SVA’s 2020 Alumni Film & Animation Festival

Featuring some of School of Visual Arts’ most accomplished film, television, animation, and visual effects alumni, our annual festival won’t include screenings this year, but will still feature a week’s worth of free, top-notch content!  We’ve interviewed over 25 alumni from Hollywood and beyond and will launch the videos nightly during the week of September 21st.  Check the schedule below and tune into our YouTube channel to watch!  All videos will remain on the channel following their premieres.

Monday 9/21/20

8:00PM SVA Premieres. Where Are They Now?: BFA Animation

Hear from recent SVA BFA Animation alumni whose work was featured in our SVA Premieres: Best Of program over the past four years.  Alumni Yvonne Hsuan Ho (2016), Fiona Lu (2017), Joe Sulsenti (2017), and Sonja von Marensdorff (2018) will discuss their work, including The Fungies, Losers, The Midnight Gospel, and We Bare Bears.

Tuesday 9/22/20

8:00PM Swimming in Schitt’s Creek

Paul Fox (1990 Film and Video), the award-winning director of 18 episodes of the hit series Schitt’s Creek, discusses his on-set experience with Johnny, Moira, David, and Alexis, while calling from Newfoundland on the set of his next show.

Wednesday 9/23/20

8:00PM The Art of Documentary Editing

Wonder what scenes didn’t make the final cut? We chat with editors Ann Collins (MFA 2018 Art Writing) and Victor Ilyukhin (MFA 2014 Social Documentary) from two of this year’s amazing documentaries, Netflix’s The Pharmacist and HBO’s Welcome to Chechnya.

Thursday 9/24/20

6:30PM The View from Behind the Camera

Quenell Jones (BFA 2003 Film and Video) and Scott Ruderman (MFA 2016 Social Documentary) share their perspective as cinematographers/camera operators on some of our favorite recent films and shows, including Get Out, Marriage Rescue, Taste the Nation, and (Un)Well.

8:00PM The Making of The Plot Against America

Get a behind-the-scenes look at the acclaimed HBO mini-series The Plot Against America from two different angles — with its Emmy-nominated cinematographer, Martin Ahlgren (BFA 2000 Film and Video), and one of its visual effects supervisors, Vicky Penzes (BFA 2013 Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects).

Friday 9/25/20

6:30PM Food & Art: At Home with Chef Cal Peternell

Take a break from bingeing that six-season series and join us in the kitchen with James Beard-nominated cookbook author and longtime Chez Panisse chef Cal Peternell (BFA 1987 Fine Arts), who will teach us a fresh and simple recipe that will please anyone’s palate.

8:00PM SVA Premieres. Where Are They Now?: MFA Computer Arts

Hear from recent SVA MFA Computer Arts alumni whose work was featured in our SVA Premieres: Best Of program over the past four years. Alumni Chingtien Chu (2017), Ninaad Kulkarni (2017), Melody Ai-Hsuan Shih (2016), and Mengxi Zhou (2017) will discuss their work, including I Know This Much Is True, When They See Us, CNN Digital content, and a wide variety of commercials and virtual reality projects.

Saturday 9/26/20

6:30PM Good Shabbos! An Unorthodox Interview

We’re in New York and Emmy-nominated creator/writer/producer Alexa Karolinski (MFA 2011 Social Documentary) joins us from Berlin, making up the two cities in which her acclaimed Netflix mini-series Unorthodox is set”. Hear about her trans-Atlantic journey to success.

8:00PM Saturday Night with Va$htie!

Vashtie Kola (BFA 2004 Film and Video) has been on the cutting edge of the NYC scene since her SVA days. She’ll tell what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, director, designer, DJ, model, and influencer, and how she became the first woman to design a Jordan sneaker.

Sunday 9/27/20

6:30PM You Sunk My Battleship: The VFX of Greyhound

Joel Sevilla (BFA 1999 Computer Art) talks about getting on board with Tom Hanks, as one of the visual effects captains of the AppleTV+ World War II epic, Greyhound.

8:00PM SVA Premieres. Where Are They Now?: BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects

Hear from recent SVA BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects alumni whose work was featured in our SVA Premieres: Best Of program over the past four years. Alumni Alejandra Alvarez (2017), Elaina Brillantes (2016), Julien Desroches (2016), Sarika Persaud (2019), Christin Scarborough (2017), and Andy Tai (2018) will discuss their work, including The Call of The Wild, gen:LOCK, Motherless Brooklyn, Stranger Things, Nick Jr. content, a variety of commercials, and more.

And click here to download a special, free Augmented Reality experience created exclusively for the festival by Ninaad Kulkarni (MFA 2017 Computer Art).  You can also download it by scanning the QR code towards the top of this page.  This experience is only available for download and use on smart devices like iPhones/Androids.  After clicking the link or scanning the QR code, click once on the image — the AR experience will open in your camera.  From there, simply follow the instructions and enjoy!

We would thank to thank our promotional partners, including:  Asian American Arts Alliance, ASIFA-East, Center for Communication, DOCNYC, Ghetto Film School, New York Women in Film and Television, Visual Effects Society, Writers Guild of America East

Please contact [email protected] with questions.

This event is 100% virtual — no live or in-person festival events will be held at SVA Theatre during the week of September 21-27, 2020.

All interviews are pre-recorded.  Captions will be available on all videos.

Check back for updates!

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