Four Nights of Firsts: New School of Cinematic Arts Events

The USC School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) is unspooling its annual series of “first” events to highlight and celebrate the achievements of select students engaged in the various media programs at the famed school.

SCA’s Office of Student Industry Relations is presenting its annual film festival, First Look 2010, which closes with the FotoKem Awards Ceremony at the DGA on Tuesday, April 27, followed by a reception. Six film finalists selected by a professional jury will compete for the Gold, Silver and Bronze awards. The selected films are Adam, Kavi, Life’s Waltz, No Kill, Our Neck of the Woods and Overnight Stay. The awards ceremony is an invite-only event for industry professionals, supporters and friends of SCA. The night will end with a screening of The Godmother, winner of the Audience Award, which was voted on by attendees of the screening programs.

First Look initially kicked off on Friday, April 16, with a screening of Disneynature’s Earth Day release of Oceans. The weekend continued with screenings of 37 student films split into five screening programs at USC’s Norris Theater. Faculty members hosted each of the festival screenings and presented Artistic Awards within their concentrations to the following recipients: John Harrison (Outstanding Cinematography, Kavi); Gregg Helvey (Outstanding Director, Kavi); Donna Thorland, Susan Metzger and Ben Wilkins (Outstanding Producing, Cheerbleeders); Joe Swanson (Outstanding Screenwriting, Into the Unknown); Rung Rok Choi (Outstanding Sound, The Godmother); Cristina Malavenda (Outstanding Editing, Our Neck of the Woods); Mike Greischar and Thenmozhi Soundararajan (Outstanding Documentary, Resistance Is Fertile). Screenings were open to the entire USC community as well as the public.

Winners of the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards will receive $2,000, $1,500 and $1,000 cash prizes. These funds will be dedicated to promoting the titles at national and international festivals and events. The FotoKem Audience Award-winning film received $1,000 for the same purpose.

The ninth annual First Pitch, which will be held on Monday, May 3, at the Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills, provides a forum for graduating M.F.A. and B.F.A. screenwriting students to solicit or “pitch” their film and television scripts to participating members of the industry’s top production companies, management firms and agencies. Television executive producer and SCA alumnus Josh Goldsmith (‘Til Death, The King of Queens) will serve as event host, it was announced by Jack Epps Jr., SCA associate professor and chair of the Division of Writing for Screen & Television.

The format allots students five minutes each to discuss their story ideas with industry veterans positioned at individual tables throughout the ballroom. This year’s invite only event includes 68 students, who will make up to 15 pitches throughout the night. Companies that have previously participated include APA, Benderspink, CAA, Circle of Confusion, DreamWorks, The Gersh Agency, Original Artists, Paradigm, Team Todd, UTA and William Morris-Endeavor. A/H Foundation and Albert and Andrea Friedman are sponsoring this year’s First Pitch.

The Adobe First Frame 2010 animation event will take place on Thursday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the DGA. First Frame is an annual event organized by The John C. Hench Division of Animation and Digital Arts (Hench-DADA), during which the best works of graduate, undergraduate and minors of the program are showcased. The event includes a 90-minute screening program of 19 participating student films.

The films range from stop-motion to 3-D and from traditional hand drawn animation to digital 2-D. To view clips of the participating films, visit the First Frame 2010 Web site: cinema.usc.edu/programs/animation/exhibitions-special-events/first-frame/2010-program.htm. Prior to the screening program, seven cutting-edge, projected, immersive and sculptural installations that incorporate animation were chosen for an exhibit that was displayed in the SCA Gallery April 5-17.

First Look Interactive 2010 will be hosted by SCA’s Interactive Media Division on Monday, May 10 at 7:30 PM at SCA. It is a showcase of recent works from the Interactive Media Division, including MFA thesis projects, intermediate and advanced game projects, experimental designs, narratives, and devices ranging across a broad spectrum of interactivity.

About the USC School of Cinematic Arts

Founded in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1929 and now celebrating its 80th anniversary, 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. Its more than 10,000 alumni are among the world’s most distinguished animators, scholars, teachers, writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, sound experts and industry executives. Since 1973, not a year has passed without an alumnus or alumna being nominated for an Academy Award. cinema.usc.edu

Contact:

Stephanie Kluft, USC, at (213) 740-9514
Tony Angellotti/Cari Sanders, The Angellotti Company, at (818) 506-7887