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KCET's Annual 'Fine Cut' Student Film Festival Honors Filmmakers From Eight Schools, Premiering June 23

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Four-Week Series to Showcase Student Films from Art

Center

College of Design, CalArts, Chapman University, 

Columbia

College Hollywood,  

Loyola Marymount University, UCLA and USC

Burbank, Calif. - Jun. 10, 2014 - KCET, in collaboration with

the Bridges/Larson Foundation, presents 

FINE CUT: KCET'S ANNUAL

FESTIVAL OF STUDENT FILMS

, honoring filmmakers from seven renowned

schools across Southern California. Now celebrating its 17th year,

the four-week series will showcase some of the finest documentaries, comedic,

dramatic and animated shorts by students. The series, hosted by legendary

actor/producer Jack Larson, begins June 23, 2014 at 9 p.m.

This season's participating student filmmakers hail from Art Center College

of Design, California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Chapman University,

Columbia College Hollywood, Loyola Marymount University (LMU), the UCLA School

of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT) and University of Southern

California (USC). 

"We're excited to continue our 17-year tradition of showcasing

exceptional films from talented Southern California student filmmakers,"

said Bohdan Zachary, Senior Vice President of Broadcasting, Programming

and Syndication for KCETLink, who also serves as executive producer of the

annual series. "This body of work is so impressive that it's hard to

believe these films are made by students who are still in the process of honing

their craft. We are pleased to extend their fan base and share their work to a

diverse, enthusiastic Southern California audience."   

FINE CUT: KCET'S FESTIVAL OF STUDENT FILMS, kicks off on Monday, June 23 with "Into the Silent Sea," a Grand

Prize winner at the prestigious 2013 BAFTA Student Awards. Directed by Andrej

Landin of Chapman University, the short follows Alexander, a lone cosmonaut,

who is adrift in orbit around Earth. He has lost communications and

life-support systems are dwindling fast. At the same time in Italy, a radio

engineer is working the night shift. He discovers a voice amidst the empty

static. Under desperate circumstances, and across vast distances, an intense

connection is made.

Other films featured that night include: "US" by Seth Ronquillo of UCLA

TFT, which chronicles the

American Dream through the eyes of an undocumented immigrant family; and

"In Passing," a short film about a man who jumps off a building to end it all,

and the woman he falls in love with on the way down, directed by Alan Miller of

USC.

The series will also feature, "Yamashita" by Hayley Foster of LMU on July

7, which is the 2014 winner for Animation in the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 41st Student Academy Awards

competition.

FINE CUT is made possible by the

Bridges/Larson Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting

programs that serve film students. 

Selected films are chosen by professors and submitted to KCET for final

selection. FINE CUT showcases films as diverse as the students who

make them.  Projects making the final cut have ranged from

nail-biting suspense to gut-wrenching stories of love and loss.

Often, FINE CUT marks the television debut of a student's

work - which has led to other industry opportunities. Spanish-born director

David Martin Porras, whose UCLA TFT film "Ida y Vuelta" (Round Trip) was

featured in the 2010 series, is now a director at Disney/ABC Television Group.

Detailed information about all of the film shorts in this year's series is

available at kcet.org/finecut, which includes filmmaker biographies, film

synopses, streaming video and discussion boards. Below, please find a complete

list of films and scheduled airdates:

MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2014

INTO THE SILENT SEA

Andrej Landin, Chapman University

US

Seth Ronquillo, UCLA TFT

IN PASSING

Alan Miller, USC

MONDAY, JUNE 30, 2014

MY LIGHT HAS GONE

Jason Kummerfeldt, Chapman University

ALMA

Paul Joseph, Columbia College Hollywood

CYBERBULLIED

Doug Cembellin, USC 

MONDAY, JULY 7, 2014

YAMASHITA

Hayley Foster, LMU

FABIAN DEBORA, A LIFE FOR ART

Jessica Kaye, USC

THE PROMISED LAND

Vanessa Knutsen, UCLA TFT

MONDAY, JULY 14, 2014

PRESENT TRAUMA

Mark Manalo, USC

SWEET, SWEET COUNTRY

Dehanza Rogers, UCLA TFT

ISTIFA (RESIGNATION)

Rahat Mahajan, Art Center College

NEW YEAR'S EVE

Eileen Hsu, CalArts

About KCET 

On-air, online and in the community, KCET plays a vital

role in the cultural and educational enrichment of Southern and Central

California. KCET offers a wide range of award-winning local programming as well

as the finest public television programs from around the world. Throughout its

50-year history, KCET has won hundreds of major awards for its local and

regional news and public affairs programming, its national drama and

documentary productions, its quality educational family and children's

programs, its outreach and community services and its website, kcet.org. KCET

is a donor-supported community institution. For additional information about

KCET productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community

events, please visit kcet.org. KCET is a service of KCETLink. 

About The Bridges/Larson Foundation

The Bridges/Larson Foundation was created by filmmaking collaborators James

Bridges and Jack Larson in 1992, just before Bridges' death. The writer and

director of films such as Urban Cowboy and 

The China

Syndrome

, Bridges was passionate about encouraging educators to train the

next generation of filmmakers. Actor and producer Jack Larson--perhaps best

known as cub reporter Jimmy Olsen on the 1950s TV version of Superman--has

upheld Bridges' vision by consistently funding programs that serve film

students. In addition to supporting Fine Cut, the Bridges/Larson

Foundation has made major donations to the UCLA School of Theater, Film and

Television and the UCLA Film & Television Archive.  Over the years, the foundation has expanded

its purview beyond film-education programs. Larson is especially proud of

funding AIDS research and a local organization called Lamp Community, which

works to end homelessness.

About Art Center College of Design

Founded in 1930 and located in Pasadena, California, Art

Center College of Design is a global leader in art and design education. Art

Center offers 11 undergraduate and six graduate degrees in a wide variety of

visual and applied arts as well as industrial design disciplines. In addition

to its top-ranked academic programs, the College also serves members of the

Greater Los Angeles region through a highly regarded series of year-round

educational programs for all ages and levels of experience. Renowned for both its

ties to industry and social impact initiatives, Art Center is the first design

school to receive the United Nations' Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)

status. Throughout the College's long and storied history, Art Center alumni

have had a profound impact on popular culture, the way we live and important

issues in our society.

About CalArts

CalArts is ranked America's No. 1 college for students in the arts by 

Newsweek/The

Daily Beast

. With its six related schools: Art, Critical Studies, Dance,

Film/Video, Music and Theater, CalArts is unique in its multidisciplinary

approach to studying the arts and was one of the first schools in the country

to offer a program in World Music for performance. CalArts encourages students

to recognize and explore the complexity of the aesthetic, social and political

aspects of the arts.  It is supported by its distinguished faculty of

practicing artists and provides its BFA, MFA and DMA students with both

hands-on training and engagement with the cultural community necessary for

artists' growth. CalArts was founded in 1961--and opened in 1969--as the first

institution of higher learning in the U.S. specifically for students interested

in pursuing degrees exclusively in the visual and performing arts.  

About Chapman University Lawrence and Kristina Dodge

College of Film and Media Arts

One of the premier film schools in the country, Dodge

College of Film and Media Arts offers students the unique opportunity to learn

filmmaking in a hands-on environment modeled on a working studio.  The

college is comprised of the Sodaro-Pankey Undergraduate School of Film and

Media Arts, offering degrees in film production, film studies, screenwriting,

creative producing, television and broadcast journalism, public relations and

advertising, screen acting and digital arts; and the graduate Conservatory of

Motion Pictures, offering M.F.A. degrees in film production, film and

television producing, production design, and screenwriting, and an M.A. in film

studies. Two joint M.F.A. degrees in producing are also offered in conjunction

with the business (M.F.A./M.B.A.) and law (M.F.A./J.D.) schools. Dodge College

is housed in Marion Knott Studios, a state-of-the-art, 76,000-square-foot

studio and classroom building that provides students with 24-hour access to

sound stages, edit bays, Dolby surround mixing, a motion capture stage and

more.  With an Oscar and Emmy-award winning full-time faculty that boasts

more feature film credits than any other film school, Dodge College is where

students learn the entertainment business from the inside out.

About Columbia College Hollywood

Columbia College Hollywood is a Tarzana-based 60+ year-old, not-for-profit

film school offering BFA degrees with emphases in directing, producing,

cinematography, writing, and editing/VFX, which includes sound.  CCH is a culture of filmmaking in which the

nurturing of the student's unique voice is paramount.  Classes are taught by industry professionals

in a foundational environment.  Alumni of CCH include directors Robert

Schwentke (Red), Salim Akil (Jumping The Broom and Sparkle), Jaume

Collett-Serra (Non-Stop, Orphan), Timothy Linh Bui (

Powder

Blue

) and Barry Cook (Mulan).

About Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television

Movie industry moguls helped establish Loyola Marymount University's (LMU)

current campus on the bluffs above west Los Angeles in the 1920s. By 1964, LMU

was formally teaching film and television curriculum, and in 2001, the School

of Film and Television (SFTV) was established as its own entity.  Today, SFTV offers students a comprehensive

education where mastering technical skills and story is equally important to

educating the whole person, including the formation of character and values,

meaning and purpose. SFTV offers undergraduate degrees in animation,

production, screenwriting, film and television studies and recording arts; and

graduate degrees in production, screenwriting and writing and producing for

television. The school is one of the few film programs providing students with

a completely tapeless model of production and post-production, and SFTV's

animation program is one of the few worldwide that teaches virtual

cinematography. Selected alumni include John Bailey, Bob Beemer, Francie Calfo,

Brian Helgeland, Francis Lawrence, Lauren Montgomery, Jack Orman, Van Partible

and James Wong, among others. Get more information at sftv.lmu.edu or

facebook.com/lmusftv.

About UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television

The vision of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television is to serve

as a premier global interdisciplinary professional school that develops

outstanding humanistic storytellers, industry leaders and scholars whose

diverse, innovative voices enlighten, engage and inspire change for a better

world. Consistently ranked as one of the top elite entertainment and performing

arts institutions in the world, the School offers an innovative curriculum that

integrates the study and creation of live performance, film, television and the

digital arts. Our distinguished graduate and undergraduate programs include

acting, directing, writing, producing, animation, cinematography, and lighting

design, set design, costume design, sound design, Moving Image Archive Studies,

and offers PhDs in Theater and Performance Studies and Cinema & Media

Studies. For more information, visit www.tft.ucla.edu

About USC School of Cinematic Arts

The University of Southern California's School of

Cinematic Arts is one of the leading media schools in the world. Founded in

collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1929 over

85 years ago, the USC School of Cinematic Arts has fueled and mirrored the

growth of entertainment as an industry and an art form. The School offers

comprehensive programs in directing, producing, writing, critical studies,

animation and digital arts, production, interactive media and games, all backed

by a broad liberal arts education and taught by leading practitioners in each

field. Its more than 11,000 alumni are among the world's most distinguished

animators, scholars, teachers, writers, directors, producers, game designers,

cinematographers, editors, sound experts and industry executives. Since 1973

not a year has passed without an alumnus or alumna being nominated for an

Academy Award. For more information, visit cinema.usc.edu.

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