News Release| CSULA; Cal State L.A.; Los Angeles; CSU; Media Arts Festival; Rosebud Award

November 20, 2008

Note to editors: To arrange interviews with the student filmographers and/or their faculty advisors, or to request student photos, contact Cal State L.A.’s Public Affairs Office at 323-343-3050 or [email protected].

 And the Rosebud Award goes to …‘Ups and Downs’ from Cal State L.A.

Student films ‘Jean,’ ‘The Island Universes’ also garner

high honors at CSU Media Arts Festival

Los Angeles, CA – For their depiction of an animated soul rising above mundane conformity in their film ‘Ups and Downs,’ two Cal State L.A. students received a Rosebud Award, one of the top honors at the 2008 CSU Media Arts Festival, held recently at CSU Channel Islands in Camarillo, CA. Two other Cal State L.A. films also received honors—in the experimental and animation categories.

The annual festival showcases exceptional student film and video projects from throughout the CSU system’s 23 campuses. A panel of industry experts judged 175 entries and chose 35 finalists for the award competition within nine categories: animation, documentary, experimental, interactive, music video, narrative, television, feature screenplay, and short screenplay.

Here are this year’s award-winning films by CSULA students:

still frame imageUps and Downs

Rosebud Award, first place (television category)

By art majors Ian Lollar of San Dimas and Tyler Andersen of Diamond Bar, it presents (in a movie trailer) an alternate future where efficiency reigns supreme. The nearly two-minute film took roughly three months to produce (amid other academic priorities). Posted on YouTube Dec. 13, 2007, it had been viewed more than 400 times by Nov. 20, 2008. It ends with the question: “Life is about rules. I mean…. What’s the worst that could happen?” The students received a $500 cash prize; $250 was also awarded to the Art Department at Cal State L.A. Lollar and Andersen were advised by Art Professor Tony Longson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZencnqO3Y

still frame imageJean

Second place (experimental category)

By television and film majors Luz Reyes of Los Angeles and Huiwen Tsao of Alhambra, it follows a pair of jeans trying to walk its way home—in stop-motion footage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJvJl8tpzGw

still frame imageThe Island Universes

Fourth place (animation category)

Directed by graduate art student Dal Lim Park of Los Angeles, it features an explanation of Kant’s hypothesis of galaxies. More than a dozen other students contributed to the project, including lead animator Javier Zumacta.

The film is a product of Cal State L.A.’s Sci-Vi Lab (http://sci-vi.calstatela.edu). Formally called the Integrated Training Pipeline for Scientific Visualization and supported by the National Science Foundation, the lab is a collaboration between Cal State L.A. and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXWuvMoLWzI

CSU Summer Arts established the Media Arts Festival in 1990 to provide CSU students an opportunity to present their works for critical review. The festival also helps students transition from producing films, videos, and interactive media in university classes to working in related industries.

For more information on the festival or the winning entries in each category, go to www.mediaartsfestival.org or www.csusummerarts.org.

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