Fest Update - MR MALIKAI Heads To Sao Paulo Intl Short Film Fest

Drew Blatman ('06), director of MR MALIKAI BATTLES THE AEROPLANE, just sent us this lovely email informing us that UCF has broken through to South America!

To Drew Blatman,
I am very glad to inform you that, among 1400 films received, your film "Mr. Malikai Battles the Aeroplane" has been selected for Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival to take place from August 24.

From their website, The leading event for the short format in Latin America, the Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival is also an international meeting place for the exchange of cultural, political and financial experiences.

UCF On Indiewire

As seen in Indiewire.com's iPop section:

Hanging out poolside at the W Hotel in Westwood waiting for Harrison Ford at the Filmmaker's Reception at LAFF, Ben Piety (director), Scott Uhfelder (DP) and producer Jon Jones. The trio are attending the festival with their music video "Stickin' Around" by Heathens. They also recently relocated to LA.

Gaming and Film...and Advertising - The Uncharted Nexus

As many of you know, I'm currently earning a Masters degree in Game Design and part of my interest includes mapping the overlapping areas between film and video games. Having been here at FIEA for nearly a year straight, I've come to the conclusion that the business of video game design is a lot like the business of advertising. Film - particularly the technical process as well as the art of storytelling - is kind of the third leg of that stool.

Thus, it was quite interesting to read this interview with Bing Gordon, Chief Creative Officer of Electronic Arts, as well as a member of the faculty for USC’s Interactive Media Division. Not only does he lay down some interesting ground rules for video game education ("play as many of the “Best Games of All Time” as possible, just as film students are literate in the most important movies), he constantly charts the overlaps between advertising and video game design - even in his own career and interests.

Interesting stuff for anyone thinking about the future of our school.

FEST UPDATE - LOSING TOBY Invited To Sacramento Film & Music Festival

LOSING TOBY, directed by Drew Lindo ('06), has been invited to screen at the Sacramento Film & Music Festival.
The 2006 event will take place at the Crest Theatre August 2-6, 2006.

FEST UPDATE - Two From 5 STORIES To Play Viginia Digital G.U.Y.S. Fest

Two UCF shorts from the 2005 FIVE STORIES disc have been selected to play the VIRGINIA DIGITAL G.U.Y.S. FilmFest. Those flicks are LOSING TOBY, directed by Drew Lindo ('06) and ALL THAT REMAINS, directed by Aaron Brownlee ('06). Oddly, we didn't know anything about this until we checked the festival's website - lo and behold, there were our films listed under Accepted. Some little festivals must assume filmmakers are monitoring festival websites day and night. It's kind of like advertising - clients always think you're working on their account night and day when in fact, you're working on a dozen accounts (night and day).

A General Dastoli Digital Film Festival Update. . .

. . . and an excuse to put another car crash image!

On June 27, Automated Assets will be streaming on www.moviefone.com/shorts as part of the Moviefone Short Film Festival. Anyone can visit the site, watch it, and give it a (honest) rating.

In July Southwestern Orange County vs. the Flying Saucers will be screening in Pencil Head's Dusk Til Dawn Film Fest in Houston, and then in September, at the Estes Park Film Festival in Colorado. In November Dastoli Digital will be making it's New Zealand film festival premiere as Southwestern Orange County vs. the Flying Saucers, A Wind to Shake the Stars, Automated Assets, Evasive Maneuvers, and Errand Boys screen in the Night Gallery Film Festival, which will be taking place in multiple locations.

MR MALIKAI Director Heading To Columbia Grad School

UCF FILM's Manhattan foothold just got a wee bit stronger.

We are happy and proud to report that Drew Blatman ('05), director of two FIVE STORIES shorts, MR MALIKAI BATTLES THE AEROPLANE and RANDOLPH GENTLY & THE MYSTERIOUS ANIMALS, has been invited to attend the graduate film program at Columbia University in NYC. He will be starting the MFA program this Fall.

Said Drew in his email: "I'm looking forward to getting back in the film atmosphere again where I can make movies rather than going on Starbucks runs. All in all things are looking on the upside. I've also been in touch with this producer who saw Malikai through the production company I interned at. He's going around to some production companies showing a few shorts he's come across, mine being one of them. In fact he's already sent a copy to UTA's feature division. I'll let you know if anything comes of it."

Fest Update -MELISSA Goes To Australia and BASEBALL Comes To Orlando

Andrew Gay ('06) tells us he was awakened at 7:30 am recently by a call from the executive director of the Australian International Film Festival (AIFF), who was burning up the long distance phone lines to say MELISSA WITH A HEART AROUND IT, Andrew's Capstone short, was accepted for screening at the AIFF. Says Andrew, "This is only the second time I've ever received a personal call from a festival (first was Florida), and he made a point to go into great detail of why he personally loved the film and why he was very excited to program it. He's even sending me quotes that I can use in press statements. Really cool guy."

Also on the Fest Frontier, Brett Bonowicz (07') informs us that his film BASEBALL AND GLORY, has been accepted in Aida's Big Phat Florida Film Festival, July 6th-10th in Orlando Florida.

CAPSTONE Is Topic of Orlando Sentinel Article

Read all about it here.

Fest Update - Two UCF Shorts Heading To Flatland

NOVEMBER GUEST, directed by Danny Daneau ('05) and LOVE IS DEAF, directed by Andrew Gay ('06) have been accepted for screening at the The Flatland Film Festival, which is based based in Buddy Holly's hometown of Lubbock, Texas. It's very flat there.