film

“First Look” Film Festival Premieres on BYU’s West Campus

Professor Brad Barber and TMA Alumni Receive Three Emmy Nominations For “21” Documentary Series

Local Screening of Final Cut will Showcase Student-Made Films from BYU Seniors

Professor Tom Russell Walked Lecture Attendees Through Personal Experiences and Film Projects to Show how God Has Been with Him Through It All.

Representing more than a decade of work, the first installment of the filmmaker’s visionary short film project aims to connect and unify Americans one state at a time

“Skaterhood” tells compelling story of female skateboarders and their ties to motherhood

Celene Mitchell is already forging her own path to a successful career in film

Jiménez recently received a Student Heritage Award from the American Society of Cinematographers and saw his work screened at Sundance

Clegg — from Fruit Heights, Utah — will graduate with a BA in media arts studies on April 24, 2020

Videographer and media arts alum Scott Cook shares his experience with dance film, collaboration and mentoring

The town portrayed in the Sundance premiere of The Killing of Two Lovers is so small that David, who is staying at his father’s home while he and Nikki try to figure out if their marriage is salvageable, easily can see everything going on in the lives of his wife and four kids in the home just down the street. Directed by Robert Machoian, a photography program faculty member at Brigham Young University in Provo, this feature-length narrative offers a superbly crafted, beautifully filmed story about how the difficulties of asking for space to sort things out in a marriage are magnified enormously in a town as small as the one the director chose for the film’s production. Selected for the festival’s NEXT category, the film shines in performances that capture the simmering tensions and spoken words that could derail any good faith intention of reconciling problems in a marriage. And, Machoian – with an impressive, understated, elegant choice of mise-en-scène – gives the viewer the utter irony of the notion of asking for space in a small central Utah town set against an impressive mountain range (although there is no card title specifying the location). The film was supported by the Utah Film Commission. Read the full story by Les Roka at theutahreview.com.

Robert Machoian Graham has seen four of his past films make it to Sundance. The latest marks the first time one of his full-length films has been accepted.

https://vimeo.com/295876694 BYU’s highly esteemed Center for Animation became even more reputable when the short film “Grendel,” directed and produced by BYU animation students, recently won its sixth Student Academy Award. This year, the Student Academy Awards competition received a total of 1,615 entries from 255 domestic and 105 international colleges and universities. Only 16 entries received an award. Student director Kalee McCollaum and student producer Austin Rodriguez worked with approximately 40 students to make this film a reality. Thousands of hours went into the project which was supervised by professors Kelly Loosli and R. Brent Adams. The story of “Grendel” is a reverse telling of the classic Beowulf tale where Grendel, the friendly monster in the film, is joined by rowdy Viking neighbors who harass him. He slowly starts to retaliate until he realizes he’s the one who has become the monster. This realization spikes a change in character as he chooses to help save the Vikings from other creatures. Read more at news.byu.edu, sltrib.com or usatoday.com

BYU Department of Theatre and Media Arts professor Benjamin Thevenin and alumnus Max Johnson create podcast to discuss societal and political issues in constructive ways BYU professor Benjamin Thevenin and TMA graduate Max Johnson hoped to open a larger conversation about diversity and issues faced by marginalized communities when they created their podcast “Movies as Mirrors.” “We've been trying as faculty in the media arts program to try to integrate more talk about identity, politics, race, class, gender, and sexuality into our curriculum,” said Thevenin. “I think we've made some progress in that area — but we could be doing a much better job of preparing BYU students to engage in effective ways in these conversations.” In order to more fully open the conversation, Thevenin and Johnson invite a guest to each podcast to talk about a movie of their choosing. Most guests are people from Thevenin’s classes, colleagues at BYU and others they know who are passionate about what they think a movie has to say. “We're not particularly interested in talking about what we have to say about these movies,” said Thevenin. “We wanted the podcast to be an opportunity for us to hear what others have to say about their experiences — how the movie resonates with them.” Read the full story at tma.byu.edu.

Howie Burbidge’s senior project focuses on how dying isn’t losing

The BYU Department of Theatre and Media Arts and BYU Student Film Association present Final Cut, the student-produced, student-created film festival on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 13-14, in the Harris Fine Arts Center. Final Cut showcases a collection of the best student-made fiction films, documentaries, commercials, animations and more. The festival includes two programs labeled Program A and Program B, which feature different film selections. Both programs will be shown once each evening of the festival at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Separate tickets are required for admission to each program screening and are discounted for BYU students. Immediately following the final screening on Friday, Oct. 14, an awards ceremony will take place, with prizes for best entries in categories including fiction, non-fiction, commercials, animation and the audience favorite. Past Final Cut films can be viewed at studentfilms.byu.edu. Writer: Preston Williamson See more photos. >>>>>> Dates & Times: Program A: Oct 13, 7 p.m. & Oct 14, 9 p.m. Program B: Oct 13, 9 p.m. & Oct 14, 7 p.m. Location: Pardoe Theater, Harris Fine Arts Center, BYU Price: $4-5 Tickets: Available in person at the BYU Ticket Office in the Harris Fine Arts Center or Marriott Center, by phone at 801-422-2981 or online at byuarts.com

Media Arts student Willem Kampenhout won Best Emerging Director at the Other Worlds Austin Film Festival for his film The Surface. The film also won Best Emerging Production Design, attributed to Ashley Cook. Kampenhout started making films when he was only six years old and used his personal experience growing up as the inspiration for The Surface. In December of 2013 he spent winter break watching several crime drama series, which sparked the question, “How much would one risk on behalf of their family?” “I began writing the story of a mother wandering the apocalyptic wasteland in search for spare parts for her cybernetic husband and daughter whilst avoiding a mechanically mutated monster,” Kampenhout said. From this, he developed the story of a mother who risks everything to save the life of her son. The film follows the mother as she searches for a new power source to help her dying son. After being tricked into buying a bad power cell, her only hope is to venture to the blighted surface and steal the infinity cell from one of the monstrous “tainted” creatures. The whole film came together in about two years from start to finish. Kampenhout mentioned the greatest difficulty behind creating a film was being a student and working with other students. “We have obligations other than our projects,” Kampenhout said. “Because it is not an income source, we have jobs as well.” Other than a lack of time, they faced a lack of experience that required more time to produce quality work. Despite these challenges, Kampenhout enjoyed working with other talented and eager students who worked on the music, sound design, art, cinematography and acting. He believes that real joy comes when someone other than oneself gets behind the story and makes it better. They entered the film in Other Worlds Austin, a film festival featuring only Sci Fi films, where he won the award. The Surface also won Best Student Film at the Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival and has currently been accepted into Dam Short Film Festival (Nevada), Original Narrative FIlm Festival (Dubai) and Film Quest (Salt Lake City). “We are building an audience for the film, and seeking out distribution and investors to fund a feature film version of it,” he said. Visit the film’s Facebook page for the trailer and updates about the film. https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfaceFilm

The BYU Department of Theatre and Media Arts and the BYU Student Film Association present the Fall 2015 Final Cut Film Festival in the Pardoe Theater, Harris Fine Arts Center, on Oct. 22 and Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tickets are $5,with discounts available for students, and can be purchased in person at the BYU Ticket Office in the Harris Fine Arts Center or Marriott Center, by phone at 801-422-2981 or online at byuarts.com. The BYU Final Cut Film Festival is a student-produced, student-created film festival. The festival will screen a collection of the best student-made fiction films, documentaries, commercials, animations and more. The purpose of this festival is to encourage students to create and watch meaningful and creative media. Festival submissions are open to all current BYU students. Two programs, each about 75 minutes long, will be screened each night, with an awards ceremony after the last screening on Friday. Program A: Thursday, Oct. 22, 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, 9 p.m. Program B: Thursday, Oct. 22, 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m.