Tom Begley Memorial Service

Tom Begley of the UCF Theater Department and UCF Film Department passed away on November 9, 2006. A memorial service will take place in the UCF Theater on Sunday, December 3, 2006, starting at 4:00 PM with a pot luck dinner, followed by readings and presentations. All are welcome.

To contribute to the Tom Begley Memorial and Scholarship Fund, click here.

Six UCF Shorts To Be Screened At Brouhaha Film Festival This Weekend

UCF FILM is proud to announce that six shorts created by UCF FILM students will be screened as part of this weekend's Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase. A project of the Enzian Theater, Brouhaha spotlights the work of Florida filmmakers and offers two programs -- one happening Sat. December 2nd and the other on Sun., December 3rd. Both start at 12:30 pm. Tickets are only $5.

We invite all UCF FILM students to attend and cheer loudly, as the best shorts from this showcase will be featured in the upcoming Florida Film Festival as part of an emerging filmmaker showcase.

The UCF films in Saturday's program are:

• Sex Machine 2025 (directed by Chris Shields)
• 6:50 PM At The Used Bookstore (directed by Matt Acevedo)
• American Deluxe (directed by Aaron Browlee)

The UCF films in Sunday's program are:

• The World, Naked As A Jaybird (directed by Tiina Treasure)
• Play Dead (directed by Johnny Sawyer)
• Social Experiments (Directed by Maria Pennington)

Fest: THE LAST ROMANTIC Wins Jury Prize At STARZ Denver

THE LAST ROMANTIC, a feature film of The Brothers Nee, which includes former UCF FILM student Aaron Nee, was a jury prize award winner at last week's Starz Denver International Film Festival. Film Threat, which called the flick "a gorgeously shot, eccentric little film about self-delusion leading to self- realization," was among many publications publicizing the award.

Have You Found An iPod Lately?

Student Veronica Vera tells me she recently lost her iPod in the Communications Building, most likely in either the writing lab or Rm 183 or somewhere in that general closed-off area. Veronica continues, My precious was a black, 60 gb iPod with the word "gnoolies" engraved on the back. It was last seen by me (and last charged on my apple at home) on Sept. 26, 2006.

Please post a note about it informing students that if they've seen it, see it, find it, or found it I'll give them a nice, hefty reward for returning it back to me. You can reach me at gnoolies@msn.com or my cell phone 305-733-4127

Now let's be honest here. If you or I found an iPod, we'd be reformatting that bad boy is a few minutes and doing a jiggy dance at the prospect of such manna from heaven. But (and this is a big but) if the owner shows up and makes her case, you should by all rights hand over the goods pronto and count on all that good karma bringing you something lovely for the holidays or in the afterlife.

So if you came across this iPod, do the right thing and give it back. If the stain of shame stings hard, feel free to give me the iPod and I'll pass it to Veronica with instructions that the returner would like to remain cloaked.

Be a good egg.

Fest: From The Mouths of Dastoli

Say the Boys...

Over the weekend Equal Justice won Best Screenplay and Southwestern Orange County vs. the Flying Saucers won Best Visual Effects (and 2nd place for the Audience Award) at the Daytona Beach Film Festival.

A bunch of other Dastoli Digital Originals are also screening at a bunch of other places, but that goes without saying.

It should be noted that Brett Bonowicz's BASEBALL AND GLORY also played Daytona, although they didn't seem to tell Brett of this before the event occured.

FIVE STORIES 2006

After much consideration, UCF FILM is proud to announce the shorts that will be featured on the 2006 edition of FIVE STORIES. These films and their directors are:

• 6:50pm In The Used Bookstore - Matt Acevedo ('07)
• American Deluxe - Aaron Brownlee ('06)
• The Lonely Lights. The Color of Lemons. - Ben Piety ('06)
• Sex Machine 2025 - Chris Shields ('07)
• The World, Naked As A Jaybird - Tiina Treasure ('06)

Congradulations to all UCF FILM students for once again creating a bundle of excellent films.

Craig Weinstein Makes The Scene At Melbourne Film Fest

Appearing only somewhere frantic, Craig Weinstein cuts out from his Capstone shoot to appear at the Melbourne Independent Film Festival. Says Craig: I wasn't able to make it to the Filmmaker Q&A because of my capstone shooting elsewhere in Melbourne, but I did get to briefly attend the VIP party AS A VIP for about an hour (this was my first festival experience) and meet with some familiar and new faces.

Animal Logic Production Chief Hael Kobayashi To Visit UCF FILM Colloquium

Hael Kobayashi, production chief of Australia's Animal Logic, is coming to visit UCF FILM on Thursday, November 16th. He'll be speaking the the UCF FILM Colloquium, which occurs at 4:30 pm in HPA 119. The event is open to all, limited only by seating capacity of the room.

Animal Logic is an Australian digital effects and animation house which has just wrapped production on HAPPY FEET. Check out the trailer here.

Hael Kobayashi Bio:
Film and entertainment industry veteran Hael Kobayashi most recently served as the Group Head of Production at Animal Logic, the Sydney-based visual effects and digital animation house responsible for the effects on “Hero”, “The Matrix”, “The Matrix Reloaded” and “Moulin Rouge” as well as numerous other international film projects and television commercial campaigns. They have just wrapped production on “Happy Feet”, Australia’s first digital feature, directed by George Miller in partnership with Warner Brothers.

As a senior executive, Hael was involved with the development and management of all of Animal Logic’s feature film and digital animation projects. Prior to Animal Logic, Hael was Director of Digital Artists Production at Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light + Magic, where he was responsible for the management of all digital artists involved with creating digital animation and visual effects for Academy Award nominated feature films and commercial projects.

Hael held a number of positions at PDI/DreamWorks including Line Producer, Production Manager and Production Supervisor and worked on projects such as “ANTZ” and “The Road to El Dorado” while participating in new business development projects. Hael has also been an editor and post-production supervisor for several IMAX productions including “Valenica”, and worked as sound editor for Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Sound on award-winning feature films such as “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” and “Godfather III”.

UCF Alumni Ben Piety In IndieWire (Again!)

The mighty PR machine of Ben Piety rolls onward...from IndieWire:


AFI Fest senior programmer Shaz Bennett atop the roof at the Arclight for an evening soiree with "The Lonely Lights" director Benjamin M. Piety doing a little chit chat and pow wow and what-not Sunday evening.

Prof. Grula's BLOB Post Mort Published In Gamasutra

Those of you interested in game design might be amused by this. My postmortem article on The Blob has been published in Gamasutra's Game Career Guide website. With pictures too! Click the link and read. Wheeee!

CINEMA CAFE Seeks Shorts For New Season

Since 2004, Cinema Cafe - a half-hour indie film and video showcase hosted by Michelle Wargo and Carlos Jackson - has brought dozens of new short films and videos to an audience of thousands in the Central Florida community on Vision TV.

The producer is getting ready to shoot 6 new episodes and new short films are needed. This time, some episodes will have themes.

ANIMATION
One episode will focus on animated shorts. All types of animation are welcome including cell, computer, and stop-motion.

MUSIC VIDEOS
There are tons of music videos out there and Cinema Cafe is a great place to showcase them and the bands.

HORROR/SCI-FI/THRILLERS
One episode will be devoted to horror, sci-fi, and thriller shorts about anything scary, weird, and macabre.

Cinema Cafe is also open to all other genres including drama, comedy, political commentary, experimental, children’s, etc.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
In order to be considered for Cinema Cafe, film & video makers must

1. Submit movies that are 20 minutes or less.

2. Submit movies that are tasteful (no profanity, nudity, or sarcastic political commentary).

3. Submit movies on NTSC Beta SP, DV-Cam, Mini-DV, or DVD.

4. Submit original work with original music.

5. Include complete contact information including full name, phone number, and e-mail address on every tape.

6. Include title, production year, total running time, and original shoot format on every tape.

7. Complete a movie maker questionnaire for scripting purposes (please request via e-mail).

8. Be willing to sign a release allowing Vision TV the right to air the movie (please request via e-mail).

9. E-Mail the producer at cinemacafetv@hotmail.com for questionnaire, release form, & submission address. Please go to www.cinemacafetv.com for more info.

CALL FOR ENTRIES - 2007 SOUTH FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL STUDENT FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL

Florida Atlantic University's Student Film Association announces The 2007 South Florida International Student Film & Video Festival, being held during april, 2007 on the Davie Campus of Florida Atlantic University, located at 2912 College Avenue in Davie at the South Florida Educational Center.

Grand prizes will be awarded to the best film in each category along with separate prizes for audience's favorite pick, and the jury award for best overall production. The deadline for submissions is january 15, 2007.

All submissions must be in region 1 NTSC DVD format up to 15 minutes in length, and the categories are as follows: documentary, experimental, animation short, and narrative film.

Guidelines, forms and additional information is available by calling 1-954-236-1252, emailing fausfadavie@gmail.com, or visiting http://fausfa.cjb.net

FEST: LOVE IN THE TIME OF RAREBIT To Screen @ Melbourne Indie Film Fest

Craig Weinstein tells us that "Love in the Time of Rarebit", his Directing 3 short, was accepted into the Melbourne Independent Film Festival this year. It will show during my capstone shooting on November 11th, between 10:00am-2:00pm. I may or may not be attending the
Filmmaker Q&A session briefly after the matinee concludes.