June 5-10: UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television Film Festival

The 24th annual UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (TFT) Film Festival will unveil a week of student screenings, panels and awards presentations Friday, June 5, through Wednesday, June 10. In addition, three Hollywood notables will be honored during the festival: Three-time Academy Award-nominated producer Michael DeLuca will receive the Vision Award, Acme Filmworks founder and TFT alumnus Ron Diamond will receive the Crystal Anvil Award, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Graham Moore will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award.

The festival, which is presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Kanbar Entertainment and SAGIndie, kicks off on opening night at the James Bridges Theater. The following day, Saturday, June 6, is jam-packed with activity as the Cinema and Media Studies Presentation takes place in the Darren Star Screening Room and the Festival of Animation runs in the James Bridges Theater.

On Monday, June 8, Academy Award-winning screenwriter Graham Moore (“The Imitation Game”) will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award at the Screenwriters Showcase. Additionally, 13 student winners — whose scripts were selected by a committee of more than 200 industry professionals — will present five-minute staged excerpts of their works. In the feature category, the winning graduate students include: Jessica Dube (“Baseline”), Wyatt Cain (“Exnapped”),  Bo Yeon Kim (“The Last Rocket Home”), Jane Miller (“Exposure Therapy”), Shoshana Sachidhanandam (“No Hell Below Us”) and Daniel Sanchez (“Yours Truly”). In the TV Comedy category, the student winners include: Kynan Dias (“The Odds”), Nancee Farrar (“Team Keegan”) and Stephen Peltier (“Spade Files”). Emily Bensinger (“Harridans”),  Steven Canals (“Hope Projects”) and Kiley Donovan (“Life of Riley”) are winners in the TV Drama category. Daniela Mayock (“City of Scars”) is the first-place undergraduate winner.

Graduate students Ben Haigh, Brian Patrick Runt and Melody Sandoval will pitch their feature film and TV projects on Tuesday, June 9 to a panel of top-tier industry judges during Producers Marketplace.

Directors Spotlight takes place on Wednesday, June 10, the last night of the festival. Nine films chosen by UCLA TFT students and a Blue Ribbon Jury of industry professionals, including producers Cassian Elwes and Bobby Moresco, will be shown to receive a Spotlight Award. The graduate student directors whose films have been chosen include Chris Borey (“At Falling Rock”), Heather Collins (“The Walker”), Sam Grinberg (“Heart-Ache”), Sarah Jean Kruchowski (“Everytime I Look at These Frozen Waffles I Think of You”), Iyabo Kwayana (“Macarrao”), Thanos Papastergiou (“Dead Man Dating”), Jerell Rosales (“Britney-holics Anonymous: A Spear-itual Awakening”), Yangzi She (“Eggplant”) and Joe Statom (“Backseat Full of Weird”).

All of the events are free and open to the public. Find more information about the festival here.

24th Annual Film Festival at a Glance

Saturday, June 6 

Cinema and Media Studies Presentation, Darren Star Screening Room
Festival of Animation, James Bridges Theater, 7 p.m. — A tradition since 1959, the festival will screen works that represent a diverse swath of animation mediums, styles, techniques and, ultimately, the lives and backgrounds of students in the program.

Sunday, June 7 

New Works Program Screenings #1, 1-3 p.m.; Screenings #2, 4-6 p.m.; Screenings #3, 7-10 p.m., James Bridges Theater — The New Works Program features short films from UCLA TFT filmmakers and animators, both graduate and undergraduate.

Monday, June 8