News

The 24th annual UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Film Festival will unveil a week of screenings, panels and awards presentations beginning Friday, June 5, through Wednesday, June 10, and for the first time, the festival will take place in its entirety at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT).

Opening Night of the event, which is presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Kanbar Entertainment, kicks off at the James Bridges Theater. The following day, Saturday, June 6, is jam-packed with activity as the Cinema and Media Studies Presentation takes place in the Darren Star Screening Room and the Festival of Animation takes place in the James Bridges Theater. Acme Filmworks' founder and UCLA TFT alumnus Ron Diamond will receive the Crystal Anvil Award during the Festival of Animation.

On Monday, June 8, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Graham Moore (The Imitation Game) will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award at the Screenwriters Showcase. Additionally, 13 student winners — whose scripts were selected by a committee of more than 200 industry professionals — will present five-minute staged excerpts of their works. In the feature category, the winning graduate students include: Jessica Dube (Baseline), Wyatt Cain (Exnapped), 
Bo Yeon Kim (The Last Rocket Home), Jane Miller (Exposure Therapy), Shoshana Sachidhanandam (No Hell Below Us) and Daniel Sanchez (Yours Truly). In the TV Comedy category, they include: Kynan Dias (The Odds), Nancee Farrar (Team Keegan) and Stephen Peltier (Spade Files). Emily Bensinger (Harridans), 
Steven Canals (Hope Projects) and Kiley Donovan (Life of Riley) are winners in the TV Drama category. Daniela Mayock (City of Scars) is the first-place undergraduate winner.

Three-time Academy Award-nominated producer Michael DeLuca (Captain Phillips, Moneyball, The Social Network) will be honored with the Vision Award during Producers Marketplace on Tuesday, June 9. Graduate students Ben Haigh, Brian Patrick Runt and Melody Sandoval will also pitch their feature film and TV projects to a panel of top-tier industry judges including Fox 21 Television Studios' Jane Francis, Sony Pictures Television's Marie Jacobson and Dark Toy Entertainment's Todd Holland.

Directors Spotlight takes place on Wednesday, June 10, the last night of the festival. Cinematographer Mandy Walker, ACS, ASC (Jane Got a Gun), will be receiving the Champion Spirit Award. Nine films chosen by UCLA TFT students and a Blue Ribbon Jury of industry professionals, including producers Cassian Elwes and Bobby Moresco, will be shown to receive a Spotlight Award. The graduate student directors whose films have been chosen include Chris Borey (At Falling Rock), Heather Collins (The Walker), Sam Grinberg (Heart-Ache), Sarah Jean Kruchowski (Everytime I Look at These Frozen Waffles I Think of You), Iyabo Kwayana (Macarrao), Thanos Papastergiou (Dead Man Dating), Jerell Rosales (Britney-holics Anonymous: A Spear-itual Awakening), Yangzi She (Eggplant) and Joe Statom (Backseat Full of Weird)

24th Annual Film Festival at a Glance

Friday, June 5
Opening Night
7:30 p.m.
James Bridges Theater

The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Film Festival kicks off with Opening Night, a highly anticipated event featuring selected student films, both graduate and undergraduate, animation and live-action. Each film has been screened and voted on by a panel of student peers. The resulting lineup represents some of the most original and thought-provoking work the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television has to offer.

Saturday, June 6

Cinema and Media Studies Presentation
2:00 p.m.
Darren Star Screening Room

A selection of graduate student work from Cinema and Media Studies will be presented and will include excerpts from the dissertations and recently published books of UCLA TFT doctoral students.

Festival of Animation
7:00 p.m.
James Bridges Theater

The Festival of Animation has been a tradition since 1959. The UCLA TFT Animation Workshop promotes a "one person, one film" philosophy, allowing the animators to realize their concepts independently. The works screened at the Festival of Animation represent a diverse swath of animation mediums, styles, techniques, and ultimately, the lives and backgrounds of students in the program.

Sunday, June 7

IDM Sneak Peek
12:00-8:00 p.m.
TV Studio 3 (1462A Melnitz Hall)

This interactive installation is a preview of Interactive Digital Media senior thesis projects that will be unveiled Saturday, June 13 at the Engage L.A. Show in Downtown Los Angeles (see below).

New Works Program Screenings #1
1-3 p.m.
James Bridges Theater

New Works Program Screenings #2
4-6 p.m.
James Bridges Theater

New Works Program Screenings #3
7-10 p.m.
James Bridges Theater

The New Works Program features short films from UCLA TFT filmmakers and animators, both graduate and undergraduate. The films screened at this event embody the bold, original storytelling tradition that the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television has fostered for decades.

Monday, June 8
Screenwriters Showcase
7:30 p.m.
James Bridges Theater
Honoree: Graham Moore

The competition for graduate screenwriting candidates celebrates entertainment's newest crop of screenwriting talent. Thirteen student finalists will present five-minute staged excerpts of their works.

Tuesday, June 9
Producers Marketplace
7:30 p.m.
James Bridges Theater
Honoree: Michael DeLuca

Three graduate students from the distinguished UCLA TFT Producers Program will go before a live audience to present their feature film projects to a panel of top-tier industry judges, and then field questions from the judges about their projects and financing strategy.

Wednesday, June 10
Directors Spotlight
7:30 p.m.
Freud Theater

This event showcases nine films chosen to receive a coveted Spotlight Award. The films, which have emerged through several rounds of judging by UCLA TFT students, as well as a blue ribbon jury of industry professionals, are among the most exciting works the festival has to offer.

Saturday, June 13, 2015
Engage L.A. Show
2:00 p.m.
Interpretive Media Laboratory, Downtown Los Angeles

The Engage L.A. show is a collection of physically interactive and immersive media works about the city, created by UCLA TFT undergraduate students in the Interpretive Digital Media concentration, as part of the Engage L.A. initiative, designed for the new Los Angeles State Historic Park. Presented by the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, the UCLA TFT Skoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment and the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Produced by UCLA REMAP, Interpretive Media Laboratory.

Posted: May 13, 2015