Call for Applications: Flaherty Festival & Doc’s Kingdom Festival

CalArts School of Film/Video will support 2 scholarships for fellowships to the FLAHERTY FESTIVAL (June, 2020) and 2 scholarships to DOC’S KINGDOM FESTIVAL (September, 2020)

THE FLAHERTY SEMINAR/FESTIVAL: a 1-week documentary film seminar/festival held at Colgate University, Hamilton NY, June 13-19, 2020

DOC’S KINGDOM: a 1-week documentary film festival held in Arcos de Valdevez, Portugal, during the first week of September, 2020.

Both are open to School of Film/Video MFAs and BFAs (see ELIGIBILITY below)

APPLICATION DUE:  THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2020, 5 pm

See information on both festivals, their respective fellowship programs, and link to submission form below.

1. Info on 2020 Flaherty Seminar

Flaherty Seminar 2020 Programmer: JANAINA OLVEIRA

The FLAHERTY FILM SEMINAR brings together 170 filmmakers, artists, curators, scholars, students, librarians, and film enthusiasts to celebrate the power of the moving image. Participants gather for a communal living experience that includes meals, social hours, special events, and at least three screening sessions daily followed by discussion. Work presented at the Seminar includes documentary, experimental, narrative, and new media works.

For more on the Flaherty Seminar/festival or guest curator Janaina Olveira: www.flahertyseminar.org/welcome

THE FLAHERTY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM offers fellows an extra day on campus before the Seminar begins to meet with the Seminar programmer and Flaherty board members, participate in two master classes, and watch and discuss each other’s films, by way of an informal fellows screening program.

Flaherty Fellows Costs, Travel & Lodging

The School of Film/Video will cover travel expenses up to $600 each for two students from Los Angeles to the Flaherty as well as Seminar fees. CalArts students, like all Seminar participants, will stay in lodging arranged by the Flaherty Seminar at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, a 1-hour drive from Syracuse, NY, and a 4-hour drive from New York City.

2. Info on 2020 Doc’s Kingdom International Seminar on Documentary Film

DOC’S KINGDOM takes place in Arcos de Valdevez, Portugal, during the first week of September. The format of Doc’s Kingdom is very similar to the Flaherty Seminar. Doc’s Kingdom gathers an international community of 100 participants for an immersive program of screenings and discussions in the presence of 10 featured filmmakers during this weeklong event.  Note that info on the 2020 festival, including info on the guest curator, is not yet online as of early February.

For more info on Doc’s Kingdom: www.docskingdom.org/eng/entrada.html

Doc’s Kingdom Fellows Costs, Travel & Lodging

The School of Film/Video will contribute $800 as a travel stipend to the festival for each student. Festival fees and lodging are supported by the Doc’s Kingdom Festival. Students will be expected to pay any additional travel or other voluntary expenses not directly part of the festival. CalArts students, like all Seminar participants, will stay in lodging arranged by Doc’s Kingdom in Arcos de Valdevez, Portugal.

3. Application & Submission Process

To apply for one of the CalArts Flaherty or Doc’s Kingdom Scholarships, you will be asked to submit:

—A one-page essay (300-500 words) that includes 1) a description of your current work, and 2) why you are interested in attending one of these documentary festivals.  

—a 5 minute work sample posted on vimeo (can be more than one project, or an excerpt, but 5 min total).

APPLY HERE

Eligibility

Students from all four Film/Video programs, BFAs and MFAs who will have been enrolled for a minimum of one year prior to June 2020 are eligible to apply. The Flaherty and Doc’s Kingdom seminars/festivals are about documentary cinema, though this is viewed broadly and can include essay, hybrids of fiction and documentary, and experimental or formal work that intersect with this year’s Seminar themes. Your work does not need to be restricted to documentary to apply, however, you should be able to demonstrate interest and engagement with questions provoked by documentary and related forms of cinematic inquiry in your essay. Applicants must be reliable and academically productive. Students who have been selected for previous CalArts Flaherty or Doc’s Kingdom fellowships are not eligible.

If you have questions, please email Chris Hill (chill@calarts.edu).

Sound Mix and Post Production Questionnaire

Dear Graduating MFAs and Graduating BFAs: 

A mandatory meeting for prospective 2020 graduating students who are planning to mix a film or video project and do post production this spring semester has been set for Wednesday, February 5 @ 12 NOON in A111 (The Mix Theater). 

We need to know about the projects you plan on having mixed and what your post production needs are. You must fill out the attached questionnaire and bring it to the meeting. 

Sound Mix and Post Production Questionnaire 2020Download

Even if you currently think you will not need to use the School’s sound facilities for a final mix or if you plan to output your work at another facility, it is still mandatory for you to attend and to complete the attached questionnaire. 

In addition to finding out about your projects, we will discuss the process used for scheduling mixes and what you need to do to be ready. 

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday, February 5 @ 12 NOON.

Bijou Festival Student Committee

Mark your calendars, the Bijou Festival will be taking place May 11th – May 15th! The purpose of the Bijou Festival is to share work that has been made this year by students in the School of Film/Video. Finished works and works-in-progress are welcomed. Faculty, staff, and students will host several screening sessions, where any student can sign up to show work. Each student signs up to show one film (or two films, if the total combined running time does not exceed 10 minutes).

This year we will be including installations in the Bijou Festival through an application process. We are looking for 5 students to be part of the student committee led by the Bijou Festival TA. This committee will meet twice to select the installations from the applications. Students committee members cannot apply to do an installation during Bijou Festival and must be available Sunday, May 10th to help with installations. If you are interested, please email a paragraph detailing why you want to be part of the student committee to Lei Lei and Christina Nguyen at bijoufestival@calarts.edu.

Adobe CC 2020 and Adobe CC 2019 Information

We are installing Adobe CC 2020 in addition to the Adobe CC 2019 on all lab machines. 

If you have started a complex or thesis project in an Adobe CC 2019 app, it is recommended that you continue to use Adobe CC 2019 until the completion of the project.

To open a project in an Adobe CC 2019 app, right click on your project and select Open with > Adobe CC 2019. 

You can also launch any Adobe CC 2019 app and then open your project from within the app. 
 Be aware that if you double click on your project, it will automatically open in Adobe CC 2020 and may ask you to update the file which will no longer be compatible with Adobe CC 2019. 

If you have any questions, please submit a ticket.

REDCAT Tickets for Spring 2020

The School of Film/Video is able to offer a limited number of free tickets to select screenings at REDCAT for Film/Video students, faculty, and staff. Ticket request forms have now moved online and are available via the links below.

Please note, the number of tickets is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Filling out the forms linked below is completing a request only. You will receive a confirmation email before the event if your name is on the ticket list.

Tickets are available to current students, faculty, and staff in Film/Video only (one ticket per person).

For other CalArts students, faculty, or staff outside of Film/Video who are interested in attending, discounted CalArts tickets can be purchased from the REDCAT website.

Click the links below to request a ticket:

***Additional screenings to be announced soon ***

Film/Video Recent Achievements

Happy 2020 and welcome back from the School of Film/Video!

Our students, faculty, and alumni have been engaged in quite an array of accomplishments recently. Below is a collection of recent highlights. Congratulations to all!

To share your future updates, email Abigail (aseverance@calarts.edu) and Jill (jkane@calarts.edu). 

STUDENTS / ALUMNI 

Artem Aisagaliev 

Babai

Drew Bacon

Random House

Sanjna Bharadwaj

Birdboy

Vera Brunner-Sung

Character

Chris Buck

Director, Frozen II 

Rayna Buxton

Lights On

  • Selected: TAF Thessaloniki Animation Festival – Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia

Heehyun Choi

Between the Eyes

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/373815862 

Origami Tutorial

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/372029090 

Clarisse Chua

Taku & Mama

  • Official selection: Represent Film Festival
  • Official selection: Panama Animation Festival
  • Official selection: Prime The New Talent International Festival
  • Official selection: Seattle Asian American Film Festival
  • Official selection: Hak-İş Short Film Festival
  • Finalist: Hsin Yi Children’s Animation Awards

Scott Cummings

Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always (Editor)

Wendy (Editor)

Hayat Hyatt

Villanelle

Eliza Hittman

Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always

Joie Estrella Horwitz

Alejandro & Miguel

Chaerin Im

MATE

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/338759089 

62st International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film

8th Primanima World Festival of First Animation

23rd Black Nights Film Festival – PÖFF

12th ANIMASIVO – Festival de Animación Contemporánea de la Ciudad de México  

37th Festival Tous Courts

18th edition of Les Sommets du cinéma d’animation – Festival international de Montréal

Sujin Kim

MOLD

Na Kyung Kim

Just a Small

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/338143439 

Ryan Benjamin Lee

Untitled (Starry Bodies)

  • Ottawa Animation Festival

Yoon Su Lee

Chakham

  • Raindance Film Festival

Chia-Hsin Lee

In an Empty Wood

  • Selected: Great Lakes Shorts Film Festival
  • Selected: FilmBath Festival
  • Award of Commendation: Canada Film Festival
  • Selected: Kinofilm 16th Manchester International Short Film & Animation Festival

Eusong Lee

My Moon

Miwa Matreyek

Infinitely Yours

Alisha Mehta

Losing Light

  • Tacoma Film Festival

Smita Minda

We Love Animals

  • Semi-Finalist: FilmAid Film Festival
  • Semi-Finalist: Journée du Green Documentaire #2
  • Selected: Anim!Arte – International Student Animation Festival of Brazil
  • Selected: Cefalù film festival 2019
  • Selected: Festival Internacional de Cine de Quito

Jihee Nam

Knife Hanging From A Tree

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/365461729 

Brian Yulo Ng

24

Louise Pau

Survival HK

  • Jury’s Special Award for Student Competition, New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival
  • Primanima
  • ReAnimania (Yerevan)
  • Chicago Int’l Children’s film festival

Hannah Peterson

CHAMP

Jonah Primiano

Driftless

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/341672321 

Gregory Rentis

To Sail Close To The Wind

  • TitraFilm Jury Prize at the Les Arcs Film Festival

Robyn Romain

Starlight

Rajee Samarasinghe

Your Touch Makes Others Invisible

Erica Scoggins

The Boogeywoman

  • Austrian Independent Film Festival
  • Bendfilm Festival
  • Int’l Short Festival Brno16

Ekaterina Selenkina

Figures In The Urban Landscape

  • Eurimages Lab Project Award at the Les Arcs Film Festival

Marc Smith

Story Director, Frozen II 

Nate Sonenfeld

Exellence

  • Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival

Kyungwon Song

Jesa

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/374331732

Samantha Sylvers

The Tree

  • 1st place, Short Film Category: NatiVisions Film Festival – Parker, AZ 
  • 3rd place: The Annual Mountain Shadow Short Film Competition – Walnut Creek CA
  • 4th place: Short Film Night – Loutraki, Greece
  • Selected: Red Nation International Film Festival – Los Angeles, CA 
  • Selected: The Maine Animation Festival / ANIMAINE – South Portland, Maine 
  • Selected: CHANIARTOON / International Comic & Animation Festival – Chania, Greece
  • Selected: TAF Thessaloniki Animation Festival – Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia 
  • Selected: Tulum World Environment Film Festival – Tulum, Mexico 
  • Selected: Cartoon Club – Rimini, Italy 
  • Selected: Four Corners Film Festival – Farmington, NM  
  • Selected: First Nations Film & Video Festival – Skokie, IL

Danski Tang

Umbilical

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/342159723 

Armand Tufenkian with Tamer Hassan 

Accession

Solomon Turner

Your Touch Makes Others Invisible

Richard Van

HIẾU

Pendleton Ward

The Midnight Gospel

Jordan Wong

Mom’s Clothes

  • Tacoma Film Festival

Mengxi Yang

AI CAN

  • San Diego Underground Film Festival
  • Factual Animation Film Fuss
  • Eyeworks Film Festival
  • New Chitose Airport International Animation Festival
  • Sidewalk Film Festival

Jingqi Zhang

Sword

  • Finalist: Meet Film Festival
  • Semi-Finalist: Bratina film festival
  • Selected: AFRIFF – 2019
  • Selected: Hai Nan Shorts Festival
  • Selected: Lobo Fest – Festival Internacional de Filmes
  • Selected: NukhuFest
  • Selected: NukaFest
  • Official selection: Kuandu International Animation Festival

Arius Ziaee

We’re Having a Party and Everyone’s Invited

FACULTY

  • REBECCA BARON was in Vienna recently to present her work at the Kubelka School and teach workshops there and at the Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien.
  • PIA BORG was in Paris in December for the Next Step Lab, as part of her film’s selection in the 2019 Cannes Critics Week.
  • STEVE BROWN Short film Chimaera (2018) won in the Short Animation Category Award, Thessaloniki Animation Festival 2019
  • MAIJA BURNETT’s photograph was named a Juror’s Selection at the New York Center for Photographic Art.
  • DARIUSH DERAKHSHANI VFX supervised and produced for 1982 (Lebanon; directed by Oualid Mouaness), which is Lebanon’s official submission for the Foreiegn Language Oscar this coming year.
  • NELSON CARLO DE LOS SANTOS ARIAS received support from Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Bright Future Fund for his new feature Pepe, La Imaginación En El Tercer Cine.
  • MAUREEN FURNISS’s book A New History of Animation is being revised for a second printing in 2020.
  • JOHN HAWK’s Quartertone received a Director’s Citation Award at the Black Maria Film Festival.
  • CHRIS HILL had a 10 week residency with the Agosto Foundation in Prague last summer, 2019 to work on a project on beekeeping and communications.
  • PIXOTE HUNT Background painter for DC Super Hero Girls (Netflix)
  • FRAN KRAUSE Storyboard supervisor for The Fungies! (Cartoon Network)
  • LEI LEI was in Singapore and Rotterdam with A Bright Summer Diary, and screened Breathless Animals at the Singapore International Film Festival, and at REDCAT in the fall.
  • NINA MENKES was given a Trajectory in Cinema Award (lifetime achievement) at Mar de Plata in Argentina, recently had an Artforum piece on Queen of Diamonds and will continue to present her talk on Sex and Power: The Visual Language of Oppression at Rotterdam in February. Her first film will screen at the Hammer in UCLA’s retrospective of student work from the 60s-90s, and The Bloody Child just received funds for restoration at the Academy.
  • MAUREEN SELWOOD’s films are being restored by the Motion Picture Academy. So far they have done Odalisque, The Rug and Flying Circus: An Imagined Memoir. There are more that will be preserved in the near future. Mark Toscano oversees this project. Hail Mary, This Is Just To Say and Pearls are next in line. She was recently interviewed for the Academy’s Oral History Project.
  • ALEXANDER STEWART published Hammerspace, a new animation journal.

CalArtians Nominated for Annie Awards

Best Animated Feature

  • Frozen 2, Chris Buck (Film/Video 78) (story directed by Marc Smith (Film/Video 93))
  • Klaus, Sergio Pablos (Film/Video 92)
  • Toy Story 4, Andrew Stanton (Film/Video BFA 87)

Best VR

  • Bonfire, Baobab Studios (studio founded and run by Eric Darnell (Film/Video MFA 90))

Best Character Design: Feature

  • The Addams Family, Craig Kellman (Film/Video 1990)
  • Frozen 2, Bill Schwab (former School of Film/Video faculty)

Best Character Design: TV/Media

  • DC Super Hero Girls, Episode: #SweetJustice Pt. 1-4, Lauren Faust (Film/Video 95)

Best Character Animation: Video Game

  • Sinclair Snake: Museum Mischief, Nelson Boles (Film/Video BFA 12)

Best Direction: TV/Media

  • DC Super Hero Girls, Natalie Wetzig (Film/Video BFA 12)
  • Disney Mickey Mouse, Alonso Ramirez Ramos (Film/Video BFA 10)

Best Direction: Feature

  • Frozen 2, Chris Buck (Film/Video 78)
  • Klaus, Sergio Pablos (Film/Video 92)

Best Production Design: TV/Media

  • Carmen Sandiego, Linda Fong (Film/Video BFA 15)

Best Storyboarding: Feature

  • Klaus, Sergio Pablos (Film/Video 92)

Best Writing: TV/Media

  • Apple & Onion, Sean Szeles (Film/Video BFA 03)

Best Writing: Feature

  • Toy Story 4, Andrew Stanton (Film/Video BFA 87)

Production/Installation Space Signups – Spring 2020

For those of you looking to book a production/installation space ahead of time for Spring 2020, we will receive your Production/Installation Space Reservation Forms starting on January 2nd until January 8th at 11:59pm. We will set up an individual meeting for Friday, January 10th to finalize your reservation in person. Please keep in mind, any reservations sent after the deadline will be taken into consideration only after the semester begins.

Priority for reservations will be given as follows:

  • MFA 3, 
  • MFA 2, BFA 4
  • MFA 1, BFA 3
  • BFA 2, 
  • BFA 1
  • Students from other schools

The following are instructions on how to sign up to use one of our production and installation facilities. These procedures apply to A404 B&W Studio, C113 Gallery, C115 Video Studio, C117 Permanent Set and BB3 Soundstage. Please read these instructions carefully.

  • Click on this link to download and fill out the Production/Installation Space Reservation Request Form on your computer using Adobe Acrobat or Preview. Attach the completed form and email it to fvproduction@calarts.edu with the subject line “Space Reservation”.
  • Submitting this form does not mean your reservation has been confirmed. You will receive an email setting up an appointment with a Technical Specialist from the FV Production team (Edgar Jorge Baralt and/or Kye Potter) to finalize your reservation.
  • There’s no need to sign this form electronically, you will sign this form during our meeting at the end of the process.

Please, be mindful of the fact that you may have to shift your desired dates according to availability/priority. Be prepared with backup dates during our meeting, just in case.

Best,

The FVProduction Team

Character Animation Optional Workshops / Lectures – Winter Session 2020 (Non-Credit, Open to the Institute)

Sign-ups for Character Animation’s optional Winter Session workshops / lectures begin Monday December 2 at 8:00AM PST at the following link:

https://characteranimation.wufoo.com/forms/calarts-character-animation-winter-session-2020/

Seats are first-come, first-served. When selecting workshops / lectures to attend, please be mindful of your Winter Session schedule. If you sign up, please be sure to attend. The form will close when all seats are taken.

While every effort is made to ensure that each event will take place, this schedule is subject to change.

Winter Break Equipment Checkout

Hello filmmakers,

On Friday, November 15th, The Cage will begin accepting requests for Winter Break. Reservations will be made based on seniority, starting with MFA-3s and BFA-4s, then MFA-2s and BFA-3s, followed by MFA-1s and BFA-1s and 2s. It will be first-come-first-served within those tiers and you must come to The Cage in person. You will need to fill out the paper request form prior to your arrival on Friday November 15th. The form will also be available at The Cage beginning this Wednesday, November 13th. You will be expected to include your name, year level, dates of pick up and return and to answer specific questions about your shoot. It is advisable to mark your first, second and third choices for certain popular items like cameras, lenses and recorders. Do not request items that you don’t have access to.

The official day for equipment check out is Friday, December 13th. All equipment must be returned no later than Thursday, January 9th (no exceptions), but can be returned starting on January 2nd.

Winter Session reservations can be made no earlier than Friday, Dec 13th. 

Winter Session checkouts will begin on Monday, Jan 13th, with everything returning no later than Thursday, Jan 23rd.

Please think very carefully about your shooting plans over the break. You will be limited to one camera, one sound recorder and a maximum of three lenses. Other limitations may be necessary for us to accommodate as many students as possible. Much equipment reserved for Winter Break returns without ever being used. Save yourself the stress and trouble and make a real plan about whether you’re going to shoot or not. Be realistic about what you can accomplish without a big crew,  while traveling, etc. Also be mindful that the more equipment you take out for an extended period of time, the easier it is to lose track of it. You are completely responsible for everything you have out for the duration. If you are traveling out of the country, you must talk to Justin Hogan about buying the necessary insurance. 

Feel free to come and talk to us about your projects if you need any help.

Thank you,
The Cage