MFA in Film and MFA in Playwriting Alumn Alumna, Chantal Bilodeau, wins first prize in Uprising National Playwriting Competition at the University of Calgaryfor her play SILA . The award comes with a $1000 cash prize and a rehearsed public reading of the play at the University of Calgary on Friday, December 9 at 7:30pm Ryan Wilson's film Ad Noctum, has been accepted to 10 festivals including Coney Island Film Festival, Shockerfest International Film Festival, NewFilmmakers New York, Wanderings Film Festival, Thriller! Chiller! Film Festival, Glen Rose Neo-Relix Film Festival Third year MFA thesis student, Bilal Sami, completed principal photography on his feature film. Visit the Lavender Rocks Facebook Group to see photos and comments from the cast and crew.. Emminent Professor in Film, Rajko Grlic's film Just Between Us has been announced as the winner of Best Inernational Feature at the Raindance Film Festival in the United Kingdom. The Hollywood Reporter announces the award, describing the festival as one "which aims to focus on discoveries, innovaton and indie filmmaking". Professor Annie Howell's first feature film, Small, Beautifully Moving Parts, has received the 2011 2011 Albert P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the Hamptons International Festival!! Additionally, the film will play the following fall festivals: Hamptons International Festival Follow the film's latest press on Facebook. Saturday, October 1, 2011, 7:30 PM at the Athena Cinema,the OU School of Film presents an evening of TWELVE FILMS, the collective work of the MFA Class of 2013 as they complete their first year. Films by Neha Belvalkar, Jordan Sommerlad, Lindo Mnyandu, Zac Wells, Rowena Pedrena, Neferkaari Mitchell, Leah Li, Patsie Varkados, Matt Fillmore, Tim Jackson, Shay Willard and Gavin Farnsworth. Admission is FREE. Presented by the Ohio University School of Film and Arts for Ohio. Beloved Assistant Professor and Facilities Manager, Jack Wright, retired this year from the University. An actor, documentary filmmaker,and musician, he was a founding member of Appalshop and recently produced Music Of Coal: Mining Songs From the Appalachian Coalfields, a two CD anthology and a spoken word CD. Amy Taylor's Film Deadman was just acceted to the LA Comedy Festival. Alumni Megan Griffiths and Todd Rohal discussed making their feature films their films The Off Hours and Catechism Cataclysm in a private seminar with SOF students this past weekend. The Athens International Film and Video Festival begins Friday April 22. The festival has presented independent films from around the world since 1974. This year's festival features a number of films by School of Film students. Acceptance of OU student films is determined by an outside panel of judges. The SOF student films accepted to the festival include: Thomas Bangert's Significant Others and Handjob Matt Brunson's S.W.I.M. Danillo Cortez's Dreams and Nightmares Bryan Zahm's See Wall Riley Gibson's The Brick Street Jugglers Ben Guenther's Altifla Alkabira Juan Guerrero's I Hope She Likes it Jenny Robert's The Pedicab Driver Josh Young's You can do it, Phil Patsie Varkados's Playground, Whole and Debutante's Ball Award winner filmmaker Goran Rusinovic visited the School of Film the week of April 11. Goran conducted a storyboarding workshop with the first and second year film classes. He also held one on one sessions with students. In addition a screening of his film Buick Riviera was held on Tuesday April 12. Here is an interview with Goran about Buick Riveria at the Cannes Film Festival. Since January 2011 over 20 different film projects have been shot in the school of film including: Mike Gray and Matt Brunson's thesis webisode series LJ's Trip which was shot using green screen and the EX3 High Definition camera (Stills from Mike and Matt's shoot on Flickr.) Sajjad Haider's thesis film Night of a Carnival was shot on the Canon 5D HD camera (Stills from Sajjad's shoot) Ben Guenther's second year film Caprice was shot using Fuji REALA 500D 16mm color negative (Stills from Ben's shoot.) Josh Young's second year film Burial shot on the Red HD camera (Stills from Josh's shoot.) Jenny Robert's second year film was shot on the Canon 7D HD camera (Stills from Jenny's shoot on Facebook.) Shay Willard's first year film, a musical called Eugene Steals the Show, was shot on an Arriflex 16 SR II, on black and white reversal film (Stills from Shay's shoot.) Rowena Pedrena's film 2, A Particular Friendship, was shot on the Arriflex 16 SRII using black and white reversal (Stills from Rowena's shoot.) Professor Annie Howell's feature Small, Beautifully MOVING PARTS review on the AOLMoviefone/ Cinematical, and Bitch Magazine.Her interview on Texas Public Radio, and mentions in the New York Times and Variety. All in regards to the premier at South by Southwest, which praise the film's use of technology and female protagonists. Follow the film's latest press on Facebook. The Athens International Film + Video Festival, organized by Professor Ruth Bradley, will be held April 22 - 28th and feature near 200 filmmakers. Alumni Todd Rohal and Megan Griffinths will be in town with The Catechism Cataclysm, which was recently bought by IFC Midnight as well as Griffinths feature, The Off Hours. Alumni Danilo Serbedzija will also be returning for a visit to screen his feature film 72 Days, along with actor Rade Serbedzija in attendance. Visiting Artist Goran Rusinovic, an award winning filmmaker, will be holding a two day storyboarding workshop April 12th and 13th. James Benning, a filmmaker and Professor at CalArts, will be a Visiting Artist on April 24th. Professor Annie Howell's first feature film, Small, Beautifully MOVING PARTS was selected for one of eight spots in the Narrative Competition at South by Southwest out of 1,400 films. Various graduate students received credit in the film. Independent documentary filmmaker Steve Gebhardt spoke to students on March 9 about his career as an independent filmmaker, and the current state of that life choice. Steve has made films with the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Bill Munroe (the father of bluegrass music), and a plethora of other musicians and reprobates. He also produced Twenty to Life: The Life and Times of John Sinclair documenting a seminal cultural revolutionary of the 60s/70s (OU Assistant Professor Tom Hayes edited this film). Brian Zahm was an instructor at the University of Guyana teaching a class in ECO-TOURISM DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION. He will return to teach in the Spring through a large grant from the President of Guyana and with his directive, the goal is to help start a narrative film industry Akron/Family's newest music video, created by Matt Brunson, Mike Gray, and Chris Lange (MFA 2011), was reviewed by SPIN magazine. Jenny Roberts film, The Pedicab Driver, was selected to be screened at the Green Bay Film Festival and at the Alabama Student Film Festival. Todd Rohal (HTC 1999) and Megan Griffiths (MFA 2001) both have features in Sundance. Todd's film (his second feature) is The Catechism Cataclysm. Megan's feature film (also, her second feature) is The Off Hours. On January 26th alumna of the class of 2003 School of Film, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, spoke to assembled students about being a filmmaker after graduation and her production company Pinata Productions. Chris Luccy (MFA 2003) gets writing credit on the Wednesday, January 19th episode of Better On November 9th Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath presented their film "Enemies of the People: A Personal Journey into the Heart of the Killing Fields" in Mitchell Auditorium. The evening was cosponsored by the Southeast Asian Studies Program and the School of Film. Tom Comerford, experimental filmmaker and instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago presented his work at the Athena Cinema on October 3, 2010. The three films shown included "Depart", "Land Marked/Marquette" and "The Indian Boundary Line".
A Night of First-Year MFA Short Films was presented on Saturday, October 9th at the Athena Cinema. Eleven short films were shown by students currently in their second year of study. A synopsis of the event can be viewed on the Athens News website.
MA ’81 Dr. Diane Carson has received the Distinguished Alumni Award for 2010. She will be holding an informal roundtable discussion on October 1st in room 390 of Lindley Hall. She was the President of the University Film and Video Association from 2008 – 2010 and created the book, John Sayles: Interviews, among many other accomplishments. She received her MA from the School of Film in 1981. MFA Thesis Candidate, Amy Taylor, made it to the semi-finals at the Austin Film Festival, Screenplay Competition, with her spec script of 'It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’. MFA Thesis Candidates, Damiano Cinque and Danilo Cortes, both received substantial grants through the Student Enhancement Award funds for their thesis film projects. Rajko Grlic won the Best Director award and the Europa Cinemas Label award at the 45th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for his new film, Just Between Us.
The Athens Film Festival runs from April 23rd to 29th with films showing from 11 am to midnight. Thanks to MA students: Dustin Collins, Ellen Chang, Cody Barber, Daniel Caabeiro, David Haugen, Jacob Shoaf, Eric Pepple and all others who assisted Ruth Bradley in preparing for the 2010 Athens Film Festival.
Congratulations to Professor Jeanette Buck (Lie Together), Professor Annie Howell (Tia & Marco), first year MFA student Alvaro Sarmiento ( La Oroya: Aire Metalico),, second year MFA student Fernando Salinas (Intimacy), and Lin LIng (Let People Talk, thesis canidates Danilo Cortes (The Crocodile and the Flower) and Brian Zahm (Juice)for their respective screenings in the Athens Film Festival 2010. School of Film Alumni were well represented at the 2010 Athens Film Festival; Jeremy Moss (Give Me a Dream), Mark Sewards (Whereabouts Unknown), Simon Tarr (Giri Chit), Andrew Barrow (Cold War), Tommy Britt (Stewart Summer), and Skatetopia (crewed by SOF alum). Tia & Marco, a short directed by Assistant Professor Annie Howell will be screened at SXSW film festival in March, as part of the FutureStates programming. FutureStates, is an ITVS dramatic online series that explores visions of life in a future America. The Ohio University College of Fine Arts is pleased to present, as part of its “Arts for Ohio” Cinematheque Series, a Retrospective of the films of Rajko Grlic, Eminent Scholar in Film. Films will be screened nightly at the Athena Cinema from February 12th to the 18th. His films have been distributed all around the world and shown in competition at many major film festivals. They have received more then fifty international awards including the Tokyo International Film Festival "Grand Prix" and "Best Director." Just Between Us is his forthcoming film. A complete synopsis of his films can be viewed online, or by obtaining the book, "The Films of Rajko Grlic: Movies About Love, Sex, Revolution, War and Other Consequential Things". The book contains commentary on Rajko Grlic's life and was authored in conjunction with the retrospective by Ruth Bradley. MFA Alumni Melissa Forte's thesis documentary, Sam Jones, The Heart of Glouster, screened at Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville on January 23rd to a full house. A synopsis of the film can be viewed on the Athens Messenger. The Ohio University School of Film and Arts for Ohio present a Night of Short Films, January 30th from 7:30 to 9:30. Screening at the Baker Center Theatre. Featuring films by 2nd Year M.F.A. graduate students:
Be the first to see new work by this talented group of filmmakers. MFA student Pradeep Edussuriya will be screening his thesis film, Beautiful People, at the Baker University Center Theater on Saturday, Nov. 21st at 6 pm. Pradeep's experimental narrative will be shown with, Rising, a thesis film by Chad Bartlett from the School of Visual Communications. MFA student Alvaro Sarmiento's documentary, La Oroya: Aire Metalico, won the Audience Award for Best Short Film at the Sydney Latin American Film Festival 2009. M.A. student Seth Kim has been busy recently making the rounds of academic conferences. He presented "My Own Terminator! The Use of Toys in the Marketing of Terminator 2 to Children and Teens" at the The Midwest Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association in Detroit (October 2009); he presented "Keeping The Dragon Alive: The Commodification, Mythologization, and Mummification of Bruce Lee's Star Image" at The Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association in New York (October 2009); he presented "You Understand Why I Have to Kill You, Right? Constructions of Alternative South Korean Nationalism in Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" at the Joint East Asian Studies, Sheffield, United Kingdom (September 2009). A new book, Mechanical Witness, A History of Motion Picture Evidence in U.S. Courts, by OU Assistant Prof. Louis-Georges Schwartz, has been published by the Oxford University Press. Mechanical Witness is the first cultural and legal history charting the changing role and theoretical implications of film and video use as courtroom evidence. M.A. student Chi Wang presented "On Self-Therapy Documentary: My Architect: A Son's Journey as Example" at 2009 Joint Conference of the National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations in New Orleans. MFA student Derrick Jones was hired as the Assistant Director of The Arts Village and Instructor in Film at Bowling Green State University. Alumni Josh Hyde and his feature film, Postales, were one of ten project chosen to participate in the 2009 Independent Filmmaker Lab. Sponsored by IFP, the Lab is a highly immersive, free mentorship program for low-budget ($1 million) first feature films that have shot all or a substantial amount of footage but have not completed post-production. Josh recently screened Postales at the Athens International Film and Video Festival. Read his blog: MFA student Derrick Jones recently returned from the Cannes Film Festival in France as part of the American Pavilion's Cannes Film Program. MFA student Majdi Ammari’s film “The Cross” received the Best in Show award in the College Division of the 2009 Action! Student Film Festival. MFA student Derrick Jones' film "631" is an Official Selection of the 2009 Ohio Independent Film Festival in Cleveland, OH MFA student Sven Latzki's film "Dog Days of Winter" is an Official Selection of the 2009 Santa Cruz Film Festival and the Motion Film Festival in Tampa, FL. MFA Student Kevin Stock's film "The Wishingbone" is an Official Selection of the 7th annual Garden State Film Festival and the 6th annual Lake County Film Festival. MFA Student Benjamin Pascoe's film "Empathy" is an Official Selection of the 33rd annual Cleveland International Film Festival. The School of Film will showcase the second year films of the current third year class at the Athena Cinema, Downtown Athens on Friday, January 23 and Sunday, January 25 at 7:30pm. Different films will be shown each night. View the programs here. Read more about the Ohio University Student experience in Croatia on the set of Rajko Grlic's film "Just Between Us" here. MFA Student Derrick Jones has been selected to participate in the Cannes Film Program offered by the American Pavilion and will travel to France for the festival in May 2009. MFA Students Usame Tunagur's film "Big Black Good Man" and Derrick Jones' film "631" are Official Selections of the 2009 San Diego Black FIlm Festival and the 2009 Texas Black Film Festival. MFA student Luke Ostrowski's film "Leftovers" is an Official Selection of the 2009 Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City, Nevada. Rajko Grlic is in production in Croatia on his new feature, “Just Between Us.” Click here for the "making of" video. MFA students - Anja Jovanovic, Sven Latzke, and Kevin Stock - have just spent three weeks on the set of Rajko's movie “Just Between Us” Veiw PHOTO 1 - PHOTO 2 In October, at the 2008 Midwest Pop Culture Association in Cincinnati, second-year M.A. students Seth Kim and Jonathan Knipp presented "Just Like Us: Asian American Assimilation in Harold and Kumar go to White Castle" and "Fragments of Todd Haynes' Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story" respectively. In November, at the 2008 Biennial Film and History Conference in Chicago, Seth's talk was "Fathers of a Nation: Race Representation, Nationalism, and Cosmetic Multiculturalism in Mike Takashi's Dead or Alive: Final" and Jonathan's talk was "Any Old Iron: Spielberg and the Working Class in Artificial Intelligence: A.I." Akil Houston - OU SOF MFA graduate, Visiting Instructor in OU's African-American Studies Department - just awarded his Ph.D. in Cultural Studies in Education from Ohio University. Alumni Matthew Kraus, Charla Baker and Mariana Quiroga's film "How Ohio Pulled It Off" had its United States Television premiere Monday, October 6th at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the Documentary Channel. The film is now on sale on DVD here. Alum Eran Preis, Associate Professor Temple University, has received the College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni Award in Film for 2008. The historic Athena Cinema re-opens under the ownership of Ohio University and the management of the Athens Center for Film and Video in the College of Fine Arts. Read more about it here. Derrick Jones is featured in articles in The Post and the Youngstown Vindicator for his recent grant award winnings. Derrick Jones has been awarded the 2008 Documentary Graduate Film Scholarship from The Princess Grace Foundation-USA to assist with the financeing of his thesis film. Alumnus Ross Morrin joins the faculty of St Cloud State University as an instructor in Film. Alumnus Jeremy Moss joins the faculty of Franklin and Marshall College as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies. The College of Fine Arts plans to maintain the Athena Cinema as a working theater with an art film focus when it takes over management and programming of the Court Street facility July 1. Ruth Bradley, director of the Athens Center for Film and Video, will manage the theater. She also directs the Athens International Film + Video Festival, which is hosted at the Athena each May. To read the article click here. Usame Tunagur (who has just completed production on his thesis film) and alumnus Thomas Britt (M.F.A 2005; currently, Assistant Professor in the Film and Video Studies program at George Mason University). Their co-authored article, Business As Usual: Exploring the Other from Arabia to Appalachia, has been published in Americana, The Journal of American Popular Culture. To read the article click here. HTC alumnus, Brian Wiebe inaugurated his channel on YouTube.com. The channel features some of Brian's short films. To visit his channel, click here. College of Fine Arts Dean, Chuck McWeeny, has named Prof. Steven Ross Director of the School of Film. Steven Ross, an associate professor of film, has been a cinematographer and filmmaker for more than 25 years. His documentary "Liberia: A Fragile Peace" (2006) is in worldwide distribution. For the OU Outlook article click here. HTC student Morgan Riles was interviewed by the Ohio Today magazine where she spoke about her thesis film BioModd[ATH1]. To read the article click here. Alum Eunice Charlton's 2 films 'VANESSA RISING' and 'LIVING UNDER LINDA'S DESK' are competing in The Doorpost Film Project. Alum Ryosuke Kawanaka is joining the joining the I.A.T.S.E. Local 600 Camera Union. He was in New Orleans for a few days working for a Weinstein Bros. feature called "The Patriots" as a B camera Second AC on an Arricam LT. Liberia: A Fragile Peace, a documentary film by our Director Prof. Steven Ross, will be screened on Sunday, May 11th 2008, at 9pm in the Baker Center Theater marking the beginning of the International Week 2008 at Ohio University. The film tells of the Liberian people’s struggle to rebuild their country after a violent civil war. Dr.Adam Knee from the Masters of Arts Depatment was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor with Tenure. Many years of hard and distinguished is duly recognized. We all wish him the best for continued success and fulfillment as a scholar and teacher. Professors Rajko Grlic and Tom Hayes were awarded the Creative Research Grant by the College of Fine Arts. Derrick Jones was awarded the 2008 Parry/Billman Award by the College of Fine Arts. Usame Tunagur was awarded the 2008 Student Enhancement Award. Its an award for reserach by the Office of the Vice President. Third Year MFAs Nicole Wydra and Novia Chen shared the 2008 Betty Thomas Award. Alumni Jennifer Granville's feature length avant garde film "Winesburg, Ohio" was accepted at the 2008 International Film Festival England. Alum Todd Rohal's award winning and internationally acclaimed film THE GUATEMALAN HANDSHAKE will be available on DVD on April 29th online, in stores and for rental. You can buy it here. "How Ohio Pulled It Off," the thesis documentary of Charla Barker, Mariana Quiroga, and Matt Kraus is selected for the 2008 Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival. The screening dates are April 11, 15 and 16. Ohiomag. com featured "The Little Festival That Could", an article applauding the 35th anniversary of the Athens International Film & Video Festival, which takes place April 25 through May 1. The article describes the festival through words of the Festival Director, Ruth Bradley. Alum Blis Hanousek-DeVault has accepted tenure track position in Cincinnati at Xavier University as an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Arts and Director of the television studio. Over the last eleven and a half years at WOUB, he has developed close relationships and produced an incredible body of work ."How Ohio Pulled It Off," the thesis documentary of Charla Barker, Mariana Quiroga, and Matt Kraus is selected for the 2008 International Human Rights Film Festival in Paris. The French title of the film is Miracle électoral en Ohio. Alum Marquette Williams' "Unspeakable" will be premiering at the 2008 Cleveland International Film Festival. "How Ohio Pulled It Off," the thesis documentary of Charla Barker, Mariana Quiroga, and Matt Kraus is selected for the 2008 Akron Independent Film Festival. Alum Chris Luccy releases the trailer of his latest film "Step Seven". (watch) Alum Linda Zaleskie has formed a new production company along with Andrea Stewart called Germane Creative LLC. Zaleskie had been managing producer for The History Channel, and Stewart has been an independent producer for a decade. Alum Jeffrey Wray's film, "The Soul Searchers: Three Stories", was selected at the East Lansing Film Festival 2008. "The Razor", a film by Alum Ryosuke Kawanaka, was selected to screen at the Wisconsin Film Festival 2008. "How Ohio Pulled It Off," the thesis documentary of Charla Barker, Mariana Quiroga, and Matt Kraus is selected for the 10th Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival (BAFICI) MercuryMedia has acquired the hour-long documentary How Ohio Pulled it Off, produced by Ohio Filmmakers, which examines the 2004 U.S. Presidential elections. (read more) Danilo-Lola Ilic's feature film, Distortion, received an Honorable Mention at the Accolade Film Awards. Entering its sixth year, The Accolade is an international, non-traditional, virtual venue. Awards go to those filmmakers who produce fresh, standout entertainment, animation and compelling documentaries. Brian Wiebe's narrative short, Cancer Treatment, has been selected to be part of the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market. SOF alum Edward Lachman, Director of Photography on Todd Haynes new film CINEMATHEQUE film screenings are launched as part of the Arts for OHIO arts initiative Listen to Jack Wright's interview on NPR about Music of Coal The School of Film Post Production team edits new Ohio University "Discover the Promise" ad campaign. MFA student Nishantne Josson is one of the editors and a featured student in , See "Discover the Promise" - see Outlook article Alum e. E. Charlton-Trujillo directs Vanessa Rising. The 2nd edition of Film School Confidential: The Insider's Guide to Film Schools has just been published. Written by Tom Edgar and Karin Kelly, this is a personal interpretation of 29 of the top film schools in the United States. As readers will discover, Ohio University has much to offer, and is one of the best financial bargains in the entire country. |
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