Skip to main content

KCET's Annual 'Fine Cut' Student Film Festival Honors Filmmakers From Eight Schools, Premiering January 17

Support Provided By

Five-Week Series to Showcase Student

Films

from

AFI, CalArts, Chapman University, Columbia College Hollywood, Idyllwild Arts

Academy, 

Loyola Marymount University, UCLA and

USC

Los Angeles, Calif. - January 09, 2013 - KCET, along with

the Bridges/Larson

and Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundations, presents

Fine Cut: KCET's Annual Festival of Student

Films

, honoring filmmakers from eight renowned schools across Southern California. The five-week series will

showcase some of the finest documentaries, comedic, dramatic and animated

shorts by students. The series begins Jan. 17, 2013 at 9 p.m. during KCET's

arts and culture series, Open Call

hosted by Suzanna Guzmán. Many of the winning short films can also be streamed

online at kcet.org/finecut.

This

season's participating student filmmakers hail from American Film Institute

(AFI), California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), Chapman University, Columbia

College Hollywood, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Loyola Marymount University (LMU),

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and University of Southern

California (USC). 

"We're excited to offer another year of exceptional films

from talented Southern California student filmmakers," said Bohdan Zachary, vice president of Broadcasting,

Syndication and Program Development for KCET, who serves as executive producer

of the annual series. "A KCET mainstay for many years, the Fine Cut series contiues to deliver groundbreaking stories that

showcase the human spirit in triumph and adversity."   

Fine Cut: KCET's Festival of Student Films,

kicks-off on Thursday, Jan. 17 with Kiss Me directed by Jules Nurrish of

UCLA. The film tells the story of Kid Vargas, a boxer who is forced to face

some devastating truths after he kills his opponent in the ring.

Caterwaul

directed by Ian Samuels of CalArts and Homecoming directed by Chapman

University's Gursimran Sandhu will also air on the series' first night.

Fine Cut is made possible by the Bridges/Larson Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting programs that serve film students. Fine Cut is also sponsored by the Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation, which supports young artists and community arts programs. 

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 represents the television

debut of a student's work- which has led to other opportunities. In 2009, for

example, UCLA's Hezekiah Lewis thesis film,

Warrior

Queen

, featured on Fine Cut, led

to funding for a feature-length version of the film that is currently in

production.

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, video

streaming and discussion boards. Below, please find a complete list of films

and scheduled airdates:

JANUARY 17, 2013

KISS ME

Jules Nurrish, UCLA

CATERWAUL

Ian

Samuels, CalArts    

HOMECOMING

Gursimran Sandhu,

Chapman University

JANUARY 24, 2013

SHOOT THE MOON

Alexander Gaeta, Chapman University

DREAMS - A TRAYVON

MARTIN STORY

Isidor Pollak, LMU

CANTO DE FAMILIA

Lindsey Villarreal, USC 

WILL

Eusong Lee, CalArts

JANUARY 31, 2013

A DOCTOR'S JOB

Julio O. Ramos, UCLA

MOTHER'S MILK

Andrew DeJohn, USC

HOLD FOR LAUGHS

Amy French, AFI

LADIES KNIGHT

Joe Rothenberg, USC

FEBRUARY

7, 2013

TENGO MIEDO

Pepe Albornoz, Columbia College Hollywood

FIASCO

Nadia Hamzeh, Chapman University

COUNTERFEITERS

Bryce Hirschberg, LMU

FEBRUARY

14, 2013

88 MILES TO MOSCOW

Karen Gleinke, UCLA

INK & PAPER

Ben Proudfoot, USC

A FAMILY LIKE MINE

Katherine 'Tia' Kearns, Idyllwild Arts Academy

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 Theatre, Film and Television and the UCLA Film and 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 The Lloyd E.

Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation

Lloyd

Eugene Rigler, a California industrialist, and investor, Lawrence E. Deutsch in

the early 1950s, created the Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation.  The Foundation is an innovative venture that

helped make the matching funds concept a powerful fundraising tool. The Foundation

contributed to the creation of the Los Angeles Music Center and the John F.

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.  Mr. Rigler created Classic Arts Showcase, a free television service designed to bring

the classic arts experience to the largest audience possible by providing video

clips of the arts.  KCET is proud to air

Classic Arts Showcase on KCET HD.

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. KCET currently produces the Emmy®, duPont-Columbia and Peabody

Award-winning SoCal Connected, a hard-hitting prime-time nightly

television news program that examines the issues and people of Southern

California. Throughout its 48-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.

About AFI

AFI is America's promise to

preserve the history of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work

and to educate the next generation of storytellers.  AFI

provides leadership in film, television and digital media and is dedicated to

initiatives that engage the past, the present and the future of the moving

image arts.

AFI educates the next generation of storytellers at its AFI Conservatory, which has been

consistently recognized as one of the world's top film schools, boasting alumni

including Darren Aronofsky, Patty Jenkins, Janusz KamiÅ?ski, Heidi Levitt,

Matthew Libatique, David Lynch, Terrence Malick, Wally Pfister, Robert

Richardson, Ed Zwick and so many more. 

AFI Conservatory offers a two-year Master of Fine Arts degree in six

filmmaking disciplines:  Cinematography,

Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design and Screenwriting.  Aspiring artists learn from the masters in a

collaborative, hands-on production environment with an emphasis on

storytelling.

About

CalArts

CalArts is ranked America's

number one 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 producingtelevision 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 nationally accredited

not-for-profit film school offering BFA degrees with emphases in directing,

producing, cinematography, writing, and editing/VFX.  Alumni of CCH include directors Robert

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

(Orphan), Timonthy Linh Bui ( Power Blue) and Barry Cook (Mulan).

About Idyllwild Arts

Idyllwild Arts is a prestigious

arts institution that was founded in 1950 with its renowned Summer

Program.  It is the only intensely focused boarding arts high school on

the West Coast.  Idyllwild Arts is set on 205-forested acres in the picturesque

mountain village of Idyllwild, only a short 2-hour drive from the Los Angeles

region.  Idyllwild Arts offers both academic and arts education in all of

the arts including Music, Theatre, Dance, Visual Art, Creative Writing,

Moving Pictures, InterArts and Fashion Design. The

Idyllwild Summer Program features a diverse range of arts courses for all ages

which feature hands-on workshops in music, dance, visual arts, writing,

filmmaking and Native Arts.

About LMU 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

fortelevision. 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 only in the world teaching 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

Founded

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

80 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, and

interactive media, all backed by a broad liberal arts education and taught by

leading practitioners in each field. USC was voted the #1 game design school in

North America for its graduate and undergraduate Degree programs by the

Princeton Review and GamePro Magazine for three consecutive years.

# # #

Support Provided By
Read More
2023 FINE CUT Awards Honorees included (L to R): Chapman's Vivienne Ayres, Audrey Shuppert and Nidhi Kumar, AFI's Sheheryar Ahsan, Cal Arts' Christina Woo and UCLA's Christina Sun Kim at Westwood's Landmark Theatre on September 13, 2023.

Student Film Festival 'Fine Cut' Celebrates 25 Years of Short Films From Southern California Film School Students With Call For 2024 Entries and Spring Summit Event on April 20

As part of annual short film competition, submissions open today in Documentary, Animation and Narrative categories with deadline of May 31.
EF_Sn5_MEZZANINE_03.png

California Communities and Nature Thrive Together In New Season of PBS SoCal Environmental Series 'Earth Focus' Premiering April 3 to Kick Off Robust Lineup of Earth Month Content

'Earth Focus' Environmental Film Festival returns in 2024 as broadcast event every Saturday at 9 p.m. during April on PBS SoCal Plus.
Two people by the sea hold each others hands.

'Understanding Autism' Premieres on PBS SoCal and Nationwide this April to Highlight National Autism Awareness Month

New documentary explores director Scott Steindorff's journey to understanding his own neurodiversity.