Winter 2015 Alumni Newsletter

On Nov. 12, Dean TERI SCHWARTZ and Jeff Skoll, philanthropist, social entrepreneur, and founder of Participant Media, announced the launch of the new Skoll Center for Social Impact Entertainment at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, dedicated to promoting social change through entertainment and performing arts. Skoll made a $10 million gift to name and endow the Center for SIE, the first of its kind dedicated solely to advancing the power of entertainment and performing arts to inspire social change. The work of the Center for SIE will be organized around three pillars: research on a global scale that provides a structure to measure the influence of social impact storytelling; education and special initiatives that will not only enhance and complement the educational experience by exploring innovative approaches to curricular development for the emerging field of social impact entertainment, but also provide students and faculty with workshops, lectures, distinguished visiting artists programs and unique opportunities to focus their scholarly and creative work in this arena; and public programming and exhibition to ignite and engage the public in meaningful debate around society's most pressing problems and the important role entertainment and performing arts plays in this conversation. In addition, Participant Media announced the launch of a new annual global convening in association with the Center for SIE and UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, beginning this year, which will bring together leaders from the creative community, government, academic, business and non-profit sectors, with a focus on using storytelling as a tool to reach a mass audience, inspire interest, empower change and create impact.

Writer-director MARIELLE HELLER's (B.A. '01) The Diary of a Teenage Girl, and The D Train, starring alumnus JACK BLACK, are two of the 16 films that will contend in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, which takes place Jan. 22-Feb. 1 in Park City, Utah. City of Gold, from filmmaker LAURA GABBERT (M.F.A. '04), will be part of the U.S. Documentary Competition. Among the films having their world premieres at Sundance are I Am Michael, starring UCLA TFT Visiting Professor JAMES FRANCO; The End of the Tour, from director and Professional Programs alumnus JAMES PONSOLDT; and the documentaries Tig, from screenwriter JENNIFER ARNOLD (M.F.A., '99) and Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, from alumnus filmmaker ALEX GIBNEY. From the Sundance Collection at UCLA, the festival will screen the digitally restored 1990 film Paris Is Burning, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1991. Clinger, a horror film co-starring alumna LISA WILCOX (B.A. '94), is part of the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival's Narrative Features Program lineup. Slamdance will take place in Park City Jan. 23-29.

On Monday, Jan. 26,  UCLA TFT will host an industry panel and reception, co-sponsored by The Wrap and Indiegogo, at ChefDance, 427 Main St. in Park City. The panel begins at 3 p.m.; the reception follows at 4 p.m.

On Monday, Dec. 15, more than 150 UCLA TFT alumni gathered at The Federal Bar in North Hollywood to celebrate the holiday season and the launch of the new UCLA TFT Alumni Affairs Office. Alumnus DJ DMITRY KOSHUTIN (B.A. '10) played tunes while members of the TFT Alumni Council (TAC) and the New Alumni Network (NAN) worked the room, meeting, greeting and exchanging ideas for future programs. Since August, nearly 500 UCLA TFT alumni have attended mixers, screenings and brainstorming sessions, strengthening the UCLA TFT alumni community in both Los Angeles and New York. The Alumni Affairs office is looking forward to a fun-filled 2015 with more than a dozen soon-to-be-announced events. Alumni can stay fully informed by adding their information to the UCLA TFT Alumni listserve: tftalumni@lists.ucla.edu

The Alumni Affairs Office is excited to announce the formation of the new UCLA TFT EAST alumni chapter, which aims to foster and develop a Bruin community among New York City-based UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television alumni.

UCLA TFT East's first event recently kicked off with the generous donation of tickets by producer DON FRANTZ (M.F.A. '87) to see his off-Broadway show Disenchanted! The evening included a pre-show cocktail party with Dean TERI SCHWARTZ and a post-show meet-and-greet with the cast and creators of Disenchanted! Take a look at photos from the event and stay in touch with other UCLA TFT EAST happenings by logging onto the UCLA TFT East Facebook page.

Next up is a meeting to officially elect the chairs of the New York City group, which will take place in mid-January. Some short-term goals include developing an online presence to include job postings, casting calls, social events, etc.; forming an alumni mentorship program; creating 'spend a day with a Bruin” connections for those alumni new to the city; and organizing more screenings and monthly social events. Interested in attending the meeting? Please e-mail Jackson Thompson at JacksonMThompson@gmail.com.

HILARY BROWN has joined the Office of Development and Alumni Affairs as development coordinator. She assists the department with gift processing, writing donor acknowledgements, submitting proposals and solicitation materials and helps with Alumni Relations. Brown was previously at the UCLA School of Law where she was the interim development coordinator for eight months. Prior to joining UCLA, she spent five years working at the Yale University Office of Development as the program coordinator in Principal Gifts and Corporate and Foundation Relations. She received her bachelor of arts degree in drama from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. Welcome, Hilary!

The 2014-15 Theater Season continues with the opera The Two Figaros and Project III (February); Trash Story and Begonia (March); An Evening of Devised Work, Voir Dire and The Ray Bolger Musical Theater production of Bat Boy: The Musical (May); The Two Cities Project (May/June), in which actors from UCLA TFT and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) will perform new work in real time via broadband Internet connection; Design Showcase West (June); and The Francis Ford Coppola One Act Marathon (date TBD). Details about the season can be found on the UCLA TFT Theater Season website.

Save the Date! The 2015 edition of Sketch to Screen Costume Design Panel and Celebration, which features the Academy Award nominees for Best Costume Design, along with designers of the most provocative films of 2014, will take place on Saturday, Feb. 21 at Schoenberg Hall, with a reception immediately following at the Faculty Center. David Copley Center Founding Director and Chair and past Academy Award nominee Professor DEBORAH NADOOLMAN LANDIS Ph.D. will moderate the panel. Variety is a media sponsor. Ticket sales begin Monday, Jan. 19.

Transforming Hollywood 6: Alternative Realities: World-Building and Immersive Entertainment will take place on Friday, May 8 at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television's James Bridges Theater. Denise Mann, Associate professor and head of the Producers Program at UCLA TFT, and Henry Jenkins, Provost's professor of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts and Education at the University of Southern California, are the event co-chairs. Ticket sales will begin in late March-early April. Variety is a media sponsor.

The Department of Theater's production of The Other Town, written by M.F.A. playwright NICK JOHNSON, was featured in the Daily Bruin. The Bruin also ran this article about Hidden Choreographies, a collaboration between the Department of Theater and the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance.

MICHELLE HOLMES (M.F.A. '83), JOHNNY ORTIZ (B.A. '13), SCOTT SEIFFERT (M.F.A. '98), TONI SMITH (M.F.A. '09) and DAN SPECTOR (B.A. '78) were featured in the DOMA Theater Company's production of Young Frankenstein, which ended its run on Thursday, Nov. 30.

Tony Award-winning director JOHN RANDO (M.F.A. '88) is directing the hit Broadway revival of the classic musical On the Town, which has been hailed by the New York Times as 'jubilant” and by the Associated Press as 'dazzling.” On the Town opened at the Lyric Theater in mid-October for an open-ended run.

Internet sensation CHESTER SEE (B.A. '06) made his Broadway debut at the Helen Hayes Theatre as rock icon Stacee Jaxx in Rock of Ages. See, whose last performance was on Sunday, Jan. 4, has more than 1.5 million subscribers and 161 million views on his YouTube channel.

In early November, KELLY TODD (B.A. '97) was an Ovations Award winner for her choreography of Lysistrata Jones at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills. Other UCLA TFT faculty and alumni who were nominated include SHEILA CALLAGHAN (M.F.A. '97), Playwriting for an original play: Everything You Touch; SHANNON HOLT (B.A. '84), Featured actress in a play: Passion Play; JON GOTTLIEB (M.F.A. '07), Sound design (Large theater): Country House; ANNA KHAJA (B.A. '97), Lead actress in a play: My Name Is Ahser Lev; HANA KIM (M.F.A. '12), Video/projection design: The Ugly One and Video/projection design: Pray to Ball; BRIAN KITE (B.A. '91; M.F.A. '04), Director of a musical: Les Miserables; JESSICA KUBZANSKY, Director of a play: Everything You Touch; SPENCER LEE (B.A. '98), Video/projection design: Pray to Ball; TIM ROBBINS (B.A. '82), Director of a play: A Midsummer Night's Dream; PABLO SANTIAGO (M.F.A.'13), Lighting design: Premeditation; JOSE LUIS VALENZUELA, Director of a play: Premeditation.

The Secret Ingredients of Rockey Cola, written by MIKE VUKADINOVICH (M.F.A. '07), is among the 70 scripts that were announced for the 10th annual Black List, which names the year's best unproduced scripts.

BETH BEHRS (B.A. '08), featured in this Hollywood Reporter article, discussed 2 Broke Girls, her future music career and her memories of UCLA TFT…JESSE DRAPER (B.A. '06), creator and host of The Valley Girl Show, conducted a seminar in early November, 'Women Breaking Barriers: Bruin Entrepreneurs and Tech Leaders” at San Francisco's Cowell Theater. She was also featured in a Huffington Post Q&A and one in the Daily Bruin…In early October, BRENDON FOX (M.F.A. '09) directed Harold Pinter's domestic drama, Old Times, at Washington College in Chestertown, Md., where Fox is the assistant director of drama…In mid-October, JOSE MERCADO (M.F.A. '00) made his Los Angeles directing debut with the West Coast premiere of Dreaming Sin Fronteras, part of the Vision & Voices series at USC. He has been a theater and film professor at the University of Colorado, Denver for the past seven years…TIM ROBBINS (B.A. '82) and his Actors' Gang studio were profiled in the December issue of American Theatre magazine…In early November, ALEXANDRA SILADI (B.A. '09) directed and produced the world premiere of Beyond Wild at Heart: An X-Rated Evening with Barry Gifford at Brooklyn's Anthology Film Archives, Courthouse Theater…With Child, starring and produced by LESLIE LEWIS SWORD (M.F.A. '04), had its world premiere at the 19th Busan International Film Festival in early October…In October and early November, MATTHEW WRATHER (M.F.A. '12) appeared in Glorious! at Long Beach's International City Theatre.

The Theater season kicked off at UCLA TFT's Freud Playhouse on Friday, Dec. 5, with The Revenger's Tragedy, written by English playwright Thomas Middleton in 1606 and directed by LISA WOLPE, artistic director of the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company. The Jacobean tragedy of lust and ambition featured student actors ZURI ADELE, NICK BELL, ANASTASIA BONACCORSO, E.J. CABASAL, JANICE CHUA, KYLE COMPTON, CAITLIN FERRELL, MARGUERITE FRENCH, COBY GETZUG, ANGELA GIRRATANA, JEANETTE GODOY, SACHANDRA GRANDOIT, NADA JAWAD, ISRAEL LÓPEZ, MISHA RILEY, ALIYSA SHAREEF, ROSHNI SHUKLA and MIEBAKA YOHANNES. Scenic Design: JI YOUNG LEE. Costume Design: MOLLY IRELAN. Lighting Design: GINEVRA LOMBARDO. Sound Design: JESSE KIOUS. Stage Manager: JAMES THOMPSON

The Laramie Project, which took place in the Little Theater from Dec. 9-13, chronicled the 1998 murder of gay teenager Matthew Shepard and closely examined hate and homophobia in our society, as told by published news reports, friends, family and inhabitants of Laramie, Wyo. Written by Moises Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project. Directed by MFA director BRYAN PUCKETT. The Laramie Project featured student actors ANNETTE BIZAL, WILL BLOCK, ZOE BOCHNER, WILL BOSTWICK, JAMES KAEMMERLING, JULIE LANCTOT, GARETH MARSH, MIA FAITH MCKOWN, EMILY MIKOLITCH, BECCA NOBLE, BRETTE O'BRIEN, MAXWELL OZER, HECTOR D. PLEINS, LAURA RICHARDSON, MARGARET STARBUCK, ROBERT WATSON and JODI WOFFORD. Scenic and Projection Design: HYE SUN LEE. Costume Design: MICHELLE MOON. Lighting Design: GELAREH SOOFISIAVASH. Sound Design: NOELLE SAMMOUR. Stage Manager: ROWAN SMITH

The New Play Festival took place Dec. 10-13 and featured M.F.A. playwright NICHOLAS JOHNSON's The Other Town, in which Stevie, struggling to make ends meet in the foggy redwoods of California, cared for her sister and emotionally frayed mother while watching her own dreams float away. Directed by RICHARD MARTINEZ (M.F.A. '09). The Other Town featured student actors LILA GAVARES, OLIVIA O'CONNOR, ANTHONY SORRELLS and SARAH YARKIN. Scenic Design: NOAH HOLLIDAY. Costume Design: LEARON INBAR. Lighting Design: MICHAEL KOZACHENKO. Sound Design: RENEE REIFF. Stage Manager: ALEX WOLF

Award-winning cinematographer MANDY WALKER, ASC, ACS (the upcoming Jane Got a Gun, Red Riding Hood, Australia, Shattered Glass), has been named the 2014 Kodak Cinematographer-in-Residence at UCLA TFT. This is the 15th year of the residency program, which is sponsored by the Eastman Kodak Company. The residency began in mid-December with hands-on student workshops and continues for the remainder of the 2014-2015 academic year.

 

 

Please, Don't Bury Me Alive! (1976), which Cinema and Media Studies Professor CHON NORIEGA, recovered, archived and then raised funds to preserve, is among the 25 films recently selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry. Also included on the annual list is the 1965 student documentary short film Felicia, about life in Watts before the Los Angeles riots, which was created by alumni TREVOR GREENWOOD (B.A. '62) and ALAN GORG (M.F.A. '70). The National Film Registry, which currently spans the years 1913-2004 and includes 650 titles, ensures that chosen films will be preserved for all time.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night filmmaker ANA LILY AMIRPOUR (M.F.A. '10) won the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award at the 24th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards in early December at New York City's Cipriani Wall Street. She and her film were also nominated for Independent Spirit Awards, as was her Girl producer JUSTIN BEGNAUD (M.F.A. '10) and alumnus CHRIS ESKA (M.F.A. '03) for his film, The Retrieval. Additionally, Amirpour was profiled in this Co.Create.com article and wrote a piece for MovieMaker, in which she discusses the importance of asking 'why.”

The projects of three UCLA TFT alumni are represented in the 2015 Annie Awards nominations. MIKE B. ANDERSON (M.F.A. '90) is the supervising director of The Simpsons, which is nominated for Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production. JOAQUIN BALDWIN (M.F.A. '10) was the director of cinematography/ layout for Feast, which is nominated for Best Animated Short Subject. ERICK OH (M.F.A. '10) was the supervising animator for The Dam Keeper, which is also nominated for Best Animated Short Subject. The Annie Awards will take place on Saturday, Jan. 31 at UCLA's Royce Hall.

GINA PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD's (B.A. '91) film Beyond the Lights, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Nate Parker and Minnie Driver, was released by Relativity Media in mid-November. Since its release, the $7 million film has earned $14.5 million. Prince-Bythewood and director and Executive Board member REGINALD HUDLIN (NBC's Bad Judge – 'Knife to a Gunfight”) have also been named NAACP Image Award nominees.

PAUL T. SCHEURING (B.A. '92), who wrote the teleplay for Discovery Channel's miniseries Klondike (parts 1, 3 and 6) and Saturday Night Live staff writer JOHN SOLOMON (B.A. '92) have been nominated for Writers Guild Awards. The ceremony takes place on Saturday, Feb. 14 in Los Angeles.

In mid-November, in recognition of his outstanding contributions, veteran television animation writer LEN UHLEY (B.A. '77) received the WGAW's 2014 Animation Writers Caucus Writing Award during the AWC's annual meeting and awards ceremony at WGAW headquarters in Los Angeles. The WGAW's AWC Animation Writing Award is given to members of the Animation Writers Caucus or Writers Guild who have advanced the literature of animation in film and television throughout the years and made outstanding contributions to the profession of the animation writer.

Producer JUSTIN BEGNAUD (M.F.A. '10) and his film Dara Ju were selected by Film Independent to participate in the 14th annual Producing Lab, a four-week intensive program designed to help filmmakers develop skills as creative independent producers. Begnaud was one of nine producers in the program, which took place from mid-October to mid-November; the film was one of eight.

MITCHELL CANNOLD (B.A. '71) and his Cosmos producing team have been nominated for a Producers Guild of America Award. The ceremony will take place Saturday, Jan. 24 in Los Angeles.

Filmmaker JUSTIN LIN (B.A. '95) will helm Star Trek 3 for Paramount Pictures, Skydance Productions and JJ Abrams' Bad Robot Productions. Lin's last film, Fast & Furious 6, grossed $788.7 million in worldwide box-office receipts.

Experimental filmmaker NINA MENKES (M.F.A. '89) is in preproduction on the feature film Minotaur, a retelling of the Theseus and the Minotaur legend that is also an exploration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian actor Ziad Bakri and Russian actress Svetlana Khodchenkova have been signed as the leads. Israeli-Palestinian producer Tony Copti of Jaffa-based Fresco Films is producing.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, filmmaker ALEXANDER PAYNE (M.F.A. '90) is rekindling his script Downsized, the story of a down-on-his-luck man (Matt Damon) who decides to improve his life by shrinking himself. Payne will also produce.

In Spring 2014, Dr. QI WANG (Ph.D. '08) was promoted to associate professor with tenure at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. Wang's new book, Memory, Subjectivity and Independent Chinese Cinema, which examines the history of moving image works in China between 1990 and 2010, was recently published through Edinburgh University Press.

Below Dreams, written and directed by GARRETT BRADLEY (M.F.A. '12), won the Grand Jury Prize, and MILENA PASTREICH (M.F.A. '12), the film's cinematographer, won the best cinematography award at the 25th Annual New Orleans Film Festival. In early 2014, during the Tribeca Film Festival, IndieWire Critics Picks named Below Dreams best narrative feature and best first feature, and Bradley was named best director…STUART FAIL (M.F.A. '12) has been hired to write the feature script Soccer Monkey for Good Deed Entertainment…ARTEL GREAT (B.A. '10; M.F.A. '12) was featured as one of The Atlanta Black Star's '12 Black Prodigies You've Probably Never Heard of.”… In December, veteran television producer LOUIS J. HORVITZ (B.A. '68) was profiled in the Alumni Stories section of the UCLA Alumni website…Filmmaker LENA KHAN (B.A. '07) was the guest speaker at the UCLA Community Programs Office's 6th Annual Welcome in mid-October…JASON B. KOHL's (M.F.A. '13) dramatic short, The Slaughter, is featured on Short of the Week. The film, which premiered at SXSW in 2013, was a Student Academy Awards finalist…Margarita, With a Straw, which was directed by SHONALI BOSE (M.F.A. '07) had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, and also screened at the festival…The teleplay Steamtowne, written by MISCHA PFISTER (M.F.A. '09), was a quarter-finalist at the Slamdance Screenwriting competition in early 2014…Women in Politics, a documentary directed and produced by GRACE LEE (M.F.A '02), aired on PBS in early November. The episode is part of the PBS series Makers: Women who Make America, which chronicles the struggles of women politicians over the last century…NICK SHERRY (M.F.A. '13) was recently hired as an international sales coordinator at Sierra Affinity (Kill the Messenger, Nightcrawler), a leading independent film finance, production and foreign sales company…NIKKI STIER (M.F.A. '12) is now the director of development at Good Deed Entertainment. Stier was previously employed at 20th Century Fox where she worked on various projects, including The Maze Runner and the sequel to Independence Day…TERESA SULLIVAN (M.F.A. '14) recently penned a first-person article for Hollywood Journal about her experiences as a budding screenwriter and M.F.A. student at UCLA TFT.

Second-year UCLA TFT graduate student HAN-YEE LING emerged victorious at the 59th Annual Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards in early November, earning the $15,000 first-place prize for Spaghetti Bridges, one of five finalist scripts in contention. In a tie, the $7,500 second-place prize went to a pair of winning screenwriters: KEVIN HUMAN (M.F.A. '14) for his TV pilot script Hell Is Other Cowboys, and second-year UCLA TFT graduate student GAIA VIOLO for her TV pilot script Absentia. TERESA SULLIVAN (M.F.A. '14) and A.J. MARCHISELLO (M.F.A. '14) came in third ($4,000) for their TV pilot script doubleblind, while DAN PATRICK (M.F.A. '14) received the honorable mention ($1,000) for Village of Sweet Dreams. John Goldwyn, vice president of the Samuel Goldwyn Foundation, announced the winners during the evening ceremony at the UCLA Faculty Center.

Fourteen UCLA TFT animation students were the recipients of the 2014 Matt Groening Production Fellowship in Animation. Their work was shown during an official screening in mid-November at the James Bridges Theater. The student films included CHLOE BOOHER's Goong Goong; HEATHER COLLINS' The Walker; BEN HAIST's Cat Lady; KATE ISENBERG's Heads or Tails; RAMI KIM's The Dress; FAN LIANG's Light and Life; KIRSTEN MURPHY's Having a Ball; HEATHER PAUL's Breakfast; TYLER RICE's The Awesome Amazing Hour of Walt the Walnut; YANGZI SHE's Eggplant; JOE STATOM's Backseat Full of Weird; JING WANG's The Fall of Last Leaf; ZEHAO XUE's Currency Affairs; and SEUNG YOON's Helping Hand.

The 34th Munich International Festival of Film Schools selected the films of UCLA TFT alumni DEHANZA ROGERS (M.F.A. '13) and BRYNACH DAY (M.F.A. '13) and grad student LUCRETIA STINNETTE as part of its November lineup. Additionally, Stinnette, a recent recipient of the Princess Grace Foundation's Princess Grace Graduate Film Scholarship, was profiled in this UCLA Newsroom story. Her award-winning short film, Quyen, was inspired by Stinnette's own experiences traveling abroad.

Fourth-year film student RAFE BLOOD's short film Hold It won the Jury Prize at the 2014 Campus MovieFest. It will move on to the Hollywood finale in June to compete against hundreds of shorts submitted from across the country.

I'll Take Care of You, a film from UCLA TFT undergraduate film student MORGAN PETERSON, was featured in the NewFilmmakers LA Film Festival in mid-December.

Dean TERI SCHWARTZ has appointed SUE-ELLEN CASE as the Department of Theater's Interim Chair for Winter and Spring Quarters 2015, replacing Professor MICHAEL HACKETT, who successfully held the position for a five-year term and stepped down at the end of Fall Quarter 2014. Professor Case, who is Distinguished Professor and Chair, Ph.D. Program in Theater and Performance Studies and Director for the Center for Performance Studies, is an internationally renown scholar who is published widely in the fields of German theater, feminism and theater, performance theory and lesbian critical theory. She is the recipient of both the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Society for Theater Research and the Association for Theater in Higher Education.

Lecturer NEEMA BARNETTE has been tapped to direct the feature Soccer Monkey for Good Deed Entertainment. She was also recently profiled in this IndieWire Q&A, where she talked about her start as a director as well as her recent award from the 6th Annual Lady Filmmakers Festival.

In early November, BARBARA BOYLE, professor and associate dean, Entrepreneurial Activities and Special Initiatives, gave a keynote address at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival & Conservation Summit in St. Petersburg, Fla., where she spoke about storytelling and her career experiences. The public event is known internationally as a place for conservationists, students and marine science enthusiasts to engage in important discussion on ocean conservation.

In October, Lecturer MARIA ELENA DE LAS CARRERAS was a documentary cinema juror at the 15th Annual Polish Film Festival in Los Angeles.

Professor DEBORAH LANDIS is one of 12 members recently appointed to the Governing Board of the National Film Preservation Foundation. In early November, she was a guest on the podcast Road to Cinema. As the creator and curator of Hollywood Costume, she spoke about the multimedia exhibit currently on display (through March 2) at the future home of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. In mid-November, along with costume designer Jeffrey Kurland, Professor Landis conducted a talk about Hollywood costume collaborations prior to a double feature screening of Bullets Over Broadway and Hannah and Her Sisters at the Motion Picture Academy as part of the ongoing series The Perfect Match: Hollywood Costume Collaborations.

Professor KATHLEEN MCHUGH has been appointed UCLA TFT's Associate Dean for Diversity and Equity (ADDE) as part of a Campus-wide 'diversity responsibility” initiative launched by UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott Waugh.

In late October, Cinema and Media Studies Professor and Chicano Studies Research Center Director CHON NORIEGA was the featured speaker at Cornell University's 'Cornell on Trial: The University and the Creative Arts, Revisited.” The event reflected on the role of art exhibitions and student activism as a catalyst for political change. Professor Noriega was also honored in early November with an Excellence in Community Service Award from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) during its 2014 Los Angeles gala. 

Assistant Professor SYLVAN OSWALD's micro-play, Little Thing, was recently published in The Best American Non-Required Reading 2014.

MYRL SCHREIBMAN, adjunct professor, director of entrepreneurial studies and president of production for Good Deeds Entertainment, was one of the featured speakers on KABC Radio's The Artist's Way at Work in early November.

Animation Professor CHUCK SHEETZ has directed 19 episodes of Fox's The Simpsons, now in its 26th season. His most recent, 'The Wreck of the Relationship,” aired on Sunday, Oct. 5.

The Hollywood Reporter named Visiting Assistant Professor CHRISTOPHER SPICER to its 20th annual Next Gen list, which spotlights Hollywood's top executives under the age of 35.

Associate Professor and REMAP Founding Director FABIAN WAGMISTER was featured in a Daily Bruin article about the LASHP Trails mobile website he developed with his team at UCLA REMAP's Interpretive Media Laboratory (IMLab). The result of 10 years of research and featuring urban paths that explore the past, present and future of the neighborhoods surrounding the Los Angeles State Historic Park (LASHP), the website is the first site-specific historic storytelling environment in Los Angeles.

RICHARD WALTER, professor and co-area head of the Screenwriting Program, recently conducted a Blog Talk Radio interview with Svetlana Kim on To the Stars Through Adversity.

Producing Theater Now, a five-week certificate program that brings students up-to-date on all the latest developments and pitfalls in the complicated and ever-changing world of professional theater, will take place March 30-April 28. The application deadline for the course, which will be taught by five-time Tony Award nominee SUSAN DIETZ in Los Angeles, is Feb. 15. Click here to download the application form.

 

UCLA Film & Television Archive will present the film series 'The Greatest Showman: Cecil B. DeMille,” screening Friday, Jan. 9-Saturday, Feb. 28 at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood Village. This retrospective of work from one of cinema's greatest storytellers will showcase 10 films restored by the Archive, including Cleopatra (1934), The Plainsman (1937) and The Buccaneer (1938).

The Archive will also present 'Kenji Mizoguchi,” a selection of the Japanese director's rarely screened masterpieces, shown in 35mm. The series will screen Friday, Jan. 16-Sunday, Feb. 15 and includes such seminal titles as The Life of Oharu (1952), Ugetsu (1953) and Sansho that Bailiff (1954).

The Archive's landmark three-month films series, Through Indian Eyes: Native American Cinema, wrapped at the Billy Wilder Theater in mid-December. The series featured many in-person conversations with filmmakers, including UCLA TFT alumna Valerie Red-Horse Mohl (B.A. '81), who also served as a co-curator for the series.

Archive Director JAN-CHRISTOPHER HORAK's recently published book, Saul Bass: Anatomy of Film Design, was included in Leonard Maltin's New and Notable Film Books for 2014; Horak recently spoke about Bass' life and work with Alicia Mayer.

Archive staff were presenters at The Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) annual conference, which took place in early October in Savannah, Ga. Archive Research and Study Center Manager MARK QUIGLEY and Television Archivist DAN EINSTEIN presented as part of Two-inch Treasures: Preserving and Appreciating Vintage Video in Cinema-Centric Culture. Quigley teamed with Motion Picture Archivist TODD WIENER to present at Out of the Closets & Onto the Web: Digital Access & LGBT Archives. Newsreel Preservationist JEFFREY BICKEL and Collection Services Manager ROSA GAIARSA presented at Stages of Nitrate Deterioration: Does Cool and Dry Really Matter?

In mid-November, Participant Media CEO and Executive Board member JIM BERK was named the new chair of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television's Executive Board.

In mid-October, Executive Board member WILLIAM MITCHELL was appointed chair of The UCLA Foundation. The Foundation enables individuals to turn philanthropy into action to make a global impact as it manages donated resources for the advancement of UCLA.

Professor and Executive Board member PETER GUBER is one of three owners of the new Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC). Guber is also the chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group, owner and co-executive chairman of the NBA's Golden State Warriors, and co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The new club will debut in 2017 in a brand new stadium.

HBO has given a formal series pickup to board member MARTIN SCORSESE's untitled rock 'n roll project, which stars Bobby Cannavale and is also executive produced by Mick Jagger and Terence Winter.