Videographer and media arts alum Scott Cook shares his experience with dance film, collaboration and mentoring

The town portrayed in the Sundance premiere of The Killing of Two Lovers is so small that David, who is staying at his father’s home while he and Nikki try to figure out if their marriage is salvageable, easily can see everything going on in the lives of his wife and four kids in the home just down the street. Directed by Robert Machoian, a photography program faculty member at Brigham Young University in Provo, this feature-length narrative offers a superbly crafted, beautifully filmed story about how the difficulties of asking for space to sort things out in a marriage are magnified enormously in a town as small as the one the director chose for the film’s production. Selected for the festival’s NEXT category, the film shines in performances that capture the simmering tensions and spoken words that could derail any good faith intention of reconciling problems in a marriage. And, Machoian – with an impressive, understated, elegant choice of mise-en-scène – gives the viewer the utter irony of the notion of asking for space in a small central Utah town set against an impressive mountain range (although there is no card title specifying the location). The film was supported by the Utah Film Commission. Read the full story by Les Roka at theutahreview.com.

https://vimeo.com/295876694 BYU’s highly esteemed Center for Animation became even more reputable when the short film “Grendel,” directed and produced by BYU animation students, recently won its sixth Student Academy Award. This year, the Student Academy Awards competition received a total of 1,615 entries from 255 domestic and 105 international colleges and universities. Only 16 entries received an award. Student director Kalee McCollaum and student producer Austin Rodriguez worked with approximately 40 students to make this film a reality. Thousands of hours went into the project which was supervised by professors Kelly Loosli and R. Brent Adams. The story of “Grendel” is a reverse telling of the classic Beowulf tale where Grendel, the friendly monster in the film, is joined by rowdy Viking neighbors who harass him. He slowly starts to retaliate until he realizes he’s the one who has become the monster. This realization spikes a change in character as he chooses to help save the Vikings from other creatures. Read more at news.byu.edu, sltrib.com or usatoday.com