Features

On June 1 and 2, SVA will launch SVA Premieres, its new Hollywood film and animation showcase, which will introduce the work of 40 recently graduated filmmakers to an audience of industry professionals. Taking place at the Linwood Dunn Theater at the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study in Los Angeles, the new graduates will be on hand to discuss their films with those in attendance.

Nine academic departments will be represented at the showcase including four undergraduate programs (BFA Animation; BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects; BFA Film; and BFA Photography and Video) and five graduate programs (MFA Computer Art; MPS Directing; MPS Fashion Photography; MFA Photography, Video and Related Medi; and MFA Social Documentary Film).

Here's a look at five of the films that will screen at the event:

Karis Oh's (BFA 2016 Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects) short film, The Moment, was named a Vimeo Staff Pick earlier this month and has been viewed over 80,000 times. The film provides a reflection on "the importance of things unseen" for an artist drawing a stranger's portrait. It will screen as part of the Animation and Visual Effects screening on June 1.

This fast moving short by Jae Eun Seok (MPS 2016 Fashion Photography) is one of four films from MPS Fashion Photography that will screen with live action films on June 2.

The dark and empowering film Monster by Montana Hall (BFA 2016 Animation) takes on a difficult and critical topic. Hall won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Character animation at the 27th Dusty Film & Animation Festival in New York City on May 11.

This trailer provides a sneak peak into Forrest Grant Davis' (MFA Photography, Video and Related Media) world of Panopticon. FromDavis' website, "We can actively try and escape people, power/class systems and societies as a whole but we can never escape the most powerful thing of them all, our own mind."

This trailer for Hannah Roman's (MFA 2016 Computer Art) The Moon Is Essentially Gray introduces you to a young child, her makeshift rocket, and her fantastic flight to the moon. The computer generated animated short explores the role that escapism plays in the lives of children who suffer from neglect or abandonment by their caregivers, and is ultimately about the struggle to gain (or regain) personal power, joy and freedom. In addition to SVA Premieres, Roman's film will also be featured in “Pixel Perfect,” an exhibition of thesis projects by MFA Computer Art students, on view Tuesday, May 31, through Saturday, June 11, at the SVA Chelsea Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor, New York City.

SVA Premieres is championed by an honorary committee of industry professionals including Andrew Dayton (co-founder, Steel Wool Games), Zackary Drucker (co-producer, Transparent), Randall Emmett (executive producer, End of Watch), Geoffrey Fletcher (Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Precious), Craig Gillespie(director, Lars and the Real Girl), Yvette Kaplan (co-director, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America), Alex Kupershmidt (animator, The Lion King), Christopher Newman (Academy Award-winning sound mixer, The Exorcist), Bill Plympton (Academy Award-nominated animator, Your Face), Chris and Shannon Prynoski (founders, Titmouse, Inc.), Gillian Robespierre (director/writer, Obvious Child), Mike Roth (supervising producer/writer, Cartoon Network), Phil Rynda (VP of artist development, Nickelodeon), Carlos Saldanha (co-director, Ice Age), Lynn Shelton (director/writer, Humpday), Michael Simmonds (cinematographer, Big Fan),Tom Sito (animator, Aladdin), Mark Ulano (Academy Award-winning sound mixer, Titanic) and Kara Vallow (executive producer, Family Guy).

Companies on the honorary committee in support of SVA Premieres include Cartoon Network, Disney Television Animation, EFO Films, Hydraulx Visual Effects, Indiegogo, the International Documentary Association, The Molecule, Plymptoons, Steel Wool Games, Titmouse, Inc., Tribeca Film Institute, Visual Effects Society and Women Make Movies.

For festival updates, including a full schedule, visit svapremieres2016.eventbrite.com.