CLASS OF 2007
2007 ALUMNI PART OF TRICKY WOMEN 2008
The film "A Faery's Tale" by Sylvia Apostol, one of our 2007 alumni, has been selected for the international competition section of the 2008 Tricky Women Animation Film Festival. Awards will be announced during the festival which will run March 27th - 30th, 2008. Organized by Culture2Culture, Tricky Women is the first and only animation festival dedicated exclusively to female animation filmmakers. "The international competition is the heart of Tricky Women 2008, which runs over five days packed with a full program of films..." For more information visit www.culture2culture.at
2007 ALUMNI PART OF STUTTGART INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF ANIMATED FILM (TRICKFILM-FESTIVAL)
The 15th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film will be screening "Fish" by Hyun Jeen Lee and Jun Sik Na, two of our 2007 alumni. The festival will be running May 1st through the 6th in Stuttgart, Germany. "With over 50,000 visitors to cinemas in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg and to the open-air even on Stuttgart's main square 'Schlossplatz' as well as 1,000 professionals, the festival is one of the largest events for animated film worldwide." For more information visit www.itfs.de
2007 ALUMNI WINS BEST STUDENT WORK IN 2007 INTERNATIONAL "GOLD PANDA" AWARDS FOR ANIMATION FESTIVAL
The film "A Faery's Tale" by Sylvia Apostol has won Best Student Work in the 2007 SCTV International "Gold Panda" Awards for Animation Festival. Organized by Sichuan TV in the city Chengdu of the Sichuan province of China. "The International 'Gold Panda' Awards for Animation is designed to help promote international dialogue within the animation industry and encourage local excellent works to enter into the global marketplace as well as building cooperative relationships amongst animation companies around the world." For more information please visit www.sctv.com
2007 ALUMNI PART OF VICTORIA FILM FESTIVAL
The Victoria Film Festival has accepted three films by our 2007 alumni. "Remembrance" by Alejandro Monzón, "El Mono" by Minchung Cho, and "A Faery's Tale" by Sylvia Apostol will be screened during their ten-day program, February 1st through the 10th, 2008. This is the 14th year of the Victoria Film Festival whose mission "is to expose the youth and adults to a broad range of cultural, artistic and philosophical ideas and lifestyles through the presentation of film, video, new media and interactivities in order to stimulate critical analysis and inspire an interest in using the medium as a creative tool." For more information visit www.vifvf.com.
2007 ALUMNI WIN 1ST PLACE ANIMATION AT 2007 FLIFF COLLEGIATE COMPETITION
The 2007 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Collegiate Competition awarded "Fish" the 1st Place prize in Animation, a film by 2007 alumni Hyun Jeen Lee and Jun Sik Na. All the first place winning films will be screened on November 5th in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Begun as a collegiate competition in 1989, the festival had immediate success and soon became an international competition to include films by high school filmmakers as well. For more information visit www.fliff.com/students.asp (sponsored by Kodak)
2007 ALUMNI GIVEN EXCLUSIVE SCREENING AT BIG APPLE FILM FESTIVAL - November 17th
The Best of 2007 BFA Computer Art student films have been accepted by the Big Apple Film Festival, which will be running November 14th - 17th at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York City. On Saturday the 17th there will be a special program, designed to include all eighteen Best of 2007 films, which will then be followed by a panel discussion as described below:
Big Apple Press Release:
This year the Big Apple Film Festival will offer a panel discussion entitled, “Film Distribution in the New Age”. The panel will focus on new outlets available to filmmakers in the 21st century to distribute and market independent films. The discussion will include information on the current trends available in the area of digital distribution, the future of independent film distribution through online, on demand and digital cable outlets and how to utilize online resources most effectively to market content, through websites such as YouTube and MySpace.
Panelists include: Clémence Taillandier (Head of Theatrical Sales, Zeitgeist Films), Brian Chirls (Four Eyed Monsters), Erik Davis(Managing Editor, Cinematical.com), Peter Goldwyn (Vice President Acquisitions, Samuel Goldwyn Films). The panel will be moderated by Aaron Levine of the Gen Art Film Division.
Where: Tribeca Cinemas, 54 Varick Street (corner of Canal Street)
When: Saturday, November 17, 12 p.m.
Online tickets will go on sale on November 1. Tickets may also be purchased at the Tribeca Cinemas box office on the day of the event beginning at 11:30 a.m.
For more information please visit http://www.bigapplefilmfestival.com.
2007 ALUMNI PART OF INTERNET BROADCAST STREAMBIT,
produced by CortoonsTV of Rome, Italy
Beginning in November, films by eleven 2007 BFA Computer Art alumni will be broadcasted regularly by CortoonsTV, an animated film channel produced by Cortitalia, a cultural association for the promotion of professional cinema, photography, and communications from around the world. Based in Rome, Italy, Cortitalia also organizes the International Animation Film Festival of Potenza (PIAFF) where these films have already been accepted (see below). You can find more information about CortoonsTV on their website, http://www.cortoons.it.
These are the first of hopefully many SVA films to broadcast on this channel in the future. The following films and others from around the world can be viewed at www.streamit.it:
"El Mono" by Minchung Cho
"A Faery's Tale" by Sylvia Apostol
"The Kabob" by Han Hu
"The Big Upgrade" by James Dick & Ryan Moran
"Inside Out" by Luke Rowsell
"Microcosm" by Chad Sikora
"The Tape" by Jong Do Kim
"Birdie Blues" by Chris Greener & Brian Nielson
"Deep 6" by Stefania Gallico
"Aemerge" by Richard Kim & Han Chin Lee
"Pretty Life" by Charles Zambrano
ALUMNI BIG PART OF METRO CAF FESTIVAL 2007 - SEPTMEBER 27th
On the evening of Thursday, September 27th, MetroCAF 2007 will be screening seven films by 2007 BFA Computer Art alumni. The films are "The Big Upgrade" by James Dick and Ryan Moran, "A Faery's Tale" by Sylvia Apostol, "Pumpkin Head Boy" by Masako Toyoda, "The Kabob" by Han Hu, and "Carpe Noctem" by Leslie Chung will be screened, as well as "El Mono" by Minchung Cho and "Fish" by Hyunjeen Lee and Sun Sik Na who were both awarded Jury Recognitions. MetroCAF screenings will be held in the Fashion Institute of Technology's Haft Auditorium on W. 27th street between 7th and 8th Avenues in New York City. "This is an exciting opportunity for students in the NYC metropolitan area to gain international exposure for their computer-generated imagery and make contacts in the computer graphics community."
For more information visit http://www.MetroCAF.org.
HYUNJEEN LEE & JUN SIK NA
The collaborative film "Fish" by the two 2007 BFA Computer Art alumni, was awarded Second Place for Animation Short at the World Student Film Festival in Bangkok, Thailand. "WSFF is in search of the best undiscovered talent in the film industry. The festival is a world wide showcase of student film directors, actors, writers, and animators."
For more information visit http://www.worldstudentfilm.com.
JAMES DICK & RYAN MORAN, MINCHUNG CHO
The Flip Animation Film Festival, running November 1st to the 3rd, will be screening films from three of our 2007 alumni. "The Big Upgrade" by James Dick and Ryan Moran, as well as "El Mono" by Minchung Cho, will be screened in November of this year in the United Kingdom. "Flip is an eclectic mix of all things animation."
For more information visit http://www.flipfestival.co.uk.
LESLIE CHUNG
The Angelus Student Film Festival has selected the film "Carpe Noctem" as a semi-finalist for their 2007 competition held in Boulder City, Nevada in October of this year. The screening of the film will be held on October 21st. In it's 12th year running, the Angelus Student Film Festival "honors films that explore the complexity of the human condition with creativity, compassion and respect. Angelus honors future filmmakers as they explore and create works the respect the dignity of the human person."
For more information visit http://www.angelus.org.
ALUMNI PART OF INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF POTENZA - OCT. 27th - 28TH
The International Animation Film Festival of Potenza, Italy will be screening films by eleven of our 2007 alumni in October of this year: "The Big Upgrade" by James Dick and Ryan Moran; "A Faery's Tale" by Sylvia Apostol; "El Mono" by Minchung Cho; "The Kabob" by Han Hu; "Inside Out" by Luke Rowsell; "Aemerge" by Han Chin Lee and Richard Kim; "Microcosm" by Chad Sikora; "Pretty Life" by Charles Zambrano; "Birdie Blues" by Chris Greener and Brian Nielson; "Deep 6" by Stefania Gallico. They will be screened on October 27th to the 28th. These films are part of their international short competition; awards will be announced during the run of the festival in October of this year.
For more information visit http://www.piaff.it.
CLASS OF 2006
ALUMNI PART OF VISIONFEST 07
This year VisionFest 07, a biennial competition, screened films by three 2006 BFA Computer Art alumni. "One Short of a Dozen" by Anton Tokar and Kirill Yeretsky, "The Life of a Mime" by Jason Wolley, and "Abridged" by Joshua Harvey, were part of the festival's "Visionary 100." "VisionFest is a juried, student animation festival created by the New Media department in the School of Informatics at IUPUI (Indiana University, Purdue University, Indianapolis), and held in Indianapolis Indiana. The mission of VisionFest is to encourage, promote, and support the future development in the arts of animation, new media, and interactivity..."
For more information visit http://www.visionfest.org.
RODRIGO DE LA PARRA
We are pleased to announce that the Chilean International Short Film Festival has selected 2006 BFA Computer Art alumnus Rodrigo de la Parra’s film, Beginnings. to screen as part of its 14th annual program. The festival, organized by the Arcos Cultural Corporation, was started in order to bridge the gap between the academic and artistic sides of production and the public sphere, and is one of the leading short film festivals in Latin America.
To learn more about the fest, check out there website at http://www.festivalcortometrajes.cl/noticias.php.
KITTY LIN
Kitty Lin, a 2006 BFA Computer Art Alumnus, won the Technical Arts Gold Prize and the Proton Creative Gold Prize in the Taiwan International Animation Festival. Kitty was awarded $3,000 and a 42 inch LCD monitor for her short animated film, The Sky Bar. The Taiwan International Animation Festival draws an audience of 30,000 people each year and presents cutting edge animated work from across the globe.
For more information on the festival, please visit their website at http://tiaf.ctfa.org.tw/2006/en/.
DAN MCNAMARA
Redeeming Rainbow, a television pilot created by Dan McNamara, was included in the 2007 New York Television Festival. It played as part of the "Independent Pilot" competition. For information about the festival, go the the NY Television Festival website. It was screened Friday September 7th at 10:30pm, and Sunday, September 9th at 2pm.
The Calderons, a film by BFA Computer Art alumnus Dan McNamara, was a finalist in the 2006 New York Television Festival and was nominated for Best Comedy Pilot, an Audience Award, and the Grand Prize. McNamara’s film was part of the Festival’s screening program at the Directors Guild Theater on September 16th.
CLASS OF 2005
AARON WEBER
Aaron Weber (class of ’05, Computer Art) and Joshua Clark (class of ’04, Graphic Design) completed Aaron’s thesis, Wander. The film recently won for Best Animated / Experimental Short at the Ivy Film Festival and is an Official Selection at both the Palm Beach International Film Festival and Atlanta Film Festival.
For more information, such as the screening dates and location, visit http://www.wandermovie.com/.
MATS ANDERSSON, BRIAN DINOTO, TRAVIS GRIGGS, JOSHUA HARVEY, YILLI ORANA, AMANDA PECHARSKY, AND JASON WOLLEY
The Bermuda International Film Festival’s Kids Film Festival has invited five animated films by BFA Computer Art graduates to screen this October as part of the Twisted Toons Teenscreen program. The Twisted Toons sidebar features the best of edgy international animation and is now in its third year. The short films screening in Bermuda include these films by the SVA class of 2005:
Abridged, by Joshua Harvey and Mats Andersson
The Life of a Mime, by Jason Wolley
1851, by Brian DiNoto
Modern Romance, by Amanda Pecharsky
Eternity by Travis Griggs and Ylli Orana
For more information about the Bermuda International Film Festival, please visit their website at http://www.bermudafilmfest.com/.
MATS ANDERSSON, JORDAN BLIT, TRAVIS GRIGGS, JOSHUA HARVEY, JUNGEUN KIM, YILLI ORANA, SONYA PARK , RAYMOND ROSS, ANTON TOKAR, LEE WOLLAND, JASON WOLLEY, BELDON WOLSON, AND KIRILL YERETSKY
Ten short animated films by BFA Computer Art alumni have been selected to screen at the Red Stick Animation Festival (RSAF) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The RSAF, which takes place from April 20th to the 23rd, focuses on the worlds of technology, art and entertainment, disciplines that were once isolated from each other but are now converging in the 21st century. The RSAF highlights artists working with the medium of animation who are addressing this convergence through their craft. This year’s line-up will include these works by SVA class of 2005:
If All Else Fails, by Sonya Park
Urban Visual Stereo, by Beldon Wolson
Eternity, by Travis Griggs and Ylli Orana
A Blue Collar Tragedy, by Jordan Blit
The Life of a Mime, by Jason Wolley
Amazing Little Story, by Jungeun Kim
Abridged, by Joshua Harvey and Mats Andersson
The Messenger, by Lee Wolland
One Short of a Dozen, by Anton Tokar and Kirill Yeretsky
In addition, Sweet Dreams, by 2004 alumnus Raymond Ross, will also be screening at the festival
For more information, please visit the Red Stick Animation Festival website at www.redstickfestival.org.
AMANDA PERCHARKSY & MARK COROTAN
Anima 2006, the Brussels Animation Film festival, has chosen Amanda Pecharsky's Modern Romance and Mark Corotan's Prologue to Chaos: Kindredd Saga, to screen in its Student Film Competition. The festival, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this March, presents some of the most outstanding work in the world of animation.
For more information, please visit the Anima 2006 website at folioscope.awn.com.
JASON WOLLEY
The International Festival of Animated Films, AniFest 2006, announced that it has selected the Life of a Mime, a short animated film by 2005 BFA Computer Art alumnus Jason Wolley, to screen at the festival in the Czech Republic in May. A member of the European Coordination of Film Festivals, AniFest strives to bring the best in global animation to its competition, and also sponsors a wide range of local workshops and seminars in art and film throughout the year. For more information, please visit www.anifest.cz.
CLASS
OF 2004
RAYMOND ROSS & YOUNG JOON YOON
The films of Raymond Ross, who now works as a character animator at Launch, and Young Joon Yoon have been accepted to the 2004 Anifest International Animation Film Festival. Their films will screen in competition in the Student Film category. This is the 4th annual event for Anifest which takes place May 5th to 11th in the Czech Republic. To find out more about the festival please visit http://anifest.cz and to see both Raymond Ross’ and Youn Joon Yoon’s films please visit the Best of 2004 section.
JANE LEE & ANDREA SHEAR
Andrea Shear's film Jack and Jill & Jane Lee's Happy Mania was selected to appear in the second & sixth episodes of The Nicktoons Film Festival, which aired on Nicktoons throughout the month of October and November in 2004.
Nicktoons, Frederator Studios and Animation Magazine joined forces to create a one-of-a-kind competition called The Nicktoons Film Festival, seeking to showcase the diversity of independent cartoon filmmaking. They searched for the best cartoons on the planet–animated shorts that combine a unique look, great character design and a funny plot. The shorts selected have taken the first step in receiving a slot in the compilation series that will broadcast on Nicktoons this fall and taking home the Nicktoons Film Festival Grand Prize of $10,000. For more information on The Nicktoons Film Festival, please visit: http://www.animationmagazine.net/nicktoons.html
NEO AFAN, MARTIN BOSKAR, DAMIEN CHO, ALLISON KOCHAR, JANE LEE, CHRISTOPHER MAUCH, JUN ZEE MYERS, AND EUGEN SASU,
Eugen Sasu and Christopher Mauch's film Falling Praey, Martin Boksar's Midnight Hour, Allison Kocar and Jun Zee Myers's Once Upon a Pond, Neo Afan's Commution, Jane Lee's Happy Mania and Damien Cho's To Die For have been selected for the 10th anniversary edition Cartoombria 2004 screening programme. They will be featured in the International Exhibition of New Animated Images, Perugia, Italy, 1-8 December 2004
Cartoombria's objective is to bring to the attention of the general viewing public, and more specifically to a target audience of students and visual-artistically minded young people, the latest trends in computer animation from around the world. For more information on Cartoombria, please visit: http://english.cartoombria.it/
ANDREA SHEAR
Andrea Shear's film Jack and Jill has been selected for the showreels of 2004 and 2005 by EMERGE AND SEE.
EMERGE AND SEE is becoming one of the best known and definitely most innovative organisation promoting student film throughout Europe. They promote the most creative and original student videos, films and animations. They bring student work to the big screen through their regular cinema events, and distribute showreels to universities and film and TV professionals, giving the stars of tomorrow unique international exposure.
Through EMERGE AND SEE, Andrea Shear's film may be shown in following cities: London, Berlin, Budapest and Lucerne. The completed showreels will also be distributed to cinemas and other Festivals mainly around Europe. For more information on EMERGE AND SEE, please visit: http://www.emergeandsee.org/en/.
CHRIS DELIA
Christopher Delia's website, www.imnotanaddict.com, won the Bronze Award in the Web Division in the 2003 Canon Digital Creators Contest. Canon launched the Digital Creators Contest in 2000 with the aim of identifying and supporting next-generation talent pioneering new directions in visual expression in this digital age of the Internet. Now in its fourth year, the CDCC continues to be recognized on a global scale.
Among the list of judges, all internationally respected and accomplished artists and innovators, is our own Joshua Davis (joshuadavis.com), a member of the SVA Computer Art faculty.
ALLISON KOCAR, JUN ZEE MYERS, AND WOO-YONG JUNG
The Alumni Society, which consists a panel of alumni including Joe Burrascano (BFA Computer Art 2002), met recently to review applications from 45 BFA candidates for Alumni Scholarship Awards. A total of $20,975 was awarded to only 19 students from all SVA departments.
Three graduating seniors from the BFA Computer Art department received Alumni Scholarship Awards. Allison Kocar and Jun Zee Myers were awarded $1,000 for their collaborative thesis project. Wooyong Jung received $500 to aid in the completion of his thesis project. The Alumni Society awards students with contributions to enhance the quality of education at SVA and to honor students for their exceptional work.
CLASS OF 2003
JOHN HAN
John has been nominated for two Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards, The first is for Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Broadcast Program for an episode of the television show Smallville, and the second is for Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program for the same show. John is now the lead animator for most of the episodes on the series, leading both 2D and 3D efforts. For more information, please go to http://www.vesawards.com/nominees.htm.
UPDATE: John has just been nominated for the second year in a row. Please go to the recent news page for more information.
John's thesis Time Enough For Last was also recently featured in the September 2004 issue of AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER.
Time Enough at Last premiered at the Tribeca Grand Hotel on February 19th, 2004 and was also screened at Arclight Cinemas in Los Angeles on March 4th. For more information about the film, visit: http://www.time-enough.com/
ERIC FINKELMAN & EVAN SCHOONMAKER
Eric & Evan won first place in the Digital Media category at the 2003 Adobe Design Achievement Awards for their five-minute film, Persistence of Memory. They were honored in a ceremony held at the Art Institute of Chicago where they were presented with a cash award and 10 Adobe products of their choice. The trip to Chicago for the awards presentation was also granted to them as part of the first place winner's package. When asked about their project the artists explain, "As artists and storytellers we tried to create a strong piece that would entertain viewers as well as captivate them by using surreal visuals. We chose a science-fiction piece in order to play with effects, mood and plot, creating a futuristic, almost mysterious environment.
ROB SABATINI
Rob's thesis, Siren, won Honorable Mention at the 2003 Adobe DesignAchievement Awards.
CLASS OF 2002
JOHN VELAZQUEZ
BFA Computer Art graduate John Velazquez, now a Lead Animator at Luma Pictures, along with Wendy Klein (BFA CA, 2001) recently completed a 6 minute underwater battle scene for the feature film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Velazquez stated that he is now working in his 'dream job', and attributes his success to studying in a 'great computer animation department with awesome faculty'.
Luma Pictures uses the latest technology and software to provide effective solutions for the most complex visual effects scenarios. For more information on Luma Pictures, please visit: http://www.luma-pictures.com.
JOON Y. LEE
Joon’s animated short film, Butterfly, was featured in the 2003 Anima Mundi Animated Film Festival in Brazil. The festival takes place in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo presenting independent shorts, feature films and animation for TV; works that represent originality, quality and culture. Butterfly was also shown at the 2003 Siggraph Animation Theater.
SCOTT GINGOLD
Scott's film, Ostrich Egg, won the Director's Choice Award in the Best Animation category at the 2003 Texas Film Festival. Scott's film also appeared at the 2003 Moondance Film Festival in Boulder, Colorado. Currently, Scott is working at Film Roman working on the television show, The Simpsons.
NICO PUERTOLLANO
Nico opened design firm raw new york (www.rawny.com) In January 2002, Ronen Adam, Class of 2002, joined raw new york and designed bumpers for MTV's television program, I Bet You Will. In August 2002, Nico designed the title and credit sequence for a short animation called From the 104th Floor, part of a program called Reflections From Ground Zero, which aired on Showtime (3/9/2002).
Nico was a guest speaker for the 2002 NYC Motion Graphics Organization.
CLASS
OF 2001
WENDY KLEIN
BFA Computer Art graduate Wendy Klein, along with John Velazquez (BFA CA, 2002), recently completed a 6 minute underwater battle scene for the feature film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Both work for Luma Pictures. Luma Pictures uses the latest technology and software to provide effective solutions for the most complex visual effects scenarios. For more information on Luma Pictures, please visit: http://www.luma-pictures.com.
CHRIS HUNG
Chris Hung’s animated short, Extreme Limit, appeared in the 2001 alt.SHO.com Alternative Media Festival, an online festival created by the Showtime Network. The short won First Place in the Action category, and along with the honor, Chris received a $10,000 prize. Chris’s film, Extreme Limit, was also one of seven Global Student Competition Winners in the 2001 Alias|Wavefront Global Student Competition.
JIMMY CHEN
Jimmy's work has been selected to appear on the 2002 Adobe Dynamic Media Sampler Reel, which debuted at the 2002 National Association for Broadcasters in Las Vegas. Jimmy’s See you on the INTERNET project was also featured at the 2001 DV expo Film Festival in Los Angeles, CA.
MICHAEL BLANK
Michael’s work won Honorable Mention at the 2001 New Voices Digifest. His film, Waldemar, was included on the trailer for the festival. Waldemar has also appeared in the Sci-Fi category in the 2001 Showtime Online Alternative Media Festival.
ANDREW BELL
Andrew’s film, Into the Woods, was featured as the daily Sho-Off (02/12/02) in the 2001 Showtime Online Alternative Media Festival.
RYAN SMITH
Ryan’s work received Honorable Mention at the 2001 New Voices Digifest. His film, William’s Dream, appeared on the trailer for the festival.
ALON DAVID
The Festival International de Court-Metrage de Palavas le Flots is a competitive festival for short films and videos. Alon's film won an award for Prix du meilleur message scenarise, or Best Story with a Message, as well as a prize (FF 2,000/ $260US).
MICHELLE McGINNIS
Michelle's animated film, Shivelry, won an award for Best Animation at the 2001 Ajijic Festival de Animacion, Mexico.
As an iFilm Pick, Shivelry was recognized as #9 Most Rated Film. IFILM (www.IFILM.com) is the most comprehensive guide to find and watch feature and short films online. The IFILM network provides consumers the largest online video on demand library in the world, programmed in genre specific movie channels by film and editorial experts.
CLASS OF 1997
JOSH CORDES
Josh, is co-owner of a visual effects company, called Money Shots. Josh recently directed music video "FRGT/10", available on http://www.launch.com, on the Linkin Park artist page.
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