in Miami, filming aerial photos and videos of properties, providing them with a powerful new marketing tool. He takes photos using a DJI Phantom 2 drone shooting a GoPro Hero 3+. He has modified his drone with telemetry readings, waypoints and a first person view real-time video feed. To see his images, check out his website [29].
Xuan Jiang (Film Directing MFA 08) and Kevin Sweeney (Film Directing MFA 12) have been selected for the highly competitive Disney ABC Creative Talent Development Program for directing in television for 2014 through 2016. The program exposes up-and-coming directors to Disney ABC Television Group programming executives, development executives, executive producers and directing producers.
Lincoln Kamm's (Character Animation 92) next mind-reading comedy show is August 9 at 7 pm at The House of Magic [30] in Ventura, where he appears the second Saturday of every month.
Multi-media artist Carole Kim (Integrated Media MFA 03) will present a performance-based installation called The Singing Head as part of the New Original Works Festival [31] 2014 at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) in downtown Los Angeles. Performances are on July 31 and August 1-2 at 8:30 pm. Kim is the recipient of a 2014 Center for Cultural Innovation Investing in Artists Grant. She will be premiering a new multimedia collaboration with Makoto Taiko Ensemble and musician and CalArts faculty Vinny Golia and video artist Jesse Gilbert (Integrated Media/Music MFA 02) in October at the USC Pacific Asia Museum.
Will Kim (Character Animation BFA 07), founder and director of the Riverside City College Animation Showcase, invites all members of the CalArts community to the 9th edition of the showcase to be held on June 11 from 4-6 pm at RCC's Digital Library Auditorium. More information can be found here [32].
Arpita Kumar (Film and Video MFA 12) and Kate Marks (Film Directing MFA 12) have new short narrative works in PBS's Online Film Festival [33]. Kumar's film, My Dear Americans, can be viewed here [34], while Marks' 7 Day Gig can also be viewed online [35]. The festival features more than 25 short films and runs from June 16 through July 31. In addition, the short film Will, made at CalArts in 2012 by Eu Song Lee (Character Animation 2012) is also included in the festival [36]. His film is about a young girl who wishes she could go back in time following the 9/11 attacks. It was submitted by San Francisco PBS station KQED. Audience members can vote for their favorite film.
A new half-hour animated series by Daron Nefcy (Character Animation BFA 09) will debut on Disney Channel and Disney XD in 2015. According to an article in Cartoon Brew [37], the series, Star Vs. The Forces of Evil, was introduced at the San Diego Comic-Con last month.
The drama, Lake Los Angeles, by writer/director Mike Ott (Film/Video MFA 05; BFA 03) screened at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June. The film, about two strangers who meet in the barren Southern California desert, was one of Time Out Los Angeles's Best Bets.
Jason Rodriguez (Film/Video BFA 13), Michael Aurelio (Acting BFA 13) and Johanna Deeb (Photography BFA 14), co-founders of the multi-media poetry collective Out of Print, have launched their first video series, A History of Us, which can be viewed on their website [38]. A History of Us is a three-part film series on collaboration with spoken-word poets to adapt their pieces into film narratives.
A photographic series by Gregg Segal (Live Action BFA 87) called 7 Days of Garbage was recently featured on Slate.com [39]. It shows his friends, neighbors and other Californians lying in the trash that they created in one week.
For her project Nephologies, which explores the overlap of the material and the immaterial, Karolina Sobecka (Integrated Media/Experimental Animation MFA 03) will be serving samples of clouds at the July 17 opening of Strange Weather at the Science Gallery at Trinity College, Dublin. The exhibition runs through October 5. She was in Beijing in June, collecting cloud samples for her installation at thingWorld, the International Triennial of New Media Art at the National Art Museum of China. In August, she will be presenting Nephologies at the Climate Engineering Conference in Berlin. She recently completed her second visiting artist semester at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and will teach Open Media at the Rhode Island School of Design in the fall.
For news of Kevin Sweeney (Film Directing MFA 12) see Xuan Jiang.
Manakamana, the documentary co-directed by Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez (Program in Film & Video MFA 10) opens on June 27 at Laemmle Music Hall 3 in Beverly Hills. The film was reviewed recently in The New York Times [40].
A new novel by Cam Baity (Experimental Animation BFA 00) and Benny Zelkowicz (Experimental Animation MFA 02), called The First Book of Ore: The Foundry's Edge, will be available at Amazon [41] on April 15.
Christine Beebe (Film Directing MFA 05) is producing a series of online documentaries [42] on the 2014 Thiel Fellowship finalists for Wired and MTV, following 40 student finalists competing for the $100,000 fellowships. On May 20, she is launching an Indiegogo campagn for another documentary project, a film about the late director Hal Ashby.
William Burgess (Program in Film/Video BFA 06) is the curator of the Druid Underground Film Festival [43] at Spectacle Theater in Brooklyn on May 28, with screenings at 8 pm and 10 pm.
Butch Hartman (Film/Video BFA 87), the creator and executive producer of The Fairly OddParents, has received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Chldren's Animated Program for the show on Nickelodeon. The award will be presented on June 20 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Elizabeth Ito (Character Animation BFA 04) and Kevin Dart are the proud new parents of Newton, a baby boy born earlier this year. Elizabeth is on maternity leave from Adventure Time/Cartoon Network, returning at the end of July. She has a project in development at Cartoon Network and also just bought a house with her husband.
Jeaux Janovsky (Character Animation BFA 05) is part of a fan documentary [44] for Richard Elfman's The Forbidden Zone as part of an Indiegogo campaign for Forbidden Zone 2. His animated "4bidden Zone Feelings" clip begins at the 5:28 mark.
The Bowers Museum [45] in Santa Ana is celebrating the work of director and animator Chuck Jones (Chouinard) with the exhibition Chuck Jones: Doodles of a Genius, featuring many original drawings, including 50 so-called "Doodles." The show runs from April 26 through August 3.
Carole Kim (Integrated Media/Film/Video MFA 03) has won a grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation's Investing In Artists program.
Will Kim (Character Animation BFA 07) will have a solo exhibition titled Colors of Spring opening on May 2 from 5:30-8 pm at the Center for Wellbeing [46] in Sierra Madre.
Clarence, a new series created by Skyler Page (Character Animation 11), premiered on Cartoon Network [47] on April 14. The former Adventure Time storyboard artist has been developing the series since 2012. Nelson Boles (Character Animation BFA 12) serves as the series' creative director. The show airs on Mondays at 7 pm (6 pm Central time). Page and Boles recently took part in a Q&A in Animation Magazine [48].
Video artist Peter Sarkisian (Flim/Video 86) will join his father, painter Paul Sarkisian, in an exhibition at the Orange County Museum of Art [49]. The show runs from April 13 through July 27.
Deborah Stratman (Film/Video MFA 95) has won the 2014 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts for Film/Video [50]. The award includes a $75,000 unrestricted prize.
Davis Vu (Character Animation BFA 10) is based in Singapore, working as a creative director and animation director at Tiny Island Productions. He is also a lecturer at Nanyang Technological University and at CG Protege animation school.
In the April 21 issue of The New Yorker [51], writer Emily Nussbaum gushes over Adventure Time, the animated series created by Pendleton Ward (Character Animation BFA 05). She writes, "Adventure Time is one of the most philosophical, risky and, often, emotionally affecting shows on TV."
Peggy Wolff (Film/Video BFA 72), whose food anthology, Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie, was recently released by the University of Nebraska Press [52], has been invited to participate in Chicago's Printers Row Lit Fest [53] from June 7-8.
In the March "Hollywood" issue of Vanity Fair, Sam Kashner writes about the celebrated CalArts alumni who have studied in the famed Program in Character Animation, many of whom gathered on campus in December for an accompanying photo by photographer Annie Leibovitz. On Sunday February 16, Rachel Martin of National Public Radio's Weekend Edition [54] interviewed Nancy Beiman (Character Animation BFA 79), one of the animators featured in the article, The Class That Roared.
Patrick Brice, known as Donat Patrick Kack-Brice (Film & Video BFA 11) while attending CalArts, premieres his first narrative feature film, Creep, at South by Southwest (SXSW) [55] on March 8. The film focuses on the "intense and chilling interplay between its two protagonists." Brice also stars in the film.
Bella Vista [56], the first feature film by Vera Brunner-Sung (Film/Video MFA 09) had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January. The film's director of photography is Alexandra Cuesta (Film/Video MFA 09).
Co-directors Chris Buck (Film/Video 78) and Jennifer Lee won the Oscar and the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature for Disney's Frozen [57]. The film competed against four other films in the Academy Award race, including The Croods, co-directed by Chris Sanders (Film/Video BFA 84).
Ryan Connor (Film/Video BFA 05) and Jeaux Janovsky (Character Animation BFA 05) are collaborating on a project called Secret Velociraptor, "a fake sci-fi film soundtrack to a fake sci-fi film and fake sci-fi movie tie-in comic under the guise of a 'fake/real' band, Vampire Cloud Formation." Connor and Janovsky will be launching a Secret Velociraptor kickstarter campaign once they finish the album, storyline, and artwork for the graphic novel. They will be self-publishing the Secret Velociraptor comic/soundtrack in 2015. A two-song preview [58] is available for listening. Janovsky is currently working with Oscar-winning aninator Gene Deitch with Rembrandt Films, helping him promote his 40-plus-year-old cartoon character, Nudnik, as Rembrandt's social media coordinator.
For news about Alexandra Cuesta (Film/Video MFA 09) see Vera Brunner-Sung.
Lord l: The Records Keeper, a film by Lori Damiano (Experimental Animation MFA 04) is included in "Animation Breakdown/Women in Animation Panel & Screening" on March 9 at 6:30 pm at Cinefamily [59] in Los Angeles. In addition, Lauren Faust (Character Animation 95) will participate in the panel discussion.
The Walker, a song by indie pop band Fitz and the Tantrums, featuring Michael Fitzpatrick (Live Action 95) and James King (Music BFA 99), was recently lip-synched by Ellen DeGeneres for a video [60] promoting the 2014 Academy Awards. The band recently performed Out of My League on The Ellen Show.
Rosita Lopez for President, a film by Rachel Goldberg (Directing MFA 00) screened recently at the Queen City Black Film Festival and will be shown in March at the Cleveland International Film Festival and the Gasparilla International Film Festival, and in April at the Boston LGBT Film Festival.
7 Dudley Cinema at the Beyond Baroque Arts Center [61] in Los Angeles will screen several films by Kent Hayward (Live Action MFA 97) on April 27 from 7-10 pm. A reception will precede and follow the screening. Admission is free.
The 1968 cult film, The Swimmer, starring Burt Lancaster, is being rereleased by producer Chris Innis (Live Action MFA 91) and Bob Murawski of Grindhouse Releasing in a digital restoration, featuring a 5-part documentary directed by Innis. It is available for pre-order on Amazon [62].
Travers Jacobs (Film & Video MFA 12) is headed to the Amazon jungle in Peru as media manager for a new television show tentatively titled Gringos in the Amazon. The show is being produced by Crazy Legs Productions for the Travel Channel. Jacobs just finished a residency at CalArts, filming the graduating theater students' video showcase.
For news on Jeaux Janovsky (Character Animation BFA 05), see Ryan Connor.
Heraclitus Fragment 124, Automatically Illustrated, a solo exhibition by William E. Jones (Live Action MFA 90) will run from January 11 through February 22 at David Kordansky Gallery [63] in Los Angeles, with an opening reception on January 11 from 6-9 pm. At 5 pm, Jones will give a talk with Richard Fletcher, Associate Professor of Classics at The Ohio State University.
Ji Soo Kim (Experimental Animation MFA 12) is now Design Lead at DreamWorks Animation.
Artist and animator Will Kim (Character Animation BFA 07) was featured as the CartoonBrew Artist of the Day [64] on December 23.
Alexis Krasilovsky (Film/Video MFA 84) has written and directed Pastriology [10], a global documentary feature that screened at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival in October. The film won a Gold Award for Sound Mixing in the Prestige Film Award competition and several honorable mentions for feature documentary and editing. Let Them Eat Cake, a shorter version of the film, shot in 12 countries, will have its world premiere at the 13th Dhaka International Film Festival in January.
An exhibit by faculty member Dave Lebow (Experimental Animation MFA 00) called Weird Tales, is appearing at La Luz de Jesus Gallery [65] in Los Angeles from February 7 through March 2. Inspired by the darker side of fairy tales and children's literature, the exhibit opens on February 7 with a reception from 8-11 pm.
Ruchika Mandhyan (Film Directing MFA 06) has recently finished the screenplay adaptation for One Amazing Thing by novelist Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Mistress of Spices) with a group of producers that include Todd Harris (The Kids Are Alright). It's a dramatic thriller set in an Indian visa office during a San Francisco earthquake.
This World Made Itself, the latest work by Miwa Matreyek (Film and Video MFA 07), was presented at REDCAT in February. It premiered at the Wexner Center in November and was performed at the New Frontier Program at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah in January.
Mr. Peabody & Sherman [66], DreamWorks Animation's feature film based on the characters from the 1960s animated television series, The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, opens on March 7. It is directed by Rob Minkoff (Character Animation 83).
Come il Vento (Like the Wind) [67], a film by Marco Simon Puccioni (Live Action MFA 91) will screen on February 24 at 7:30 pm at the Hollywood TCL Chinese Theatre at Hollywood and Highland as part of Los Angeles, Italia - The Italian Film Fest. The film is inspired by the true story of Armida Miserere, one of the first women to direct a high security jail. The trailer is available for viewing on Urban Distribution International [68].
Psychohydrography by Peter Bo Rappmund (Film and Video MFA 10) was screened at Clockshop in Los Angeles in January,
Italian Futurism, 1909-1944: Reconstructing the Universe opens at the Guggenheim Museum in New York on February 21, featuring three short films created by Jennifer Sachs (Experimental Animation MFA 01), including dynamic collages of archival sources representing the Futurists' more ephemeral works. Sachs's films are mention in the January issue of Art in America in an interview with the show's curator, Vivien Greene. The show runs through September 1. Sachs is resuming work on her indie documentary feature, The Fantastic Flights of Sophie Blanchard, expected for release in 2015.
For Chris Sanders (Film/Video BFA 84), see Chris Buck.
As the latest installment of the ongoing Matrix series at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art [69], Matrix 168 will center on the museum premiere of Eager (2014), a new claymation animation by Allison Schulnik (Experimental Animation BFA 00). The Hartford, Connecticut museum will also showcase Schulnik's 2011 video, Mound, a selection of paintings and the first career survey of her unique ceramics. The show opens on February 6 and runs through May 4, with an opening reception on February 6 from 5-8 pm. Eager received its West Coast premiere at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles on February 13, and is also being screened at ZieherSmith [70] in New York through February 22, receiving a "Critic's Pick" review in Artforum [71].
Natalia Sookias (Film & Video BFA 12) teamed with Tarren Johnson (Dance BFA 13) and Finnish artist Simo Vassinen to premiere a physical theater piece called Birthing Self in Berlin in February.
Hacked Circuit by Deborah Stratman (Film and Video MFA 95) was screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January.
Genndy Tartakovsky (Character Animation CERT 92), who directed the animated film Hotel Transylvania for Sony Pictures Animation, has signed on to direct Hotel Transylvania 2, according to The Hollywood Reporter. While he continues work on Popeye, a 3D computer-animated musical comedy film, he's reportedly also developing a new project tentatively called Genndy Tartakovsky's Can You Imagine?
The New York Times' film critic Manohla Dargis chose the documentary Manakamana among The Top 16 Films of 2013 [72]. It was co-directed by Roberto "Pacho" Velez (Film & Video MFA 10) and Stephanie Spray.
Ben Adams (Character Animation BFA 09) was nominated for an Annie Award for Regular Show in the category of Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production for Children's Audience along with Sean Szeles (Character Animation BFA 03) and JG Quintel (Character Animation BFA 05). Adams was also nominated for Regular Show in the category of Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production, while Szeles was nominated in the category of Writing in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production for Regular Show.
Hanul Bahm (Film/Video MFA 12) is the community engagement manager for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, producing the LACMA9 Art + Film Lab [73], a roving outdoor cinema, filmmaking workshop and video oral history project. The two-year project, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, travels throughout Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, delivering free programs with the aim of democratizing filmmaking and film culture.
David Bossert (Character Animation BFA 83), a CalArts trustee and a respected animator and creative director, special projects of Walt Disney Animation Studios, has written Remembering Roy E. Disney: Memories and Photos of a Storied Life [74].
The International Animated Film Association announced the nominees for the 41st Annual Annie Awards, which honor achievement in animation, and more than a dozen CalArtians made it to the shortlist. In the Best Animated Feature category, Chris Buck (Film/Video 78) and Michael Giaimo (Live Action 78) were nominated for Frozen, with Buck also getting a nod for Directing in an Animated Feature Production for Frozen and Giamo receiving a nomination on the film for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production, Steven MacLeod (Film/Video BFA 07) and Chris Sanders (Film/Video BFA 84) were nominated for The Croods, with Sanders also receiving a nomination for The Croods for Directing in an Animated Feature Production, and Yarrow Cheney (Character Animation 95) and Eric Favela (Character Animation BFA 06) were nominated for Despicable Me 2, with Cheney also receiving a nomination for Production Design on the film. For a list of other CalArts nominees, see the CalArts 24700 blog [75].
Billy Burgess (Film/Video BFA 06) is coordinating the 7th Annual Druid Underground Film Festival. The 2014 festival will run events in several locations, culminating at the Anthology Film Archives in New York in April with subsequent screenings throughout the U.S. Information on submitting work for consideration is available at the festival's website [43].
A recent article in The Los Angeles Times [76] on women directors at Walt Disney Animation featured Brenda Chapman (Character Animation BFA 87), who shared the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature last year with Mark Andrews (Character Animation BFA 93) for Brave. According to the article, Chapman was one of five women in a class of 34 in the program, compared to 98 women in a class of 161 in the program today.
For news on Yarrow Cheney (Character Animation 95) see Chris Buck.
Anthony Brigance Cook (Character Animation BFA 88) will be showing his sculpture in the 2nd Annual Hidden Truths, The Mind Unraveled: The Art of Epilepsy at the Susan Nelson Art Gallery [77] & Turley Emett Studio in Newport Beach. The show opens October 5 at 6 pm with a benefit for Epilepsy Awareness with tickets available by contacting firstname.lastname@example.com [78]. The public opening is October 6.
Despedida (Farewell) [79], a film by Alexandra Cuesta (Program in Film & Video MFA 09) was screened as part of the New York Fim Festival's Views from the Avant Garde.
David Derrick (Character Animation 04) has written and illustrated the children's picture book, I'm the Scariest Thing in the Jungle! (Immedium). Derrick [80] is a story artist at DreamWorks Feature Animation, and has worked on numerous films, including Bee Movie, Flushed Away, Megamind, and How to Train Your Dragon.
Pixar's Inside Out, directed by Pete Docter (Character Animation BFA 90), is scheduled for release in 2015. The film will take audiences on incredible journeys into extraordinary worlds: from the darkest depths of the ocean to the top of the tepui mountains in South America; from the fictional metropolis of Monstropolis to a futuristic fantasy of outer space.
Kelman Duran (Film/Video MFA 12) began duties as resident curator in September at Otras Obras in Tijuana.
The wife-and-husband team of Lauren Faust (Character Animation 95) and Craig McCracken (Character Animation 92) have been busy working on Wander Over Yonder [81], an animated comedy television series produced by Disney Television Animation for the Disney Channel. McCracken is the show's creator and executive producer, while Faust serves as co-producer and story editor. In December, McCracken was nominated for an Annie Award for Wander Over Yonder in the category of Character Design in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production.
For news on Eric Favela (Character Animation BFA 06) see Chris Buck.
David Fenster's (Film/Video MFA 2004) Pincus is one of four films selected for on-line viewing by The New York Times [82].
Cosmopolis: 49 Waltzes for the World, a video installation by Roberta Friedman (Experimental Animation MFA 74) and Daniel Loewenthal will be on view December 11-15 at the Baryshnikov Arts Center [83] in New York. The opening reception for the work, based on 49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs by John Cage, will take place on December 12 from 6-9 pm.
For news on Michael Giaimo (Live Action 78) see Chris Buck.
It Felt Like Love, the first feature by Eliza Hittman (Film Directing MFA 10), is part of Sundance's touring films from its last festival.
Mari Inukai (Character Animation BFA 04) will have a solo exhibition of her work at Thinkspace Gallery [84] in Culver City with an opening reception on November 2 from 6-9 pm. The show runs through November 23.
Writer and filmmaker Gary Kaskel [85] (Live Action BFA 74) has written the biographical novel Monsters & Miracles: Henry Bergh's America. It is available online.
SCVNews.com [86] has written a feature story on Morgan Kelly (Character Animation BFA 03), an animator who worked on the new animated feature Free Birds, released by Relativity Media.
Dayla Corcoran Kennedy (Live Action BFA 97) recently completed a short film, Highpoint Pool, which was selected as a Vimeo [87] Staff Pick. The film is set in the 1980s and is about a boy who makes a plea to President Reagan, on behalf of his love interest, to stop the building of a tract home development that will replace their existing community pool.
Will Kim (Character Animation BFA 07) is animation director for Symphony of the Soil [88], a documentary that explores the complexity and mystery of soil. The movie premieres November 8 in Beverly Hills [89]. He also recently participated in the 8th Annual Pasadena Art Walk as one of the featured artists. He was also recently featured in an artist's spotlight on Giphy [90]and he was also featured on Tumblr Artists Spotlight [91].
Arpita Kumar (Film/Video MFA 12) is developing a feature-length thriller set in an all-girls' school in Lucknow, India. Her short film, My Dear Americans, is an offical selection at the Mill Valley Film Festival [92]and will screen on October 9 and 11.
On the NPR show Morning Edition [93] on December 12, co-host Renee Montagne interviewed John Lasseter (Character Animation BFA 79), the chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios about the 90th anniversary of Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Eyes [94], a short film by Tom Law (Character Animation BFA 13), was accepted for the official program of the 56th edition of the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film from October 28 to November 3.
The short film Tumulus by Evelyn Lee (Experimental Animation MFA 07), made as a part of Film Independent's Project: Involve Fellowship, screened at LA Film Fest in June.
Minkyu Lee (Character Animation BFA 09) was cited by The New York Times [95] as one of five rising animation artists. Lee was recently featured on i09.com [96] for the designs that he created at CalArts for an imaginary animated version of Wicked.
Utskor: Either/Or, a film by Laida Lertxundi [97] (Program in Film & Video MFA 07) was screened as part of the New York Film Festival's Views from the Avant Garde.
For news on Steven MacLeod (Film/Video BFA 07) see Chris Buck.
Janelle Miau (Experimental Animation MFA 10) is performing in The Missing Book of Spurs [98], a new work by Marianne Vitale that is being presented as part of Performa 13, the New York performance art biennial. The show runs through November 23.
The Lion King director Rob Minkoff (Character Animation 83) is directing DreamWorks Animation's Mr. Peabody & Sherman, a big screen adaptation of the popular Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon. It will be released in 2014.
Lake Los Angeles, directed by Mike Ott (Program in Film and Video MFA 05) and co-written with Atsuko Okatsuka (Program in Film and Video 15) has been selected for this year's U.S. in Progress Wroclaw at the American Film Festival [99] in Poland from October 22-27. Minjung Kim (Program in Film and Video 15) served as production designer on the film. Another film by Ott, Pearblossom Hwy, also co-written by Okatsuka, screened at the Flyway Film Festival in Wisconsin in September, will screen at the American Film Festival in Poland in October, and will then screen at the Cork Film Festival in Ireland in November.
Skyler Page (Character Animation 11) was nominated for an Emmy in animation for Clarence for Outstanding Short-format Animated Program.
For news on Experimental Animation faculty member Suzan Pitt, see Maureen Selwood.
JG Quintel (Character Animation BFA 05) was nominated for an Emmy in animation for Regular Show: The Christmas Special in the Outstanding Animated Program category. Quintel was also nominated for an Annie Award for his work on Regular Show in the category of Best Animated TV/Broadcast Production for Children's Audience, along with Ben Adams (Character Animation BFA 09) and Sean Szeles (Character Animation BFA 03).
For news on Chris Sanders (Film/Video BFA 84) see Chris Buck.
The Orange County Museum of Art [100] will exhibit the work of Peter Sarkisian (Film/Video 86) and his father, Paul Sarkisian, from April 6 through July 20. The show includes 22 of Peter's video sculptures, which integrate video, film and sculpture, and nearly one dozen paintings by Paul.
A selection of MFA films from CalArts' Experimental Animation Program and films by Experimental Animation faculty member Maureen Selwood were presented in October at the Chitrakatha '13 [101] International Student Animation Festival at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, India. A program of MFA films from the Experimental Animation Program and a selection of films by Selwood were also screened at Expotoons 2013 in November in Buenos Aires. In December, the program will be shown at the Escuela Internacional de Cine y TV in San Antonio de los Banos (EICTV) in Artemisa, Cuba. Experimental Animation faculty member Suzan Pitt is taking the program to Cuba, where a program of her own works will be screened as well. Filmmakers include Manuel Barenboim (Experimental Animation MFA 13), Sean Buckelew (Experimental Animation MFA 12), Ethan Clarke (Experimental Animation MFA 12), Sara Gunnarsdottir (Experimental Animation MFA 12), Tempe Hale (Experimental Animation MFA3), Meejin Hong (Experimental Animation MFA 12), Vita Hsu (Experimental Animation MFA 12), Asavari Kumar (Experimental Animation MFA3), Enrique Rivera (Experimental Animation MFA3) and Olivia Taussig (Experimental Animation MFA 12).
Pixar's The Good Dinosaur is being co-directed by Peter Sohn (Character Animation BFA 99). Due out in May 2014, the film is about what Earth would have been like if dinosaurs had never become extinct.
Jennifer Steinkamp's (Film/Video BFA 85) digital projection, 6QUEJ5, is on view at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts [102]. She was recently featured in the Pioneer Press [103].
Justice Girl [104], a novel by Julian David Stone (Live Action BFA 87) is now available at Amazon. The book takes place during the golden age of live television.
Immortal, Suspended [105], a film by Deborah Stratman (Live Action MFA 95), was screened as part of the New York Film Festival's Views from the Avant Garde.
For news on Sean Szeles (Character Animation BFA 03), see JG Quintel.
Flower [106], the MFA thesis film by Naoko Tasaka (Program in Film & Video MFA 11), was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Wavelengths program.
Manakamana [107], a feature co-directed by Pacho Velez (Program in Film & VIdeo MFA 10) and Stephanie Spray, received the Golden Leopard for Filmmakers of the Present at the Locarno Fim Festival. It was also screened in the Motion Portraits section at the New York Film Festival.
Los Angeles Red Squad: The Communist Situation in California [108], a film by Travis Wilkerson (Program in Film & Video MFA 02) was screened as part of the New York Fim Festival's Views from the Avant Garde and as part of the Festival International De Cinema/Marseille.
LAdies [109], an exhibition featuring the work of several alumni from the School of Film/Video, is on view at Cella Gallery [110] in North Hollywood until July 12. Included in the show are Samir "Evol" Argandiwall (Film/Video BFA 06), Jeremy Bernstein (Character Animation BFA 03), Dave Creek (Film/Video BFA 05), former faculty member Jon Gomez (Character Animation 07), Seong "Nick" Jeong (Character Animation BFA 04), Morgan Kelly (Character Animation BFA 03), Jimmy Thompson (Character Animation BFA 04), and Chris Wood (Character Animation 02).
Animator Tony Craig [111] (Character Animation 89) will exhibit his artwork in the Apple Gallery in Danbury, North Carolina from Aug. 29-Sept. 24, with a reception on Aug. 30 from 5:30-8 p.m. He will also have available his new book of photographs: Country Stores in North Carolina.
Vincent Dyer (Live Action MFA 73) has a cameo in Bounty Killer [112], a new film by Henry Saine.
Curt Hahn (Live Action BFA 72), the CEO of Film House, a Nashville-based film production company and the largest producer of films for the U.S. government, was recently featured in The Wall Street Journal [113] about a series of mini-movies that he has created to help real estate agents sell homes.
Klay Hall (Film/Video BFA 96) has directed the Walt Disney Pictures 3-D animated film, Planes [114]. The film is set to debut on August 9. It tells the story of a small-town crop duster with big dreams of becoming a high-flying air racer. An interviw with Hall appeared recently in the Thousand Oaks Acorn [115].
Nominees for the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards were announced in July and CalArts alumni were among those earning nominations. Bravo's Top Chef [116], for which alumna Casey Kriley (Film Directing MFA 98) is an executive producer, has been nominated for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program and for Outstanding Cinematography for Reality Programming. J.G. Quintel's (Character Animation BFA 05) Regular Show: The Christmas Special on Cartoon Network [117] is in the running for Outstanding Animated Program. The show's production team includes writer Benton Connor (Character Animation BFA 09). Another episode of the show, A Bunch of Full Grown Geese, is nominated for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program. Also vying for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program are Skyler Page's (Character Animation 11) Clarence and Pendleton Ward's (Character Animation BFA 05) Adventure Time: Simon & Marcy, both on Cartoon Network as well. Emmy winners will be announced live on Sept. 22 at 5 pm on CBS.
New media artist Nandita Kumar (Experimental Animation MFA 09) has been busy on two projects: eLEment: EaRTh, a piece featuring a light-activated sensor that triggers sounds of the earth, and pOLyMorPHic HumANscAPe, a diorama that contains an interactive video installation that is immersed in an environment created of functional and non-functional printed circuit boards, exploring two different landscapes within a city. Kumar's many other projects and recent press coverage in Vogue and the Wall Street Journal can be explored at her website [118].
The Wolverine [119], directed by James Mangold (Film Directing BFA 85) and starring Hugh Jackman, opened at No. 1 in 100 countries, earning $141.1 million worldwide during its opening weekend in late July.
Medeas, a film by Andrea Pallaoro [120] (Film Directing MFA 08) has been selected to have its world premiere in the official competition of the 70th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Orizzonti as part of the New Trends in World Cinema competition held from August 28 to September 7. According to Pallaoro's director's statement, "Medeas is an observational character study of a family and their environment; one which rejects pre-existing structural formulas to find its own freedom and clarity from the manipulations and limitations of conventional storytelling." The next film that he will be directing is tentatively titled The Whale. It is written by Pallaoro and Orlando Tirado (Photography & Media 10) and is being produced by choreographer Benjamin Millepied, the incoming director of the Paris Opera Ballet.
Resonating Images: 1950 to Now, an exhibition of modern and contemporary masters, including Botero, Close, Hockney, Picasso, and Warhol, opens at California Lutheran University's William Rolland Gallery of Fine Art [121] on July 20, with a reception at 6 pm. The director of the gallery is Jeff Phillips (Live Action BFA 74). The show runs through September 6.
A Random Desi Romance (Shuddh Desi Romance), directed by Maneesh Sharma (Film/Video MFA 04), is screening in the Gala Presentation section of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival [122]. The romantic comedy is about a couple who meet at a wedding and become romantically involved.
Anthony Stacchi (Film/Video BFA 86) is co-directing LAIKA's upcoming animated film The BoxTrolls [123], set for release in September 2014.
Doug Vitarelli (Experimental Animation MFA 95) has recently finished a new cartoon that can be viewed on YouTube [124]. It's about a dinosaur named Olifant who lives in Central Park, and is called When Warthogs Fly.
The first solo museum exhibition by Erika Vogt (Film/Video MFA 03) at New York's New Museum was recently reviewed in Art Forum [125]. The show, titled Stranger Debris Roll Roll Roll [126], is an installation that includes a dense arrangement of cast plaster and found objects suspended in the gallery, plus several of her most recent videos. The exhibition runs through September 22.
Christine Beebe (Directing MFA 05) screened her new film, Felix Austria! [127] at Hot Docs 2013 [128]-the Canadian International Documentary Festival-in Toronto in April and May. Beebe directed and produced the documentary about a man named Felix Pfeifle who inherits a collection of correspondences between Archduke Otto von Habsburg and an ordinary American named Herbert Hinkel. The documentary includes animation created by Gudrun Cram-Drach (Experimental Animation MFA 07).
Two films by CalArtians screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The sci-fi film Robota [129] by David Braun (Experimental Animation BFA 13) and Victor Sala was shown as part of "Short Film Corner 2013." Part live action and part stop-motion animation, the film grew out of Braun's time studying abroad in Prague, where he met and collaborated with Sala, a film student from Barcelona. Also screened was The Spirit Game [130], a short film based on the true story of the Fox sisters, three girls in the 19th century whose spirit-summoning prank accidentally founded Spiritualism. The supervising producer of the film is School of Film/Video staff member Justin Hogan.
Numerous CalArtians screened films in the 51st Ann Arbor Film Festival [131], which took place in March in Michigan. Included were Madison Brookshire (Film/Video MFA 07) with Passage; Bill Brown (Film/Video MFA 97) with Memorial Land; Alexandra Cuesta (Film/Video MFA 08) with Despedida; Kate Dollenmayer (Film/Video MFA 05) with Monad by Chris Cohen; Zachary Drucker (Art MFA 07) and Rhys Ernst (Film/Video MFA 11) with She Gone Rogue; Maya Erdelyi (Experimental Animation MFA 12) with Pareidolia; Mariah Garnett (Film/Video MFA 11) with Encounters│May or May Not Have Had with Peter Berlin; Meejin Hong (Experimental Animation MFA 12) with Sugarcoat; Song E Kim (Experimental Animation MFA 07) with Bite of Tail; Laida Lertxundi (Film/Video MFA 07) with The Room Called Heaven, Farce Sensationelle!, A Lax Riddle Unit, Cry When it Happens (Llora Cuando Te Pase), My Tears are Dry, and Footnotes to a House of Love; Akosua Adoma Owusu (Film/Video and Art (Interschool) MFA 08) with Split Ends and I Feel Wonderful; Joanna Priestley (Experimental Animation MFA 85) with Dear Pluto; Peter Bo Rappmund (Film/Video MFA 11) with Tectonics; and Naoko Tasaka (Film/Video MFA 11) with Flower.
Pablo Calvillo (Experimental Animation BFA 07) is currently working as a previsualization and layout artist on The Lego Movie at Animal Logic in Sydney, Australia. The Warner Bros. computer-animated adventure comedy is due out next February. Calvillo has previously worked as a previs artist on Epic at Blue Sky Studios in Connecticut and as a previs and layout artist on Ice Age 4 at Blue Sky.
A few months after writer and director Brenda Chapman (Character Animation BFA 87) received an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Brave, which she shared with Mark Andrews (Character Animation BFA 93), Chapman was in Scandinavia, teaching a master class at the Verdens Beste Children's Film Festival in Tromso, Norway. She also took time out to give an interview to Animation Magazine [132], talking about animation in Europe, a new book project stemming out of a CalArts student film, and other projects.
Three films by CalArtians have been selected for this summer's Annecy International Animation Film Festival [133] in France-considered by many to be the world's foremost animation showcase. The films include Drifters by Ethan Clarke (Film/Video MFA 12), The Bathhouse by Jisoo Kim (Film/Video MFA 12), and Will by Eusong Lee (Film/Video 13). The short films will be screened in the Graduation Films program.
Gabriel Cowan (Film/Video MFA 08; Music BFA 00) and John Suits (Film/Video MFA 08) have produced two features that premiered at the 2013 South By Southwest Festival in March in Austin, Texas. Cheap Thrills [134], co-produced with Travis Stevens of Snowfort Pictures, screened in the Midnighters category while Milo, a New Artists Alliance project co-produced with Adele Romanski, screened in the Narrative Spotlight program.
Filmmaker Alexandria Hammond (Film/Video BFA 02) has completed principal photography on Lucha Mexico, a feature documentary about Mexican professional masked wrestling. Hammond is co-directing the film with Ian Markiewicz. With unprecedented access to the wrestlers, known as luchadores, the filmmakers have amassed more than 300 hours of footage shot over a period of three years. Their recent music documentary, Better Than Something: Jay Reatard, is available via FilmBuff on digital/VOD, and will soon be available on DVD.
Jeaux Janovsky (Character Animation BFA 05) has been busy working on Los Animales, a new webcomic "about music, animals, and broken hearts," which Janovsky also describes as "a soap opera type comic about hipster animals." It's already received great press [135]. He's also collaborating on Epilogue, a 22-page comic about post-apocalyptic roaches. Janovsky is a design consultant on a project for Topps, the card company, and has been doing graphic design for Inspector Playground, a company that inspects the safety of playground equipment.
Will Kim (Character Animation BFA 07) gave a workshop called "Painting in Motion" at the Riverside International Film Festival [136] in April. Will and his wife, Jian Lee (Experimental Animation MFA 08) just celebrated the first birthday of their son, Noah. Fittingly, Will made a beautiful film [137] to honor the occasion.
The Greenleaf Book Group [138] has published Widow Walk, an historical novel by Gerard LaSalle (Film/Video MFA 76). The book, which has received a five-star rating on Goodreads, weaves together multiple stories of Pacific Northwest life in the early days of its settlement. LaSalle will read from the book and sign copies at the University of Washington Bellevue [139] bookstore on May 31 at 6 pm and on June 12 at 7 pm in the Mill Creek [140] store.
Eusong Lee (Character Animation BFA 12) won a Student Academy Award for his animated short film, will [141], which addresses issues of love and loss centered around the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York. Also nominated was Drifters [142] by Ethan Clarke (Experimental Animation MFA 12) and The Pirate of Love [143] by Sara Gunnarsdottir (Experimental Animation MFA 12). Lee's film is also a finalist for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles 10th Annual Student Film Awards, which will be announced at a gala on June 20 at the Los Angeles Film School in Hollywood.
Kate Marks' (Film Directing MFA 12) film Pearl Was Here [144] has been selected as part of Film School Shorts [145], a new program originating from public television station KQED in San Francisco, featuring short films from top U.S. film schools. The series premiered on April 15, and will air on other public television stations around the country in the coming months.
Director and animator Mike Murphy (Character Animation BFA 96), whose animation credits include the Lord Of The Rings' films and Ironman, was awarded The BrandLaureate Best Brand Personality Award 2013 at The BrandLaureate Gala Dinner on May 28, 2013 at the Majestic Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The BrandLaureate Awards are presented to brands and outstanding individuals who have made their mark in international industries that focus on the Asian market.
The Disney Channel has given the green light to Star and the Forces of Evil, the working title of an animated series created by Daron Nefcy (Character Animation BFA 09). The series is an animated comedy adventure about Star Butterfly (voiced by The Middle's Eden Sher), a fun-loving magical teen princess from another dimension who, after a few skirmishes with monsters, is sent by her parents to live with the Diaz family on Earth.
Adeline Newmann (Experimental Animation BFA 12) travelled to Tallinn, Estonia in April to participate in two music festivals and to present a guest lecture on video design at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. The trip developed out of a 2011 collaboration at REDCAT in which pianist Ingrid Lee (Music Composition and Piano Performance BFA 12) performed Mario Davidovsky's 1971 Pulitzer Prize-winning composition Synchronisms No. 6, while Newmann created animated visuals that were projected during the performance. Late last year, Newmann received an email from a faculty member at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre, seeking her permission to include her video for Synchronisms No. 6 in his curated performances for Estonian Music Days and Tallinn Music Week in April. "Before I knew it," Newmann writes, "I was on a plane flying to Tallinn!" Newmann has written more about her trip on her website [146]. Pictures of the performance and of Tallinn can be seen on flickr [147] and the performance can be viewed on vimeo [148].
Several CalArtians are involved in Sanjay and Craig [149], an animated TV series that premiered May 25 on Nickelodeon about a 12-year-old suburban boy and his best friend, a talking snake. Thurop van Orman (Character Animation 03) is supervising producer, Carl Faruolo, faculty in Character Animation, is storyboard director, and Maanav M.J. Sandhe (Character Animation BFA 12) is a revisionist.
Vincent Precht (MFA Film/Video 93) is making a documentary on the Occupy movement, including a conversation with linguist, philosopher, and activist Noam Chomsky. After earning his MFA from CalArts, Precht returned to his vocation as a special education public school teacher and started writing short stories about teaching, which have appeared in TriQuarterly, Carolina Review, Seattle Review, and other publications. After teaching for 25 years, and now the father of a child with special needs, Precht has become involved in Occupy. He live streamed the Occupy the Department of Education protest in early April, which featured Diane Ravitch, Karen Lewis, and other important figures in education. Says Precht, "I have CalArts (especially Thom Andersen and Alexander Mackendrick) to thank for preparing me for this exciting work."
Astra Price (Film/Video MFA 01) has written a review appearing in MOH Magazine [150] on the recent show of photographs by Catherine Opie (Art MFA 88) at Regen Projects in Los Angeles. For more on Opie, see the School of Art Class Notes.
Guyanese-born filmmaker Mason Richards (Film/Video 09) screened his award-winning short film, The SeaWall [151], at a benefit event at New York's 154 Stanton Galley in April. The film, about emigration and issues changing and challenging Guyanese culture, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011. The benefit included Guyanese music, food, and cocktails, and an exhibition and sale of Guyanese art. Donations and a portion of the proceeds of art sold are going toward the production of a feature-length version of The SeaWall and to the Mason Richards Film Fellowship for students at the University of Guyana to study filmmaking and to participate in the production of the film. Donations can be made at www.guyfrog.org [152].
Paul Richmond [153] (Film/Video BFA 83) was elected president of the Jefferson County Bar Association in the State of Washington in January. Richmond was a reporter, media producer, legal investigator and clerk before going to law school at the University of Washington School of Law and becoming a lawyer. He is a repeat recipient of the Washington State Bar Association Pro Bono Service Commendation.
Allison Schulnik's (Experimental Animation BFA 00) solo show at the Laguna Art Museum [154] this spring garnered rave reviews. The show included stop-motion animation, paintings, and ceramic works. Richard Chang in the Orange County Register wrote, "Schulnik's videos are beautiful, surreal, creepy, cute, and tremendously creative."
Ferial "Ria" Villareal (Film Directing 05) is a substitute teacher and parent volunteer for a local public school and church, and is also working on screenplays for film festival screenwriting competitions. Villareal has volunteered teaching religious studies to children ages 3-7 for the Diocese of San Jose, using artwork and music to help children understand religious teachings and stories. Villareal has a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from San Jose State University. Her substitute teaching experience includes transitional kindergarten through the eighth grade.
Erika Vogt (Film/Video MFA 03) will have her first solo museum exhibition at New York's New Museum, opening on June 5 and continuing through September 22. For her installation in the Lobby Gallery, titled Stranger Debris Roll Roll Roll [126], Vogt "will compose a dense arrangement of cast plaster and found objects that float in the gallery space like a field of debris," according to the museum.
Adventure Time, the multi-layered hit cartoon on Cartoon Network created by Pendleton Ward (Character Animation BFA 05) was featured on National Public Radio's Morning Edition [155] on June 17. "I am a little bit obsessed with it," said Lev Grossman, Time magazine's senior book critic. "It's rich and complicated the way Balzac's work is, which is a funny thing to say about a cartoon." Said Ward, "For me, it comes from my childhood, wandering in my mind. You can't really go anywhere when you're a kid. I don't have a car, I don't have anything. I just have my backyard and my brain. And that's where I'm coming from when I'm writing it."
John Warren (Film/Video MFA 12) screened his film Poppy Fields Forever [156] in April at Toronto's Images Festival [157], a festival of experimental and independent moving image culture.
An essay by Peggy Wolff (Film/Video BFA 72) on trout fishing appeared in the April 24 issue of the Chicago Tribune [158].
Wolff is a frequent contributor to the Tribune's "Good Eating" section, whose content appears in newspapers around the country.
Julie Saladino Bateman (Character BFA 92) worked on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 as a Roto Prep Artist for 3D conversion.
Rob Bekuhrs (Character Animation BFA 83) is currently supervising game animation crews at SuperGenius Studio in Oregon City, and recently completed work on The Walking Dead and Family Guy. The former won 2013 BAFTA awards for Best Story and Best Handheld Game and won the 2013 VGA award for Game of the Year, while the latter was nominated for a 2013 Annie award for Best Animated Video Game. Bekuhrs was an original member of Walt Disney Feature Animation in Florida, starting as its sole computer animation artist. Over 15 years, he worked on several short films, commercials, and features, supervising animation crews on several films, including Mulan (1998) and Lilo and Stitch (2002) and training the 2D animation staff to work in Maya/3D. He has also worked at Computer Image Corporation in Denver using video synthesizers to make commercials and shorts for Sesame Street; has helped launch Movietime Channel (now E! channel) with on-air graphics and animation; has worked with Bill Kroyer and Bagdessarian Productions on CG and traditional animation; led animation crews on Disney's The Wild in Toronto; developed software, pipeline, and animation and created facial libraries for Laika's Coraline (2009) and ParaNorman (2012); and led crowd animators and developed tools for Double Negative in London for Disney's John Carter (2012).
In January, Madison Brookshire (Film/Video MFA 07) was one of
eight grantees of the inaugural LA Artist Initiative, a grant program
for emerging visual artists co-sponsored by the Rema Hort Mann
Foundation and the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Tim Burton (Character Animation 79) directed the Killers' video, Here With Me [159]. Recently, he was in South Korea for the opening of the Tim Burton exhibit [160] at the Seoul Museum of Art.
Paula Chambers (Live Action BFA 85), F.X. Feeney (Live Action BFA 76), James Mangold (Live Action BFA 85) and former CalArts School of Film/Video faculty Kris Malkiewicz were part of a guest panel for Alexander Mackendrick: A Centennial Celebration at the Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater/REDCAT on February 6, 2013. An article [161]on the event appeared in the LA Times.
Drawings and paintings by Mary Cohen (Experimental Animation MFA 07; BFA 04) will be on display at the Pacific Palisades Library in March with an afternoon reception on March 16 from 2-4 pm. She will also show 3-D objects during the reception. An award-winning member of the Pacific Palisades Art Association, she has exhibited in several of its group shows as well as at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Art Park. She frequently leads panels at anime conventions and is working on a graphic novel.
The Los Angeles art gallery Musée 16 presented "An Evening with Filmmaker Nicole Emmons" (Experimental Animation MFA 10) on February 28. Her films were screened and puppets from the films were on display.
Five CalArtian filmmakers recently earned nominations for the 2013
Spirit Awards, which will be announced in Santa Monica on Feb. 23,
2013.Presented by Film Independent [162], a nonprofit arts organization that recognizes and celebrates artist-driven filmmaking, the awards' winners are chosen by the organization's members, past Spirit Award nominees and winners, and active Independent Film Project members. Nominees include writer-director Aurora Guerrero's (Interschool MFA 99) Mosquita y Mari [163], David Fenster's (Film/Video MFA 04) Pincus [164], Jason Tippet (Film/Video BFA 08) and Elizabeth Mims' (Film/Video BFA 10) [165]Only the Young [165] and Kirby Dick's (Art BFA 76) [166]The Invisible War [166].
Eliza Hittman (Film Directing MFA 10) wrote, directed and co-produced [167]It Felt Like Love [168], an official selection for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.
Devil's Gate [167] by Film/Video faculty member Laura Kraning (Film/Video MFA 10) was screened on February 18 at The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena in an international program of experimental film and video work presented by MIA. The film explores the metaphysical undercurrents of a Southern California landscape scarred by fire.
Eu Song Lee's (Character Animation 12) will and Ian Samuels' (Film Directing MFA 11) Caterwaul will be screened at KCET's Fine Cut 13th "annual series showcasing the best shorts from leading film, television and animations schools in Southern California."
Minkyu Lee's (Character Animation MFA 09) Adam and Dog has been nominated for an Oscar for Animated Short Film [169].
CalArts has learned that Warner Bros. director Russell "Rusty" Mills
(Character Animation BFA 84) passed away on December 7, 2012 at age 49. See In Memoriam [170].
Ben Ridgway [171] (Experimental MFA 98), San Francisco State University Assistant Professor of Animation, was featured in the Animation World Network article, Five Artists Creating New Visions of What Animation Can Be [172].
Heidi Smith (Character Animation BFA 08), a Character Designer at Laika, was recently featured in a Cartoon Brew article [173]regarding her work on Paranorman.
After nearly eight years of work, a film by John Sorensen (Film/Video BFA 86) about a group of Sudanese refugees will debut on public television. The Quilted Conscience, a 60-minute film about a group of 16 Sudanese-American girls—refugees from genocide—who are thrust into a new life in Grand Island, Nebraska, will be broadcast on Nebraska Public Television in June. It was also screened in February at the San Diego Black Film Festival. Sorensen is director and founder of the Abbott Sisters Living Legacy Project [174], which honors and perpetuates the living legacy of Nebraska social justice pioneers, Grace and Edith Abbott, and addresses issues concerning the children's and immigration rights movements.
Robert Stadd [175](Film/Video BFA 79) is currently the visual effects supervisor on The Hangover Part 3; he was the VFX supervisor on The Hangover Part 2 as well. He supervised the visual effects on Elf Man, Public Enemies, Miami Vice and Collateral, and was the visual effects producer on films including The Nutty Professor I and 2, Liar Liar, The Mask and The Crow.
Robert directed Alien Siege for the Sci-Fi Channel, starring Brad Johnson and Carl Weathers, which received the channel's highest rating in February 2012, and created a webisode, The Ballad of Mary and Ernie [176], which won Best Webisode at the New Media Film Festival.
He shares that he is married to artist Rachel X. Hobreigh and that "our dogs, Natasha Bella and Gideon continue to terrorize the neighborhood."
Anders Beer (Experimental Animation '96) will be a panelist on the Massachusetts Production Coalition's Working Methods in Film, Television and Advertising Seminar Series: Post-Production and Visual Effects [177] on September 15.
The New York Times reviewed Luis Prieto's [178] (MFA Film/Video '94) latest directorial work, Pusher.
Great Expectations [179], a new documentary on the nation's educational achievement gap by Jonathan Robinson (MFA Live Action '89), will broadcast on the Sundance Channel on Sunday, September 16.
Mark Andrews (BFA Character Animation '93) is the director of Pixar's "Brave," which opens in theatres nationwide this summer.
David Armstrong (BFA Live Action '88), Cinematographer of the Saw franchise, is set to direct Crawl to Me, a movie adaptation of the cult-classic comic. Currently, Armstrong is directing the indie hostage drama Pawn.
Tim Burton's (Character Animation '79) Frankenweenie, in theatres Halloween, will launch as a live interactive exhibit as Disney gears up to launch original sketches as well as extensive props, sets and puppets. The "Art of Frankenweenie" exhibition will git seven countries, starting in Barcelona. More information can be found here [180].
David Finster's (MFA Film/Video '04) semi-autobiographical film, Pincus [181], will have its world premier at the LA Film Festival in June.
Alex Hirsch (BFACharacter Animation '07) is the creator of the new Disney cartoon Gravity Falls, [182] which premiers in June. The show, inspired by real-life adventures with his twin sister features the voices of Jason Ritter, Kristen Schaal and many more. More information can be found in the press release, here [183].
Helen Hill (MFA Experimental Animation '95) was featured in the Smithsonian Magazine for being one of "Five Women Animators Who Shook Up The Industry." [184]
Laurie House's (Live Action '93) feature documentary "Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy" will be screening at the New Filmaker Series in New York on July 5th.
Logan Kibens (MFA Film/Video '10) recently debuted her film "Operator" at the Ivy Substation in Culver City as part of the highly selective Sundance Institute Screenplay Reading Series.
Laida Lertxundi (MFA Film/Video '07) had films featured in the San Francisco "Crossroads" Festival [185].
Astra Price (MFA Integrated Media & Film/Video '01) see Sandro del Rosario.
Sandro del Rosario (MFA Experimental Animation '01) is the Production Assistant on "Transit" at the Tom Bradley Terminal at LAX. The event [186]is open to the public.
Lisa Rose (MFA Experimental Animation '08) will be showing her work at Studio D in San Fransisco through October.
Allison Schulnik's (Character Animation BFA 00) exhibit, Salty Air [187], is at the Mark Moore Gallery in Los Angeles from May 26 - July 7, 2012. She also appeared in Tastemaker [188].
Karolina Sobecka (MFA Integrated Media/Experimental Animation '03) will be presenting her work at the Leaders in Software and Art Salon in New York and in the Fellows in Digital and Electronic Arts at NYFA Gallery. She is also creating a new installation for the Woodstock Digital Media Festival in July.
Dustin Thompson (MFA Film/Video '09) just finished a new project called Subculture Club: Urban Beekeeping on Ashton Kutcher's Thrash Lab. The project can be seen here [189] and the "History of Bees" told through animation can be seen here [190].
Andrew Ahn's (MFA Film Directing '11) film DOL (FIRST
BIRTHDAY) screened at Fusion: Los Angeles LGBT People of Color Film Festival, presented by Outfest on March 24th.
Cody Cameron (Character Animation '96) will be directing 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2' with Kris Pearn.
Jason Carpenter (MFA '06, Program in Film and Video), Meejin Hong (MFA '12, Experimental Animation), Laida Lertxundi (MFA '07, Program in Film and Video), Norbert Shieh (MFA '11, Program in Film and Video), Deborah Stratman (MFA '95, Program in Film and Video), and Travis Wilkerson (MFA '01, Program in Film and Video) will screen films at this year's Ann Arbor Film Festival [191].
Taylor Crowe [192] (CER Character Animation '07) was featured in Dr. Darold Treffert's presentation "Taylor Crowe: Finding the Gifts, Using the Strengths: Empowering a Life with Autism." In conjuction with the presentation, he will also be showing his artwork, on dispaly at the Stayer Center.
Marsha Hale (BFA Live Action '81) earned her Ph.D. from Pacifica University in Carpinteria,CA. Her dissertation was titled, Chick Flicks and Weepies–The Mythology of Love in Film. She has been employed as an archivist in the film industry, working on animation archives for An American Tale, The Land Before Time and the first year of The Simpsons.
Laura Kraning's (MFA '10, Program in Film and Video) DEVIL'S GATE (2011) has been nominated for a Golden Gate Award (New Visions) at the upcoming San Francisco International Film Festival. Other recent screenings include Big Muddy Film Festival, Rencontres Internationales (Centre Pompidou), Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Nasher Museum of Art (Duke University), and the Maysles Cinema (The Experiment). Additional screenings over the past year have included New York Film Festival (Views from the Avant-Garde), Ann Arbor Film Festival, Visions du Réel, Athens International Film &Video Festival, Wisconsin Film Festival, Antimatter Film Festival, and Chicago Underground Film Festival where DEVIL'S GATE received Honorable Mention.
David Lebow [193] (MFA Experimental Animation '00) will be having a show of paintings called "End Time Visions" from June 1st to July 1st.
Laida Lertxundi (MFA '07, Program in Film and Video) screened four films at the Whitney Biennial from March 28 through April 1, including FOOTNOTES TO A HOUSE OF LOVE (2007), MY TEARS ARE DRY (2009), LLORA CUANDO TE PASE / CRY WHEN IT HAPPENS (2010), and A LAX RIDDLE UNIT [194](2011).
Susan Silas (MFA Art '83) has an exhibit at the Hebrew Union College Museum [195] in NY through June 30. The work is a memorial testament of 580 female Jewish prisoners at the end of the second World War.
Karolina Sobecka's (MFA Integrated Media '06) exhibition "Human Moves Animal Visions" will be at the Super Frog Gallery in San Fransisco until May 3rd.
John Sorenson (Film/Video '86)reports that he is completing work on a new film called The
Quilted Conscience [196], about a fabric arts project he organized with a group of Sudanese children who fled genocide in their homeland for a small town in Nebraska. The film will broadcast on PBS in 2012-13. In addition, he and his creative partner, Wonjung Kim are preparing Dream/Cage a "performance/assemblage" on the life and work of composer John Cage which will be presented at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center in November.
Peggy Wolff (BFA Film/Video '72) is a food writer for the Chicago Tribune. See her article on a Moroccan Passover meal here [197].
Creative Captial grants were given to eight Calartians including Akosua Adoma Owusu (MFA Interschool '08), Norbert Shieh (MFA Film/Video '11), Deborah Stratman (MFA Film/Video '95), Malik Gaines (MFA Film/Video '99), Scott Barry (ACT Art '11), and Niel Doshi (Art '10).
Nicholas Fox-Gieg (MFA Experimental '04) has received an Eyebeam Fellowship [198].
Jorge Gutierrez (MFA Film/Video '00) is directing the film Day of the Dead, scheduled for release in the fall of 2014.
Curt Hahn (BFA, Live Action '72), CEO of Film House, Inc. in Nashville, recently directed Deadline [199], starring Eric Roberts.
Naotaka Hiro (MFA Film/Video '00) will be having a solo exhibition in New York at Brennan & Griffin titled Unknown: Video Works 2006-2011 [200] from February 22nd through the 26th.
Shayne Hood (BFA Experimental '95) will perform with Single Wing Turquoise Bird [201], a preeminent light show group of the 60s and 70s, as part of Pacific Standard Time [202] at the Broad Center/UCLA on January 25-26. The event, presented by the Los Angeles Filmforum and the UCLA Department of Design will also include CalArts Herb Alpert School of Music faculty Miroslav Tadic in the program, which features real-time projection and live music.
Ryan Metlen (BFA Character Animation '99) has been working on "Hope and Death" to be released soon.
Jason McManus (BFA Film/Video '11) recently became the creative director for RGH Themed Entertainment in the LA office. He was also interviewed [203] by InPark Magazine.
Laura Molina [204]'s (Film/Video '80) painting, AmorAlien, has been included in the National Museum of Mexican Art's permanent collection. A reception for the artist will be held on Friday, January 20 from 6-8. In addition to her art work, Laura is running for Congress in California's 25th District.
Nick Peterson (BFA Film/Video '99) has won Best Experimental Film in the Irvine Film Festival for his film, Drained. [205]
Naomi Uman (MFA Film/Video '98) screened her film The Ukranian Time Machine at REDCAT on December 12th.
Margot Valentine (Zych) (BFA Film/Video '06) has published her short story, The Arching Space, in Fransesca Lia Block's anthology, Love Magick.
Akosua Adoma's (MFA Film/Video '08) film, Mi Broni Ba screened at the National Gallery of Art this past June in Washington D.C. amongst short films by featured artists of the 56th Annual Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. In addition, Adoma's short film, DREXCIYA, made in collaboration with Dustin Thompson (MFA Intergrated Media '09) and Nathan Ruyle (Faculty), won Best Experimental Short Film at Expresion en Corto, Festival Internacional de Cine de Guanajuato in Guanajuato, Mexico.
Peter Brinson (MFA Film/Video '00) who currently teaches at USC, was nominated for a Digital 25 award in the category of "Console and PC Gaming" for THE CAT AND THE COUP.
Jason Carpenter (MFA Film/Video '06) has won the Walt Disney Studios Award for Student Film for his film The Renter
The Los Angeles premiere of FROGTOWN [206], a feature film directed by C. Andrew Hall (MFA Film Directing '10)and produced by Nathan Jongewaard( MFA Film Directing '07)and J.R. Hughto(MFA Film/Video 06, Faculty), starring Alanna Blair (BFA Theater '08), took place on September 17th at the Downtown Independent Theater.
Gwenaëlle Gobé's (MFA Experimental Animation '06) documentary on commercial advertising, THIS SPACE AVAILABLE, has been included in DOC NYC and will screen at the IFC Center November 5-6.
Jeaux Janovsky (BFA Character Animation '05) was recently interviewed [207] on CNN
MAURICE, a film made in France this past summer by Patrick Kack-Brice(BFA Film/Video '11) is playing at the San Francisco Documentary Festival as part of a shorts program entitled "The Business of Living" on October 22 and 25th.
John Lasseter (BFA Film/Video '79) will be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Laida Lertxundi's (MFA Film/Video '07) film, CRY WHEN IT HAPPENS/ LLORA CUANDO TE PASE, screened in several festivals this past year, including Los Angeles Filmforum, Portland International Film Festival, NorthWest Filmforum, Seattle Wexner Center for the Arts, Ann Arbor Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, New York Film Festival, Views of the Avant Garde, Courtisane Film Festival, Crossroads Film Festival in San Francisco, Edinburgh International Film Festival, and Onion City Film Festival in Chicago.
Kelvin Park (MFA Film/Video Integrated Media) screened his documentary film, CHEONGGYECHEON MEDLEY: A DREAM OF IRON, at the LA Film Festival this summer. It was described by The Examiner as one of the "not to be missed" films in the documentary competition.
Naoko Tasaka (MFA Film.Video '11) will screen her film LIGHT LEAKS THROUGH INTERVALS at the BratIslava Film Festival (Czech Republic).
William Burgess (BFA Film/Video '06) is collecting submissions for the Druid Underground Film Festival. Submissions are dues by September 24th
Daina Krumins (MFA Film/Video '72) has had her artwork featured in the Autistic Artistic Carnival 2011 [208]
John Lasseter (BFA Animation '79) will recieve the Brittania Award for Worldwide Contribution to Filmed Entertainment from the Brithish Academy of Film and Television Art Los Angeles (BAFTA) at the 2011 BAFTA Awards on November 10th
Jeff Phillips (See Art School Class Notes)
CalArts School had a very strong showing at the 49th Ann Arbor Film Festival [209] in March.
Howard Better (Experimental Animation BFA 79) See Suzan Shutan(Art).
A memorial service for Valerie L. Bronson [210] (MFA Film/Video '80) was held in Seattle on March 20, 2011. See In Memoriam [170].
Yves Chery [211], J.D., (MFA Live Action '93) is running for re-election to the board of the Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association.
Richard Cohen's (MFA Film/Video '73)documentary, Good Cat in Screenland [212], has recently been released on DVD.
Maile Colbert (MFA Integrated Media '04) ia a participating artist in Binaural/Nodar's Paivascapes #1 – Paiva River Sound Festival.
Rideshare [213], the first full length feature film shot entirely on the HD iPhone4 and produced and directed by Donovan Cook (BFA Character Animation '90), received the 2011 Golden Kahuna Award from the Honolulu Film Awards and the Los Angeles International New Wave Film Festival's Best Performance in an Experimental Film and Honorable Mention in Experimental Film.
Donovan Vim Crony (a.k.a. Donovan Bobo) (MFA Film/Video'08) directed Lazy Mary's video Hangnail [214].
Vanessa Cruz (MFA Experimental Animation '98) was selected to receive a Fulbright Fellowship.
Greg Ercolano (BFA Experimental Animation '86) won the Academy Award for Technical Achievement for the design and engineering of a series of software systems culminating in the Rush render queue management system.
Jessica "Jay" Erker (MFA Film/Video '01) has recently launched WEEKEND, "a new artist-run space dedicated to showing the work of under-represented contemporary artists in Los Angeles and beyond."
Ajah-Denise Fambo -Demarteu (Character Animation '99) recently produced Earth Keepers [215], a documentary short on sustainable business.
Juan Garza (BFA Film/Video '80) presented a live art piece in Irrational Exhibits [216], curated by Deborah Oliver (BFA Dance '79), at Track 16 Gallery.
Aurora Guerrero (MFA Film Directing '99) has written and directed her first feature film, Mosquita Y Mari.
Philip Hall (BFA Film/Video '76) will be participating in Dreams, Angels, Gods, Phantoms, Fish, Cars, and Landscapes exhibition at Uptown Body and Fender in Oakland CA. Opens May 6th 2011.
Dreamworks animator Jennifer Harlow [217] (BFA Character Animation '10) was featured in a recent Mail Tribune article.
Gary Kaskel (Film/Video '74) produced Animal People, The Human Movement in America.
Brooke Keesling (MFA Experimental '99), who has been teaching in Film/Video at CalArts, was just named as Cartoon Network's Manager of Animation Talent Development.
Carol Kim's [218] (MFA Integrated Media/Film/Video '03) multi-media project, "In one ear...and in another" -- iteration #2 – UNPLUGGED was presented at Boston Court Performing Arts Center's Arttalk on March 12, featuring the writings and voices of alumni Doug Kearney (MFA Critical Studies '04; faculty) and Carol Kim, and faculty Mady Schutzman and Alice Tuan. In addition, she was in a performance with Carmina Escobar, In the Window/ En la Ventana, on May 7th at Folly Bowl in Altadena, CA and May 17th at Diapason Gallery [219] in Brooklyn, NY.
A retrospective of [220]Alexis Krasilovsky's [220] (MFA Film/Video '84) work was held at the Gdansk Gallery of Photography, part of the National Museum of Poland on May 5th. She also screened her documentaries "Beale Street" and "Exile" at the American Corner on May 6th. Her feature "Women Behind the Camera" [221] screened at the Neptune Cinema on May7th.
CalArts' Character Animation faculty Dave Lebow [222] (MFA Experimental Animation '00) won Honorable Mention for three works on exhibit at the International Contemporary Drawing Juried Exhibition at Fontbonne University Fine Arts Gallery in St. Louis. His work was also included in Los Angeles' La Luz De Jesus Gallery's Everything But the Kitchen Sync [223] group show March 4-28, 2011.
Yoon Jung Lee's (MFA Film/Video '05) new film, Remember O Goddess [224], will be screened at the 2011 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.
Miwa Matreyek (MFA Experimental Animation '07) screened her short film Grater City [225] at the inaugural Palm Beach Women's International Film Festival, April 7 – 10, 2011.
Mirka Morales (MFA Experimental Animation '94) short film IMUM COELI (bottom of the sky) premieres at the 19th annual Chicago Underground FIlm Festival in June. Her previous short film ELFMADCHEN also premiered at CUFF in 2009 and recieved Best Animation Award.
Mike Ott (BFA Film/Video '03; MFA Film Directing '05) screened his film Littlerock [226]at Royal/T's Cinema Speakeasy in Los Angeles on April 3rd as a benefit for the relief efforts in Japan.
Nick Peterson [227] (BFA Experimental Animation '99), who directed Dark Mind [228](2008) is working on a new animated short film with Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder.
Joanna Priestley (MFA Experimental Animation '85) won First Prize at the USA Film Festival and Second Prize at the Black Maria Film and Video Festival for her film Eye Liner.
Peter Bo Rappmund [229] (MFA Film/Video '10) recently screened his film Psychodrography [230]at the Museum of Modern Art's Documentary Fortnight 2011 and the Korean American Film Festival New York 2011.
Mason Richard's (Film Directing '09) The Seawall [231] will screen at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Engine Room [232]'s president, Daniel Schmit [233](BFA Experimental '89), was featured in an NBC piece on the company's special effects in Soul Surfer.
Director Maneesh Sharma's (MFA Film/Video '04) 2010 romantic comedy [234]Band Baaja Baaraat (Wedding Music Band) won India's 2011 Star Screen, Zee Cine and Filmfare's awards for Best New Director.
Beomsik Shimbe Shim (MFA Experimental Animation '09)won Best Animated Short for his film The Wonder Hospital [235] at the South by Southwest Film Festival.
In October 2010, Bryan Single's (BFA Live Action '97) documentary, Children Of War [236] was the first film to have its World Premiere before world leaders from over 30 countries in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations.
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[17] http://www.cartoonbrew.com/awards/ottawa-winners-hipopotamy-seths-dominion-win-top-prizes-103894.html
[18] http://www.jamproductions.in/node/7
[19] http://thefifthstringplay.com/RSVP
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[22] http://lifesecondchance.com/
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[25] http://www.fitzandthetantrums.com/thewalker
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[28] http://www.theboxla.com
[29] http://traversjacobs.wix.com/nextlevelrealestate
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[31] http://www.redcat.org/event/nowfest-2014-week-two
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[33] http://www.pbs.org/pov/pressroom/2014/pbs-to-present-independent-short-films-from-independent-lens-pov.php
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[35] http://www.pbs.org/filmfestival/videos/7-day-gig/
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[37] http://www.cartoonbrew.com/tv/disney-tries-something-new-with-star-vs-the-forces-of-evil-a-woman-creator-102477.html
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[40] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/movies/in-manakamana-pilgrimages-by-cable-car-to-a-hindu-site.html?_r=1
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[42] http://video.wired.com/watch/teen-technorati-meet-the-2014-thiel-fellowship-finalists
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[44] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejXP6bC8PDc
[45] http://www.bowers.org/
[46] http://www.centerwellbeing.com/
[47] http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/clarence/video/fun-dungeon-face-offpretty-great-day-with-a-girl-episode.html?atclk_hp=hpg_VIDEO_LATEST-EPISODE-_Clarence_CLARENCE
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[52] http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Fried-Walleye-and-Cherry-Pie,675732.aspx
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[58] http://vampirecloudformation.bandcamp.com
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[63] http://www.davidkordanskygallery.com/
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[102] http://new.artsmia.org/
[103] http://www.twincities.com/entertainment/ci_24350494/dome-art-looks-like-astroids-are-bouncing-off
[104] http://www.juliandavidstone.com/works.html
[105] http://www.pythagorasfilm.com/immortal-suspended.html
[106] http://letterboxd.com/film/flower/
[107] http://www.filmlinc.com/nyff2013/films/manakamana
[108] http://www.filmlinc.com/films/on-sale/program-2-travis-wilkerson-los-angeles-red-squad
[109] http://blog.calarts.edu/2013/06/21/alumni-art-collective-the-stuff-presents-ladies-exhibition/
[110] http://www.cellagallery.com/Cella_Gallery/Current.html
[111] http://pilotmountainnews.com/news/news/2394391/Stokes-County-Arts-Council-to-feature-artist-Tony-Craig-in-the-Apple-Gallery
[112] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2369396/
[113] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324823804579016701333363072.html
[114] http://movies.disney.com/planes/
[115] http://www.toacorn.com/news/2013-08-01/Family/TO_resident_the_wind_beneath_Planes_wings.html
[116] http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef
[117] http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/
[118] http://nanditakumar.com/
[119] http://www.thewolverinemovie.com/
[120] http://www.andreapallaoro.com/
[121] http://www.callutheran.edu/rolland/
[122] http://tiff.net/filmsandschedules/festival/2013/shuddhdesiromance
[123] http://www.theboxtrolls.com/
[124] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mjoW1ZDoZM
[125] http://www.artforum.com/picks/section=nyc#picks41801
[126] http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/erika-vogt-stranger-debris-roll-roll-roll
[127] http://www.felixaustriafilm.com/
[128] http://www.hotdocs.ca/
[129] http://vimeo.com/61680188
[130] http://thespiritgame.com/the-film/
[131] http://aafilmfest.org/
[132] http://www.animationmagazine.net/people/an-interview-from-abroad-with-brenda-chapman/
[133] http://www.annecy.org/annecy-2013/festival/presentation
[134] http://vimeo.com/61189804
[135] http://allofmyheroes.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-update-of-sorts.html
[136] http://www.riversidefilmfest.org/events/filmworkshops.php
[137] http://vimeo.com/64014700
[138] http://www.greenleafbookgroup.com/publication/widow-walk/3561
[139] http://www2.bookstore.washington.edu/_events/events_cal.taf?evmonth=05&evyear=2013&eventid=2013042214553800
[140] http://www2.bookstore.washington.edu/_events/events_cal.taf?evmonth=06&evyear=2013&eventid=2013042511553100&pre=20130604&pst=20130620
[141] http://vimeo.com/41369274
[142] http://vimeo.com/42109988
[143] http://vimeo.com/67457641
[144] http://katemarks.net/film/pearl-was-here/
[145] http://blogs.kqed.org/pressroom/2013/03/21/filmschoolshorts/
[146] http://adelinenewmann.wordpress.com/news/
[147] http://www.flickr.com/photos/adelinenewmann/sets/72157633273187948/show/
[148] http://vimeo.com/63874703
[149] http://www.nick.com/shows/sanjay-and-craig
[150] http://www.moholyground.org/reviews.htm?goback=.gmp_46451.gde_46451_member_228476958#opie
[151] http://maurvaproductions.com/
[152] http://www.guyfrog.org/
[153] http://www.olympicpeninsulalaw.com/new/background/
[154] http://lagunaartmuseum.org/allison-schulnik-2/
[155] http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/06/17/192385255/an-adventure-for-kids-and-maybe-for-their-parents-too
[156] http://www.johnwarrenfilms.com/posts/portfolio/poppy-fields-forever/
[157] http://www.imagesfestival.com/
[158] http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/ct-food-0417-trout-20130424,0,6285643.story
[159] https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7SxTyvOixJA#%21
[160] http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://seoulmoa.org/&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dseoul%2Bmuseum%2Bof%2Bart%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DLE8%26tbo%3Dd%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1168%26bih%3D870&sa=X&ei=EDfSUOuSLsWEjAKpj
[161] http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-alexander-mackendrick-20130206,0,4895415.story
[162] http://www.filmindependent.org/
[163] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BX1zOFD9htE
[164] http://vimeo.com/34767742#
[165] http://vimeo.com/40831379
[166] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ifc_ongQFQ&feature=player_embedded
[167] http://www.laurakraning.com/devilsgate.html
[168] http://www.elizahittman.com/index.php?/projects/it-felt-like-love/
[169] http://oscar.go.com/nominees
[170] http://calarts.edu/alumni/notes/in-memoriam
[171] http://benridgway.com/
[172] http://www.awn.com/articles/people/five-artists-creating-new-visions-what-animation-can-be
[173] http://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/meet-paranorman-character-designer-heidi-smith-67775.html
[174] http://www.unomaha.edu/socialwork/legacy.php
[175] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0821100/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
[176] http://calarts.edu/www.maryandernie.com
[177] http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Post-Production-Seminar--Sept-15th--Meet-the-Panel-.html?soid=1103359480367&aid=sGC9WRRUtZQ
[178] http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/movies/pusher-starring-richard-coyle-and-agyness-deyn.html?_r=0
[179] http://www.buildpictures.com/great-expectations/
[180] http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/06/11/tim-burtons-frankenweenie-will-come-alive-as-touring-exhibit/
[181] http://www.pincus-movie.com/
[182] http://tv.disney.go.com/disneychannel/gravityfalls/
[183] http://dcfans.tv/2012/05/23/gravity-falls-premieres-next-month/
[184] http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/movies/2012/06/five-women-animators-who-shook-up-the-industry/
[185] http://www.sfbg.com/2012/05/15/light-meter?page=0,0
[186] https://www.facebook.com/events/305791666167676/
[187] http://www.markmooregallery.com/exhibitions/2012-05-26_allison-schulnik/
[188] http://artinfo.com/news/story/805350/the-tastemaker-cat-obsessed-artist-allison-schulnik-on-her-favorite-feline-platforms-and-red-lipstick
[189] http://bit.ly/KkLt7K
[190] http://calarts.edu/%20http%3A/%252Fbit.ly/KMLLuj
[191] http://aafilmfest.org/50/events/category/films_in_competition
[192] http://www.taylorcrowe.com/
[193] http://www.davelebow.com/
[194] http://whitney.org/Event /LaidaLertxundiScreening
[195] http://calarts.edu/www.huc.edu/museum/ny%20
[196] http://www.unomaha.edu/socialwork/legacy_quilted_conscience.php
[197] http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/ct-food-0404-moroccan-passover-add-20120404,0,1281875.story
[198] http://eyebeam.org/blogs/roddy/announcing-2012-springsummer-residencies-and-2012-fellowships
[199] http://www.deadlinefilm.com/
[200] http://www.brennangriffin.com/exhibitions/view/127
[201] http://swtb.info/infoGallery_01/Gallery_01.html#
[202] http://www.pacificstandardtime.org/
[203] http://inparkmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/11/with-red-sea-astrarium-rgh-dives-into.html
[204] http://www.lauramolina.com/Info.html
[205] http://www.drainedtheshort.com/
[206] http://calarts.edu/www.frogtownmovie.net
[207] http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/21/bakshi-on-todays-cartoons-comics/
[208] http://drivemomcrazy.com/2011/autistic-artistic-carnival-2011-art-work-by-daina-krumins/
[209] http://www.aafilmfest.org/
[210] http://www.valeriebronson.com/biography.shtml
[211] http://yveschery.com/About_Yves.html
[212] http://www.richardcohenfilms.com/goodcat.htm
[213] http://www.ridesharemovie.com/
[214] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJPKTWdhTh4
[215] http://possiblefuturesfilmcontest.org/film_25027508
[216] http://www.track16.com/exhibitions/2011-04-16-ie8/pr.php
[217] http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110324/NEWS/103240317
[218] http://www.bostoncourt.com/events/89/arttalk
[219] http://www.diapasongallery.org/archive/2009/11-05-17.html
[220] http://calarts.edu/www.alexiskrasilovsky.com
[221] http://calarts.edu/www.womenbehindthecamera.com
[222] http://www.fontbonne.edu/infocenter/newsfeatures/article/3634/
[223] http://www.laluzdejesus.com/shows/2011/Kitschen-Sync2011/KitschenSync-index2011.htm
[224] http://vimeo.com/13279246
[225] http://www.pbwiff.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=113:grater-city-animation-sidebar
[226] http://cinemaspeakeasy.com/2011/03/16/t-and-a-movie-presents-littlerock-...
[227] http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/209314516/an-animated-short-film-by-jon-heder-and-nick-peter
[228] http://nxtdream.com/project/feature-film--dark-mind/
[229] http://www.dustinchang.com/search?q=psychohydrography&updated-max=2011-0...
[230] http://www.peterborappmund.name/index.php?/ongoing/the-los-angeles-river/
[231] http://www.scribd.com/doc/55090924/The-Seawall-Cannes-Press-Release-May-9-2011
[232] http://engineroomhollywood.com/
[233] http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Small-LA-Effects-Company-Helps-Bring-Surfers-Story-to-Big-Screen-119446979.html
[234] http://www.filmfare.com/details.php?id=2080
[235] http://www.shimbe.com/#
[236] http://www.childrenofwarfilm.com/