Friday, May 8th, 2020 Outstanding student films selected by a panel of distinguished filmmakers
THE PROGRAM The Vintage Thief
Nikita Khripach
Song of Freedom
Paola di Leo
Para Soledad
Makaleh Smith
Tristan
David Ouimette
Urban Nature
Edward Clem
As Feminine: In the Backyard
Royee Wang
D.Y.I (Pilot Episode)
Daniel RosenHanst
Coronavirus: Spring Festival at Home
Junting Zhou
Retrato a Carlos (Portrait of Carlos)
Ana Maria Galindo
Nine Days a Week
Maliyamungu Muhande
41st Annual Invitational Film Show Presented by the School of Media Studies The School of Media Studies is proud to present the best short films made by students in New School courses during the past two years. The show is juried by a panel of film industry professionals. Awards will be presented at the conclusion of tonight’s show and a reception for the filmmakers will follow. Director & Faculty Producer RAFAEL PARRA Producers MARCOS ECHEVERRIA ORTIZ, ALICIA BERTOMEU, FEILIN YANG, ANA MARIA GALINDO
ruffcutsevent.com/finecuts2020
The Vintage Thief
Song of Freedom
A vintage store employee is bored at work when a mysterious stranger walks in. He asks about clothes she could suggest for him to steal. Intrigued, store employee starts playing the stranger’s game.
The music video for Paola’s first single of her first EP Break Free, a video directed by her.
Nikita Khripach Nikita Khripach is a cinematic artist and writer. He came to New York from his hometown in Siberia to see the world from the other side. Nikita is an alumni of The New School.
Paola di Leo Paola di Leo is an Italian singer and songwriter in the Media Management Master program at The New School. She is also passionate about video making and directing, and she has directed a couple of her first music videos.
6:21 • Comedy/Mystery
3:21 • Music Video
Para Soledad
Tristan
Through Soledad telling her story, something she regarded as uninteresting nor worth telling, she illustrates the beautiful complexities of each human’s life; the sacrifices, the rewards, the loss, and the reflection of a life lived.
Tristan, 17, finds out he has potentially contracted HIV from a former partner. Through his YouTube channel, he recounts the week he gets tested and seeks who may have exposed him.
Makaleh Smith Makaleh Smith is an undergraduate at Public Engagement working on a self designed Liberal Arts major that combines environmental studies, human rights advocacy, and science communication. She sees filmmaking and photography as vehicles to explore and communicate the things that she’s passionate about.
David Ouimette David Ouimette is a proud Narwhal graduating from The New School of Media Studies in 2019. Ouimette strives to tell stories that cover America’s underreported issues. He’s currently based in Los Angeles working as a freelance filmmaker, and developing a murder mystery.
6:21 • Documentary
9:43 • Drama
Urban Nature
As Feminine: In the Backyard
Greg Angert finds refuge from New York City on the beaches of Queens, surfing year round rain, snow or shine. The son of immigrants from Russia and the Ukraine, he both embodies and contrasts New York, and proves that adventure and serenity can be found in even the most urban of jungles.
This film documents the near-constant male gaze and expectations on women to please, and explores in contrast, the unwavering yet playful nature of the contemporary female gaze that defies traditional normals on feminine behavior.
Edward Clem Edward is a 27 year old filmmaker from Seattle, Washington, who specializes in action sports films. His short film, “Book of Pow”, was screened at two international film festivals: High Five in Annecy, France, and IF3 in Montreal, Quebec, in 2019. He is an avid outdoorsman, and enjoys backcountry skiing, mountain biking, snowmobiling and basketball. He’s also a commercial fisherman, spending my summers in Alaska fishing for salmon.
Royee Weng Royee is a moving and still image artist and graphic designer originally from the Bay Area in California. Currently a junior at Parsons, she’s pursuing a BFA in Integrated Design, with a focus in Moving Image Arts. Drawing inspiration both from what is natural in our world and the way various environments, cultures, and situations affect humans, her work ranges from the exploration of the impact of technology on nature, to the way we humans respond and react under various circumstances.
8:10 • Action Sports
2:31 • Experimental
D.Y.I. (Pilot Episode) 12:46 • Comedy
Coronavirus: Spring Festival at Home 14:23 • Documentary
When the artist collective Playspace is threatened to be sold to a powerful conglomerate, the group’s leader, an enigmatic artist and notorious hot head, does anything he can to save the space, except work with his chief rival who is the only person that can help.
Junting Zhou documents his experience living with his parents during the quarantine under covid-19 in Guangzhou, China.
Daniel RosenHanst Dan RosenHanst is a multidisciplinary artist and production sound technician living in Brooklyn, NY. With a diverse creative output ranging from filmmaking and visual arts, to music and sound production, Dan is a graduate of The New School in Media Studies (MA), as well as Pratt Institute in Painting (BFA). Having discovered filmmaking at The New School as a medium which combines his passions for aesthetics, music and visual narrative, Dan is interested in the rhythm created by the synthesis of sound and picture. Dan is driven by the “DYI” ethos of self-direction, collaboration and lifting up one’s community through storytelling.
Junting Zhou Junting Zhou is from Guangzhou and graduated from Media Studies in 2018. He currently works as a freelance cinematographer in New York City.
Retrato a Carlos (Portrait of Carlos)
Nine Days a Week
Colombian composer Carlos Durán shares his vision about being a young artist with multiple influences and how he deals with the common request to define his work into one category. In this short documentary he tells us about his experience of being raised by folklore and pop musicians while being trained in a classical conservatory.
African American street photographer Louis Mendes began his career in 1953 Harlem as a door-to-door baby photographer. Taking street portraits across the city, through the civil rights movement, the drug epidemic, crime, and poverty. Mendes forged a living with his 1940s Speed Graphic press camera. Now, a New York legend with 37 photographer apprentices, he reflects on a life of hard work, survival, and creativity.
Ana Maria Galindo Ana Maria is a Colombian visual artist who moved to New York Fall 2019 to pursue the MA in Media Studies at The New School. She’s a passionate visual artist who remains in constant search of creation either through photography, design or video; light, text, color, and movement.
Maliyamungu Muhande Maliyamungu Muhande is a Congolese nonfiction filmmaker and Art Director based in New York whose work explores present realities to five insights into history. She approaches her work with a passion to fill the gap between making a difference and creativity.
15:28 • Documentary
8:31• Short documentary
THANKS TO OUR DISTINGUISHED JUDGES Nicole Tsien Nicole is the Co-Producer at POV. As a member of the programming and production team, she manages film submissions, supervises pre-screeners, and contributes to the curation and production of the series. She has experience assisting New York-based documentary filmmakers in various stages of production and has participated on panels and juries worldwide, including Doc NYC, Austin Film Festival, and DocAviv. She is a member of the Asian American Documentary Network (A-Doc) and serves as a board member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia. Belen Orsini Belen Orsini is a New York based producer, director and script writer. She is the founder and CEO at Walking on the Wall Corporation, a production company supporting filmmakers domestically and internationally. Her current roaster of film projects under development include “The Assassination of Socrates”, “Rebel”, “Finisterra” and “The Imperial”. Belen has worked in prominent films such as “Point Break” and the Oscar nominated shortlist films “Aquarella” and “Libertador”. She’s always looking for other filmmakers and likeminded artists to start new ventures. When she is not filming, Belen is often mentoring emerging filmmakers. Mariella Pérez Pérez Mariella Pérez Pérez is a director/ producer/ AD. She has over thirty feature films credits with both domestic and international awards. Mariella recently worked on the A&E production of the “Scars of Nanking” which received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography and a nomination for Outstanding Single Camera Edit. She also worked on the production of “Washington”, for History Channel, shot entirely in Rumania. Mariella is the Producer and co-curator of “Cinema Venezuela”, a yearly showcase of Venezuelan Cinema based in Miami. She participates often on panels about women in cinema and has served as a juror for many independent film festivals. As a director, Mariella has specialized in documentary projects.
A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Dean VLADAN NIKOLIC Associate Dean DAWNJA BURRIS Director of MA Graduate Program PETER ASARO Director of Undergraduate Programs MARCUS TURNER Director Of Administration JANELLE MCKENZIE Manager of Technical Operations MANUEL ERMECHEO Program Manager ALEXANDRA SHINERT Graphic Designer NIKKI ROXAS
INFORMATION media@newschool.edu