Join the Film & Media Arts Department for a free screening of handpicked student films, filmmaker Q&As, panel discussions, displays of amazing media arts projects, installations, animations, experimental films, a poster design contest and more! Awards to exceptional student works will be given out by a distinguished jury of film professionals, along with the coveted Audience Award, given to the project declared “Best in Show.” This year, the winners will be awarded some amazing new awards:
Festival Distribution Award: Three of the filmmakers screening work in the F&MAD Spring Showcase will receive a $400 prize towards film festival submissions. The lucky winners will be able to use that money to submit their shorts in the film festivals of their choice. With submission fees averaging $50 per category, students receiving this award would be able to submit their projects to at least 8 festivals!
2019 JUDGESThe Showcase jurors selected each film being screened and are also tasked with choosing the winning film in each category. We’ve gathered an impressive panel of judges who will be deciding, not only the award winners for this year’s edition, including the Festival Distribution Prizes, but also what films will be shown during the event.Our panel includes, award-winning filmmakers Alvaro Gago, Gianluca Sodaro and Candida Durán. Álvaro’s shortfilm “Matria” won best Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film in 2018; Gianluca Sodaro is an award-winning filmmaker and long time collaborator of David Lynch’s composer Angelo Badalamenti; and Candida Durán, an Emmy Award winner documentary filmmaker living in West Valley City and former Film & Media Arts Student.
Álvaro Gago studies audiovisual communication and music in Galicia, theatre in Chicago and filmmaking at the London Film School where he graduates in 2013 with the film "Curricán", which picked up Best Director at Curtocircuito and Best Film at Cans Film Festival. In London, he establishes himself as a film editor, founds the Galician Film Forum and teaches film at the Young For Film School.
His latest short film "Matria" won the 2018 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and was a 2019 Goya nominee. Xacio Baño’s first feature film "Trote", which he edited, had its world premiere at the 2018 Locarno Film Festival and premiere nationally at the 2018 San Sebastián Film Festival. He also edited Marcos Merino’s second feature film "In Memoriam", which premiere at the 2018 Seville European Film Festival picking up "Best Spanish Film" within the New Waves Non-Fiction category. Currently he is developing his first feature film script as well as entering the postproduction of his next short film "16th of December."
Gianluca Sodaro was born in Sicily on Christmas Eve. He is a graduate of Milan’s Academy of Fine Arts and Design (NABA). In 2012, he comes into contact with the American music composer Angelo Badalamenti (he's best known for his work scoring films for director David Lynch). Gianluca has just finished to write the script of "God's Got His Head in the Clouds" and proposes to Badalamenti the idea of making music for it. The American composer accepts immediately and with great enthusiasm. Badalamenti declares: "Gianluca Sodaro has created a marvelous vignette of a film which cleverly poses a simple spiritual question. A duel of sorts commences between a priest and a little girl, as she brings a grievance before him. Their exchange is wonderfully thought-provoking, comical, and slightly absurd in its premise. I must've watched it five times before I finally took a seat at the piano. Bravo!”
In 2018 Gianluca makes his first “American” short film in English language with the actor Robert Davi ("The Goonies") and Angelo Badalamenti as composer. Now he’s completing short film and the British Oscar winner Rachel Portman ("Chocolat," "The Cider House Rules," "Emma," "Oliver Twist," etc) has composed the original music. Gianluca adores the sound of cicadas.
Candida Duran Taveras is a documentary filmmaker living in West Valley City, UT. She received a BA in Film & Media Arts from the University of Utah and has won numerous awards for her documentary work including a Rocky Mountain Emmy Award in 2012. After a small hiatus, Candida has return to the world of film and is focusing on creating short documentaries and documenting birth stories.
The Spring Showcase is May 4th at 5pm | in the FMAB Auditorium
Free and open to the public