KCET's Annual 'Fine Cut' Student Film Festival Honors Filmmakers From Eight Schools, Premiering January 17
Five-Week Series to Showcase Student
Films
from
AFI, CalArts, Chapman University, Columbia College Hollywood, Idyllwild Arts
Academy,
Loyola Marymount University, UCLA and
USC
Los Angeles, Calif. - January 09, 2013 - KCET, along with
the Bridges/Larson
and Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundations, presentsFine Cut: KCET's Annual Festival of Student
Films
, honoring filmmakers from eight renowned schools across Southern California. The five-week series willshowcase some of the finest documentaries, comedic, dramatic and animated
shorts by students. The series begins Jan. 17, 2013 at 9 p.m. during KCET's
arts and culture series, Open Call
hosted by Suzanna Guzmán. Many of the winning short films can also be streamed
online at kcet.org/finecut.
This
season's participating student filmmakers hail from American Film Institute
(AFI), California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Chapman University, Columbia
College Hollywood, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Loyola Marymount University (LMU),
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and University of Southern
California (USC).
"We're excited to offer another year of exceptional films
from talented Southern California student filmmakers," said Bohdan Zachary, vice president of Broadcasting,
Syndication and Program Development for KCET, who serves as executive producer
of the annual series. "A KCET mainstay for many years, the Fine Cut series contiues to deliver groundbreaking stories that
showcase the human spirit in triumph and adversity."
Fine Cut: KCET's Festival of Student Films,
kicks-off on Thursday, Jan. 17 with Kiss Me directed by Jules Nurrish of
UCLA. The film tells the story of Kid Vargas, a boxer who is forced to face
some devastating truths after he kills his opponent in the ring.Caterwaul
directed by Ian Samuels of CalArts and Homecoming directed by ChapmanUniversity's Gursimran Sandhu will also air on the series' first night.
Fine Cut is made possible by the Bridges/Larson Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting programs that serve film students. Fine Cut is also sponsored by the Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation, which supports young artists and community arts programs.
Films
are chosen by professors and submitted to KCET for final selection. Fine Cut showcases films as diverse as
the students who make them. Projects
making the final cut have ranged from nail-biting suspense to gut-wrenching
stories of love and loss.
Often,
Fine Cut represents the television
debut of a student's work- which has led to other opportunities. In 2009, for
example, UCLA's Hezekiah Lewis thesis film,Warrior
Queen
, featured on Fine Cut, ledto funding for a feature-length version of the film that is currently in
production.
Detailed
information about all of the film shorts in this year's series is available at
kcet.org/finecut, which includes filmmaker biographies, film synopses, video
streaming and discussion boards. Below, please find a complete list of films
and scheduled airdates:
JANUARY 17, 2013
KISS ME
Jules Nurrish, UCLA
CATERWAUL
Ian
Samuels, CalArts
HOMECOMING
Gursimran Sandhu,
Chapman University
JANUARY 24, 2013
SHOOT THE MOON
Alexander Gaeta, Chapman University
DREAMS - A TRAYVON
MARTIN STORY
Isidor Pollak, LMU
CANTO DE FAMILIA
Lindsey Villarreal, USC
WILL
Eusong Lee, CalArts
JANUARY 31, 2013
A DOCTOR'S JOB
Julio O. Ramos, UCLA
MOTHER'S MILK
Andrew DeJohn, USC
HOLD FOR LAUGHS
Amy French, AFI
LADIES KNIGHT
Joe Rothenberg, USC
FEBRUARY
7, 2013
TENGO MIEDO
Pepe Albornoz, Columbia College Hollywood
FIASCO
Nadia Hamzeh, Chapman University
COUNTERFEITERS
Bryce Hirschberg, LMU
FEBRUARY
14, 2013
88 MILES TO MOSCOW
Karen Gleinke, UCLA
INK & PAPER
Ben Proudfoot, USC
A FAMILY LIKE MINE
Katherine 'Tia' Kearns, Idyllwild Arts Academy
About The Bridges/Larson Foundation
The
Bridges/Larson Foundation was created by filmmaking collaborators James Bridges
and Jack Larson in 1992, just before Bridges' death. The writer and director of
films such as Urban Cowboy and The China Syndrome, Bridges was
passionate about encouraging educators to train the next generation of
filmmakers. Actor and producer Jack Larson--perhaps best known as cub reporter
Jimmy Olsen on the 1950s TV version of Superman--has
upheld Bridges' vision by consistently funding programs that serve film
students. In addition to supportingFine
Cut
, the Bridges/Larson Foundation has made major donations to the UCLASchool of Theatre, Film and Television and the UCLA Film and Television
Archive.
Over
the years, the foundation has expanded its purview beyond film-education
programs. Larson is especially proud of funding AIDS research and a local
organization called Lamp Community, which works to end homelessness.
About The Lloyd E.
Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation
Lloyd
Eugene Rigler, a California industrialist, and investor, Lawrence E. Deutsch in
the early 1950s, created the Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation. The Foundation is an innovative venture that
helped make the matching funds concept a powerful fundraising tool. The Foundation
contributed to the creation of the Los Angeles Music Center and the John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. Mr. Rigler created Classic Arts Showcase, a free television service designed to bring
the classic arts experience to the largest audience possible by providing video
clips of the arts. KCET is proud to air
Classic Arts Showcase on KCET HD.
About KCET
On-air, online and in the
community, KCET plays a vital role in the cultural and educational enrichment
of Southern and Central California. KCET offers a wide range of award-winning
local programming as well as the finest public television programs from around
the world. KCET currently produces the Emmy®, duPont-Columbia and Peabody
Award-winning SoCal Connected, a hard-hitting prime-time nightly
television news program that examines the issues and people of Southern
California. Throughout its 48-year history, KCET has won hundreds of major
awards for its local and regional news and public affairs programming, its
national drama and documentary productions, its quality educational family and
children's programs, its outreach and community services and its website, kcet.org.
KCET is a donor-supported community institution. For additional information
about KCET productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and
community events, please visit kcet.org.
About AFI
AFI is America's promise to
preserve the history of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work
and to educate the next generation of storytellers. AFI
provides leadership in film, television and digital media and is dedicated to
initiatives that engage the past, the present and the future of the moving
image arts.
AFI educates the next generation of storytellers at its AFI Conservatory, which has been
consistently recognized as one of the world's top film schools, boasting alumni
including Darren Aronofsky, Patty Jenkins, Janusz KamiÅ?ski, Heidi Levitt,
Matthew Libatique, David Lynch, Terrence Malick, Wally Pfister, Robert
Richardson, Ed Zwick and so many more.
AFI Conservatory offers a two-year Master of Fine Arts degree in six
filmmaking disciplines: Cinematography,
Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design and Screenwriting. Aspiring artists learn from the masters in a
collaborative, hands-on production environment with an emphasis on
storytelling.
About
CalArts
CalArts is ranked America's
number one college for students in the arts by Newsweek/The Daily Beast.
With its six related schools: Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music
and Theater, CalArts is unique in its multidisciplinary approach to studying
the arts and was one of the first schools in the country to offer a program in
World Music for performance. CalArts encourages students to recognize and
explore the complexity of the aesthetic, social and political aspects of the
arts. It is supported by its distinguished faculty of practicing artists
and provides its BFA, MFA and DMA students with both hands-on training and
engagement with the cultural community necessary for artists' growth. CalArts
was founded in 1961--and opened in 1969--as the first institution of higher
learning in the U.S. specifically for students interested in pursuing degrees
exclusively in the visual and performing arts.
About
Chapman University, Lawrence and Kristina Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
One of the premier
film schools in the country, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts offers
students the unique opportunity to learn filmmaking in a hands-on environment
modeled on a working studio. The college is comprised of the
Sodaro-Pankey Undergraduate School of Film and Media Arts, offering degrees in film production,
creative producing, television and broadcast journalism,
public relations and advertising,
and digital arts;
and the graduate Conservatory of Motion Pictures, offering M.F.A. degrees
in film production,
film and television producing,
and screenwriting,
and an M.A. in film studies.
Two joint M.F.A. degrees in producing are also offered in conjunction with the
business (M.F.A./M.B.A.)
and law (M.F.A./J.D.)
schools. Dodge College is housed in Marion Knott Studios, a state-of-the-art,
76,000-square-foot studio and classroom building that provides students with
24-hour access to sound stages, edit bays, Dolby surround mixing, a motion
capture stage and more. With an Oscar and Emmy-award winning full-time
faculty that boasts more feature film credits than any other film school, Dodge
College is where students learn the entertainment business from the inside out.
About Columbia College Hollywood
Columbia
College Hollywood is a Tarzana-based 60-year old nationally accredited
not-for-profit film school offering BFA degrees with emphases in directing,
producing, cinematography, writing, and editing/VFX. Alumni of CCH include directors Robert
Schwentke (Red), Salim Akil (Jumping The Broom and Sparkle), Jaume Collett-Serra
(Orphan), Timonthy Linh Bui ( Power Blue) and Barry Cook (Mulan).
About Idyllwild Arts
Idyllwild Arts is a prestigious
arts institution that was founded in 1950 with its renowned Summer
Program. It is the only intensely focused boarding arts high school on
the West Coast. Idyllwild Arts is set on 205-forested acres in the picturesque
mountain village of Idyllwild, only a short 2-hour drive from the Los Angeles
region. Idyllwild Arts offers both academic and arts education in all of
the arts including Music, Theatre, Dance, Visual Art, Creative Writing,
Moving Pictures, InterArts and Fashion Design. The
Idyllwild Summer Program features a diverse range of arts courses for all ages
which feature hands-on workshops in music, dance, visual arts, writing,
filmmaking and Native Arts.
About LMU School of Film and
Television
Movie
industry moguls helped establish Loyola Marymount University's (LMU) current
campus on the bluffs above west Los Angeles in the 1920s. By 1964, LMU was
formally teaching film and television curriculum, and in 2001, the School of
Film and Television (SFTV) was established as its own entity. Today, SFTV offers students a comprehensive
education where mastering technical skills and story is equally important to
educating the whole person, including the formation of character and values,
meaning and purpose. SFTV offers undergraduate degrees in animation,
production, screenwriting, film and television studies and recording arts; and
graduate degrees in production, screenwriting and writing and producing
fortelevision. The school is one of the few film programs providing students
with a completely tapeless model of production and post-production, and SFTV's
animation program is one of the only in the world teaching virtual
cinematography. Selected alumni include John Bailey, Bob Beemer, Francie Calfo,
Brian Helgeland, Francis Lawrence, Lauren Montgomery, Jack Orman, Van Partible
and James Wong, among others. Get more information at sftv.lmu.edu or
facebook.com/lmusftv.
About UCLA School of Theater, Film and
Television
The
vision of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television is to serve as a
premier global interdisciplinary professional school that develops outstanding
humanistic storytellers, industry leaders and scholars whose diverse,
innovative voices enlighten, engage and inspire change for a better world.
Consistently ranked as one of the top elite entertainment and performing arts
institutions in the world, the School offers an innovative curriculum that
integrates the study and creation of live performance, film, television and the
digital arts. Our distinguished graduate and undergraduate programs include
acting, directing, writing, producing, animation, cinematography, and lighting
design, set design, costume design, sound design, Moving Image Archive Studies,
and offers PhDs in Theater and Performance Studies and Cinema & Media
Studies. For more information, visit www.tft.ucla.edu.
About USC School of Cinematic Arts
Founded
in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1929 over
80 years ago, the USC School of Cinematic Arts
has fueled and mirrored the growth of entertainment as an industry and
an art form. The school offers comprehensive programs in directing, producing,
writing, critical studies, animation and digital arts, production, and
interactive media, all backed by a broad liberal arts education and taught by
leading practitioners in each field. USC was voted the #1 game design school in
North America for its graduate and undergraduate Degree programs by the
Princeton Review and GamePro Magazine for three consecutive years.
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