Brigham Young University students and alumni took up much of the screen time at this year’s LDS Film Festival, highlighting the talent and skills being nurtured here. Christian Vuissa founded the festival in 2001 while he was still an undergraduate studying media arts studies at BYU. The festival is now a major event that showcases an impressive array of feature films, special screenings and short films. Although it was originally founded for LDS filmmakers to network with each other and showcase their work to an appreciative audience, the event has quickly turned into an opportunity for all likeminded individuals to promote their filmmaking trade. BYU students and alumni have taken part of the event every year since its inception. This year, three BYU alumni went home with awards from the festival: Third place in the Short Film Competition — Without a Rope, by Nick Dixon, who also received an audience choice award. Honorable Mention in Short Film Competition -White Earth, by Christian Jensen Third Place in the 24-Hour Filmmaking Marathon — Tooth Fairy: A New Hope, group led by Raven Alard “Winning these awards is a great recognition,” said Nick Dixon, the creator of Without a Rope. “It's nice to know the work we put into the film was appreciated and that our hard work paid off. A lot of time and energy went into making the film, so getting recognized is really gratifying.” Cokeville MiracleCokeville Miracle Other films made by Theatre and Media Arts students and alumnus included: Feature Films Freetown, Director: Garrett Batty; Writer: Melissa Leilani Larson, Garrett Batty; Producer: Adam Abel, Garrett Batty The Cokeville Miracle: Director: T.C. Christensen, actors included Kym Mellon, Barta Heiner Austenland: Director: Jerusha Hess; Writer: Jerusha Hess; Associate Producer: Jared Hess Meet the Mormons: Director, Blair Treu (Many media arts alums on the crew) Glimpses Beyond Death’s Door: Writer, Director, Producer: Brandon Smith; Executive Producer: Ron Brough The Heart of the Matter: Director: Jessica Mockett; Producer: Jessica Mockett, Nathan D. Lee, Jordan Harker; Director of Photography: Travis Cline Untitled Girl’s Camp Movie: Writer, Director: Maclain Nelson; Producer: Jake Van Wagoner, Lisa Clark, Hailey Smith, Clare Niederpruem; Executive Producer: Maclain Nelson; Director of Photography: Joel Remke; Production Designer: Anne Black Mythica: Director: Anne Black; Writer: Anne Black, Jason Faller, Kynan Griffin; Producer: Jason Faller, Kynan Griffin; Director of Photography: A. Todd Smith Survivor: Writer, Director, Producer: John Lyde; Executive Producer: Jason Faller, Kynan Griffin Short Films Newsies: Director: Jeff Parkin; Producer: Jared Cardon, Jeff Parkin, Babetta Kelly; Director of Photography: Jacob Schwarz White Earth: Writer, Director, Producer: J. Christian Jensen; Director of Photography, Editor: J. Christian Jensen Without a Rope: Writer, Director: Nick Dixon; Producer: Willem Kampenhout; Executive Producer: Tom Russell, Courtney Russell, Tom Lefler; Director of Photography: Gary Groth; Production Designer: Gina Thompson; Original Score: Spencer Russell; Editor: Jonathan Ying. Presentations and Panels Christian Vuissa Jerusha Hess Garrett Batty Studio C A complete list of all those honored at the festival can be found by clicking, here.

A new database of student created films is now available for use by Brigham Young University students and fans alike, the Department of Theatre and Media Arts announced on Friday at the Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts and Communications Center 50th Anniversary Gala. Created to allow all to see the student work created here at BYU, the database already hosts over 150 films and can be accessed online at studentfilms.byu.edu. More films will be added each week by the TMA department and alumni who wish to submit their former work. “This website is an effort to help show people what the BYU Media Arts program has done in the past and what we are capable of doing now,” said Kyle Stapley, Media Arts Program Coordinator and lead for this project. “By focusing specifically on student work that has been done here at BYU, we hope that this project will also act as a recruiting tool to help bring in additional talent to our renowned programs.” Brigham Young University has a long, rich history in the creation and education of film. BYU was one of the first universities to create a formal department for the production of motion pictures, founded in 1953. Currently, the BYU Media Arts Program and the Center for Animation have won over 30 National and Regional Student Emmys in the past 12 years making BYU one of the most well-respected Film and Animation programs in the nation. Those who visit the new website will find that there are different types of films to enjoy such as fiction, non-fiction and animation films. In addition to these, a portion of the website is dedicated solely to BYU Final Cut Films. These films are deemed the best student-produced, student-created fiction films, documentaries, commercials, and animations are created here at BYU. According to Stapley, these films include Mr. Bellpond, which won two Student Emmy’s in 2012, and even go back as far as The Phone Call and Johnny Lingo, films done through the BYU Motion Picture Studio back when the Motion Picture Studio was connected to BYU. “Another exciting option for those who visit our new website is to view the work done with Aperture, our student-ran journal of media arts,” Stapley said. “You can go here to read papers about media art, film, sound, etc. In this way we are able to combine critical studies with the actual production of film.” “Getting this website up and running in the format and in the depth that we have now is a great start,” Stapley said. “But, with the potential for additional opportunities that we are now realizing, we see this project getting much bigger in the future. Just to give you an idea, I know our students are starting to get really interested in creating web series. So, in the future, we might be using this website to launch those kinds of projects.”

Dubbed as “a love story that isn’t spoiled by the trailer,” the new musical Single Wide has attracted national attention, awards and the opportunity to be performed Off-Broadway in the 2015 New York Music Theatre Festival (NYMF). What started as a joint project between Brigham Young University’s George D. Nelson, the head of the playwriting program in the Department of Theatre and Media Arts, and Jordan Kamalu, a commercial music major in the School of Music, is now exploding into a star-studded venture. Jeff Whiting, a BYU Music Dance Theatre alumni and acclaimed Broadway director has just signed on to direct Single Wide’s world premiere at the NYMF festival in New York in July. “I’m honored to have been asked to help develop Single Wide and take it to the stage in New York,” said Whiting. “I love the piece! I think the story is going to translate well on the stage in the context of the dialogue and the music that’s been created, it’s going to make a real big splash in New York.” In addition to this privilege, Single Wide received the Blanche and Irving Laurie Musical Theatre Award from The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF). This award recognizes the best new musical to be written and performed on a university campus in 2014-2015. Excerpts from the musical will be showcased at the KCACTF national festival in Washington D.C., this April. Single Wide follows a community of single women living in a trailer park in the southern United States. Katy, a single mother, living with her own single mother, is trying to get her son out of their “single wide” situation. For her, this means hard work and avoiding men, especially the type that left her there in the first place. But when her son befriends the reclusive new move-in two trailers down, she sees something different in him that makes her take a second look. “At the core of this musical is the story of an unlikely family that begins to come together. No one could have done this better than George,” said Whiting. “George has this ability to really create dialogue that sounds like people, the way they actually exist in their world. Then it’s Jordan’s score that really makes it fun. His music gives wonderful life and vibrancy to this piece. Their collaboration is what makes this project so brilliant and clever. “ “It’s thrilling that Single Wide has won these recognitions,” said Nelson. “These honors belong to our entire department and the atmosphere here that is supportive and conducive to the development of new works. I hope these awards are momentum-building.”

Congratulations to our CFAC Theatre and Media Arts Alumnus, Christian Jensen, for the Oscar nomination of his film White Earth in the Short Documentary category. Jensen was also awarded the Jury Special Mention for Cinematography in a Documentary Short for White Earth, screened at the 2014 SlamDance Film Festival. White Earth also received the Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina. About White Earth Thousands of desperate souls flock to America’s Northern Plains seeking work in the oil fields. White Earth is the tale of an oil boom seen through unexpected eyes. Three children and an immigrant mother brave a cruel winter and explore themes of innocence, home and the American Dream. About the filmmaker J. Christian Jensen graduated from Brigham Young University in 2009 with a degree in Media Arts Studies. Jensen began working in media as a journalist — a passion that evolved into more creative work as a documentary and hybrid filmmaker. Between 2002 and 2006, he filled a variety of production roles on several short and feature-length fiction films including Together Again for the First Time and The Flyboys. In 2006, while pursuing a degree in Media Arts Studies at Brigham Young University, Jensen was awarded an Oscarson Discovery Grant which enabled him to relocate to Washington D.C. where he interned for National Geographic Television & Film. He also worked on PBS FRONTLINE and American Experience, and with the co-production of The Mormons. Between 2006 and 2010, Jensen continued to work in non-fiction helping to create The Soul of Kalaupapa, a documentary about the remote Kalaupapa leprosy (Hansen's Disease) colony on Molokai, Hawaii. He also worked as an editor and camera person at BYU Television International and was an editor on Messiah: Behold the Lamb of God, and Storytellers, which were both produced for BYUtv by Kaleidoscope Pictures. In 2008, Jensen received funds from ORCA, The Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration in the Arts, and the Kennedy Center for International Studies, to write and direct a broadcast-length documentary called Sou da Bahia (I’m from Bahia) about art and Afro-Brazilian identity in Northeastern Brazil. He also co-curated a multiple medium art exhibit by the same name to accompany the film’s television premier throughout the U.S. and Latin America. In 2011, after a year living abroad in China, Jensen was accepted to Stanford University's MFA Program in Documentary Film & Video where he received the Carmen Christensen Fine Arts Fellowship. He also received graduate fellowships to attend The Robert Flaherty Film Seminar (2012), the Telluride Student Symposium (2013), and the annual University Film & Video Association (UFVA) Conference (2013). Within Stanford's program, he produced and directed the following documentary and experimental short films: Out of Body (2011), Between Land and Sea (2012), ALPHA & OMEGA (2012), and White Earth (2013). The films have since played at major festivals throughout the United States including Napa Valley, DOC NYC, Palm Springs ShortFest, Mill Valley, and NextFrame. ALPHA & OMEGA was also a finalist in the Student Academy Awards. White Earth was a national recipient of the Carole Fielding Student Grant and was screened at the 2014 Slamdance film festival. Jensen received his Master of Fine Arts from Stanford University in 2013. After graduating, Jensen was a finalist for the International Documentary Association, David L. Wolper's Student Documentary Award, with his film, Between Land and Sea. In 2014, Jensen was awarded the Jury Special Mention for Cinematography in a Documentary Short for White Earth, screened at the 2014 SlamDance Film Festival. White Earth also received the Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina. Jensen also won second place in the Student Academy Awards in 2014 in the documentary category for White Earth.

Theatre Education students enjoy workshops at UTA Conference and become confident about their future

After a long history at BYU, the Master of Arts program is coming to a close.

BYU’s Advanced Film Production (AFP) class provides an opportunity for media arts students to create professional-level films and gain valuable experience in the field.