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Academy Award-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Adam McKay, producer Joe Roth and veteran animator Emily Hubley were honored at its 25th Annual Film Festival, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Kanbar Entertainment. The festival took place June 5-9, 2016 at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television and the Directors Guild of America.

Six-time Academy Award winner Coppola, one of the most influential and innovative filmmakers of our time, was honored with the Distinguished Vanguard Director Award during the M.F.A. Directors Spotlight on Thursday, June 9. As the maverick founder of his company American Zoetrope, Coppola personally initiated and nourished the careers of talents such as George Lucas, Carroll Ballard, John Milius, daughter Sofia Coppola, granddaughter Gia Coppola, son Roman Coppola, and actors including Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, James Caan, Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfus, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Matt Dillon and Diane Lane. Zoetrope-produced films, including such classics as The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974) and Apocalypse Now (1979), have received 16 Academy Awards and 70 nominations. In addition to his Oscar statuettes, in 2011 Coppola received the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. He is also the recipient of Golden Globe, BAFTA, DGA and WGA Awards, and earned two Palme d'Or prizes from the Cannes Film Festival, for The Conversation (1974) and Apocalypse Now.

A writer, director, producer and sketch comedian, McKay received the Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award during the Screenwriters Showcase on Monday, June 6. The Big Short (2015), which he directed and wrote with Charles Randolph, won the Academy Award, WGA Award and BAFTA Award for Adapted Screenplay. McKay was also nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA in the directing category. McKay has written more than 80 episodes of NBC's Saturday Night Live. Healso worked on the screenplay for Marvel's superhero hit Ant-Man (2015) and has collaborated with actor-comedian Will Ferrell on several successful comedies including The Other Guys (2010); Step Brothers (2008); Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006); and Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), his feature directorial debut. With Ferrell and Chris Henchy, he founded Funny or Die Presents, an Emmy-winning comedy video website and film and TV production company that has been a pioneer of online content in the digital age. McKay, who co-founded the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles, is also a three-time Emmy Award nominee for his work on SNL, Comedy Central's Drunk History and the HBO special Will Ferrell: You're Welcome America — A Final Night with George W Bush.

Roth was honored with the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television & Producers Guild of America Vision Award during Producers Marketplace on Tuesday, June 7. Over the course of his career, Roth has produced more than 50 films, directing six. His most recent producing credits include the global blockbusters Alice in Wonderland (2010) and its sequel, Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016); Maleficent (2014); Oz the Great and Powerful (2013); Snow White and the Huntsman (2012); and Knight and Day (2010); as well as family movies Miracles from Heaven (2015) and Million Dollar Arm (2014). Roth was chairman of 20th Century Fox from 1989 to 1993 and chairman of Walt Disney Studios from 1994 to 2000. Between 2000 and 2007 he ran his own mini-major, Revolution Studios.

Hubley was honored with the Crystal Anvil Award during the Festival of Animation on Wednesday, June 8, which honors outstanding contributions to the world of animation. A daughter of pioneer animators Faith and John Hubley, Emily Hubley has been making short animated films for more than 30 years, including Pigeon Within (2000), and/or (2012) and Write Back (2014). Her feature The Toe Tactic (2009) had its theatrical premiere at New York's Museum of Modern Art. In addition to making short films and commissioned works, Hubley contributed animation to the films Danny Says (2015), Vessel (2014), William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe (2009), Blue Vinyl (2002), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), and was an animation writer for Life, Animated (2016). Hubley worked at The Hubley Studio from 1977 to 2001.

Student films from many notable alumni have showcased at the annual UCLA TFT festival including Shane Acker (9); Dustin Lance Black (Milk, J. Edgar); Gil Kenan (Monster House, Poltergeist); Justin Lerner (The Automatic Hate); Justin Lin (Fast & Furious franchise) and Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights, The Secret Life of Bees), among others.

Posted: June 8, 2016