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SAMUEL GOLDWYN WRITING AWARDS AT UCLA
The finalists of the 62nd annual Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards, which recognizes excellence in dramatic writing by students at UCLA are:
GODWIN ITAI JABANGWE, R.O.V.E.R.
ERIC MALLORY MORGAN*, Hole in the Sky
ABC Entertainment President CHANNING DUNGEY ('91 B.A., Film and Television), actress Kerry Washington and Executive Vice President and Head of Worldwide Scripted Television Chris Selak have been named judges. The awards will be handed out on Monday, Oct. 30 at the UCLA Faculty Center from 5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
*Morgan was the first-place winner at the 2016 Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards for his script Tonya.
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SAVE THE DATE! SKETCH TO SCREEN
RETURNS SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018
The eighth annual Sketch to Screen Costume Design Panel and Celebration, presented by Swarovski, will take place on Saturday, March 3, 2018 at UCLA. On the eve of the Academy Awards each year, a stellar group of international costume designers comes to the UCLA campus to discuss their craft and the central role costume designers play in cinematic storytelling. Don't miss it!
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ACTRESS NANCY CARTWRIGHT IS GUEST SPEAKER AT UCLA TFT's ORIENTATION
Emmy-Award winning voice-over actress NANCY CARTWRIGHT (B.A. '81, Theater), best known for her role as Bart Simpson on the long-running Fox animated television series The Simpsons, was the guest speaker at UCLA TFT's 2017 Student Orientation on Monday, Sept. 25. She told the new and returning students gathered in the Freud Playhouse to "get involved and immerse yourself [in school]...you're in a great place here. Surround yourself with people who support you in what you're doing."
Cartwright recently wrote and produced the coming-of-age adventure In Search of Fellini, which opened in theaters on Friday, Sept. 15.
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FILMMAKER CHARLES BURNETT TO RECEIVE
Award-winning "L.A. Rebellion" filmmaker Charles Burnett (B.A. '69, M.F.A. '77 Theater Arts) will be celebrated with an honorary Governors Award by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences during the 9th annual Governors Awards ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 11 at Hollywood & Highland Center. Burnett was also recently the subject of a Film Scholars Lecture at the Motion Picture Academy where his film, To Sleep With Anger, was screened following his conversation with Indiana University professor and moderator James Naremore. Naremore is the author of the forthcoming book Charles Burnett: A Cinema of Symbolic Knowledge, the first full-length commentary on a key figure in the L.A. Rebellion and an artist whom many critics regard as the most significant African-American filmmaker. Read More
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RAFAEL AGUSTIN (B.A. '03, M.A. '04, Theater) is the creator of Illegal, an hour-long dramedy series about an immigrant family, currently in development for the CW. Described as an edgy Latino version of The Wonder Years, Illegal is one of two immigrant-themed series that actress Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) has in development at CBS Studios through her I Can & I Will Productions. Read More
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MERRIN DUNGEY (B.A. '93 Theater) has become a series regular on the new Fox series The Resident.
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ALEX GIBNEY will direct the dramatic feature American Hero, based on the true story of U.S. Army Captain Hugh Thompson, who flouted orders and saved a number of civilian lives during the Vietnam War's vicious My Lai massacre. This is the second feature that the Oscar-winning documentarian has signed onto in recent months. Production is scheduled to begin in 2018. Read More
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WYNN PADULA (M.F.A. '07, Film and Television) directed the documentary short Resurface, about veterans who have experienced the powerful and prescriptive effects of surfing on the traumas of war. The film had its premiere on Netflix on Friday, Sept. 1.
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GAIA VIOLO's (M.F.A. '15, Film and Television; Professional Programs '13) 10-episode original series, Absentia, picked up by Sony Pictures Television, premiered in Spain, Portugal and Romania on Monday, Sept. 25 and continues to roll-out internationally on the Sony Pictures Television-owned channel AXN.
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FESTIVALS, AWARDS AND HONORS
* MARK BALDWIN's (M.F.A. '91, Film and Television) documentary Tropical Iron won the Best Director of a Documentary Feature award at the 2017 Madrid International Film Festival in July.
*AVA BOGLE's film Meryl Fuckin' Streep won the best experimental film prize at the Lady Filmmakers Film Festival.
* AVA DUVERNAY won two Creative Arts Emmy Awards for Outstanding Documentary or Non-Fiction Special and Outstanding Writing for a Nonfiction Program, for her documentary 13th.
* JOSH MANDEL (M.F.A. '06, Film and Television) is the producer of Thirst Street, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and opened in theaters on Friday, Sept. 29.
* JULIO RAMOS' (M.F.A. '12, Film and Television) short film Debris screened at the Telluride Film Festival in early September.
* GEORGE TAKEI (B.A. '60, M.A. '64, Theater Arts) will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Third Annual Asian World Film Festival on Thursday, Nov. 2 after a screening of Allegience, The Broadway Musical on the Big Screen, a story based on Takei's childhood.
* FRANK P. TOMASULO (Ph.D., 1986 Theater Arts) recently received his seventh Best Conference Paper award at the annual University Film and Video Association (UFVA) conference.
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More alumni news can be found by subscribing to the weekly UCLA TFT Alumni Newsletter by emailing alumni@tft.ucla.edu.
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M.F.A. directing student DANIEL LAFRENTZ's (B.A. '08 Film and Television) short film Noble Creatures screened at the New Orleans Film Festival in October, the Fayetteville Film Festival and DTLA Film Festival in September and at The Wrap's 2017 ShortList Film Festival in August. The film was shot by TEODORA TOTOIU (M.F.A. '17 Film and Television) and produced by JEREMY HILL (B.A. '09, Film and Television).
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GINA KIM WINS INAUGURAL VR AWARD AT
THE VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
In the first year of the Venice International Film Festival's virtual reality competition, Department of Film, Television and Digital Media Professor GINA KIM's 12-minute film Bloodless was named the winner in the Venice Virtual Reality program's Best VR Story category. This is the first time that a major film festival has included VR in competition, an appreciable confirmation of the medium's growing permanence in storytelling entertainment. Read More
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BARBARA BOYLE SPEAKS AT U.S. CHINA FILM & TV INDUSTRY EXPO
On Friday, Oct. 20, Professor BARBARA BOYLE was a speaker at the expanded, fourth annual U.S. China Film & TV Industry Expo (UCFTI), a growing industry event that aims to connect experts from Hollywood and China.
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BILL BARMINSKI AND THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN
Lecturer BILL BARMINSKI created the sets and animation for Leos Janacek's opera The Cunning Little Vixen, being performed by the Cleveland Orchestra this fall in Cleveland, Ohio and Vienna, Austria.
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JEFF BURKE AR PROJECT RECEIVES FUNDING
Associate Dean for Technology and Innovation JEFF BURKE is a co-principal investigator on a joint UCLA-New Mexico State University project that seeks to integrate augmented reality into new wireless networks. They've just received $2 million in funding from the National Science Foundation and Intel.
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LINDA KERNS DIRECTS THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER
Adjunct Professor LINDA KERNS directs Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner at the Actors Co-op Theater Company
in Hollywood, Nov. 3-Dec. 17.
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BRIAN KITE'S FROM BAGHDAD TO BROOKLYN
In late September, Department of Theater Chair BRIAN KITE directed Michelle Azar Aaron in From Baghdad to Brooklyn, which she also wrote, as part of New York City's United Solo Festival.
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J.ED ARAIZA, MICHAEL HACKETT LEAD ACTING TRIP TO POLAND
In September, Professors J.ED ARAIZA, MICHAEL HACKETT and six UCLA TFT M.F.A. students/recent graduates, BRETT CALO, OSCAR EMMANUEL FABELA, IRENA JACOBS, LEA MADDA (M.F.A. '17, Theater), MAIA RYCHLIK (M.F.A. '17, Theater) and ULATO SAM, accompanied by Department of Theater Chair BRIAN KITE, participated in a two-week intensive acting workshop in Poland. Read all about their adventures on Facebook.
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SEAN METZGER PARTICIPATES IN INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE STUDIES CONFERENCE
Theater Professor SEAN METZGER just finished his inaugural year as the president of Performance Studies International. This past summer PSI collaborated on its annual international conference with the University of Hamburg and Kampnagel in conjunction with Kampnagel's
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CHON NORIEGA AND "PACIFIC STANDARD TIME: LA/LA"
Department of Film, Television and Digital Media Professor CHON NORIEGA and the Chicano Studies Research Center have organized three exhibits on display during Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a Southern California-wide event that is focused "on the long, mutually formative cultural exchange between Latin America and the Los Angeles region, considered through exhibitions at some 70 institutions, large and small," according to The New York Times. Find Out More
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SYLVAN OSWALD WRITES, PERFORMS EXPERIMENTAL THEATER IN NYC
Against the backdrop of images created by Jessica Fleischmann, Department of Theater Professor SYLVAN OSWALD performed the text he wrote, High Winds, about a trans man whose insomnia sparks a fantastical search for his estranged half-brother through hallucinatory desert landscapes. The performance took place on Monday, Sept. 25, at the Abrons Art Center, Experimental Theater, in New York City.
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MAREK PROBOSZ SERVES AS RUSSIAN FILM FESTIVAL JUROR; ACTS IN TWO TV SERIES
In September, Adjunct Associate Professor MAREK PROBOSZ was a juror at the 15th International Theater and Film Festival in Blagoveshchensk, Russia. In August, he had a guest-starring role in the Polish TV series The Blonde and shot scenes for Under the Common Sky, another Polish TV series in which he is a series regular.
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PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS NEWS
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LAURA WOODWORTH IS IN TUNE
In Tune, written, directed and produced by alumna LAURA WOODWORTH, premiered at this year's 168 Film Festival in Burbank and was nominated for five awards including Best Write of Passage Spotlight film and Best Director.
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APPLY NOW FOR THE WINTER 2018 PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM IN PRODUCING
Classes begin January 8, 2018
Earn your certificate from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Learn how to finance, develop, pitch, market and distribute your feature films, TV series and digital projects. Get insider info on emerging technologies and platforms, and career strategies from leading industry experts.
The following topics are typically covered: Production Preparation, Line Producing, Financing, Development, Story, Pitching, Contracts/Negotiations, Clearance/Copyright, Legal Issues for Independent Projects, Television Development, Feature Film Marketing, Television Marketing, Theatrical Distribution (Domestic and International), Budgeting, The Television Executive, Alternative Distribution, Producing/Directing for TV, Documentary, Post-Production, Producing for Video Games, Producing for Digital Media (Studio and Indie), Multiplatform Storytelling, Virtual Reality and more. F-1 and J-1 visas are now available for this program.
email: professionalprograms@tft.ucla.edu
web: www.tft.ucla.edu/programs/professional-programs/producing/
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UCLA FILM & TELEVISION ARCHIVE
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RECUERDOS DE UN CINE EN ESPAÑOL: LATIN AMERICAN CINEMA IN LOS ANGELES, 1930-1960
From screwball comedies to expressionistic noirs, this retrospective of nearly 40 films showcases the golden age cinemas of Mexico, Argentina and Cuba, as well as the lesser-known history of Spanish-language film production in the U.S. as part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA. Films screen at both the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood and the Downtown Independent on Main Street in Los Angeles. Learn more
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ARCHIVE FOOTAGE IN VIETNAM WAR AND SAMMY DAVIS JR. DOCS
Footage from the Archive can be seen in a variety of projects for the big and small screen, including a new documentary on legendary song-and-dance man Sammy Davis, Jr. (which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival) and Ken Burns' immersive look at the Vietnam War (airing on PBS). Learn more
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UCLA FESTIVAL OF PRESERVATION IN CHICAGO AND AUSTIN
The UCLA Festival of Preservation showcases classics of film and television, socially-conscious documentaries, seldom-seen independent features and other works newly restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive. The Festival tour opened in Chicago on Saturday, Oct. 7 and will open in Austin, Texas on Friday, Nov. 17. Traveling titles include: Trouble in Paradise (pictured, 1932), directed by Ernst Lubitsch; He Walked by Night (1948), directed by Alfred Werker; The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971), directed by Howard Alk; and Tramp Strategy (1911), directed by Alice Guy.
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WHAT TIME IS IT THERE? TAIWANESE FILM BIENNIAL
Screening Oct. 20-Nov. 19, this survey of new and restored films from Taiwan launches with the West Coast premiere of The Gangster's Daughter (2017), a bittersweet coming-of-age drama set in Taipei's criminal underworld, with director Chen Mei-Juin in attendance. Watch the Archive's website for announcements of additional filmmakers and industry guests who will appear in person. Learn more
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If you have news for consideration in our next newsletter, please email UCLA TFT Marketing and Communications at communications@tft.ucla.edu.
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