Five SFTV students/alumni will be part of the world’s largest youth film festival taking place in Seattle later this month. Now in its eighth year, NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth) showcases films by directors age 22 and under, and nurtures emerging talent by providing year-round opportunities for the promotion and education of young filmmakers.
Recent graduate, Hayley Foster (Animation – B.A. ’13) will screen her short animation film, Yamashita, about a young Japanese-American girl struggling with the rediscovery of her ancestry while living in internment camps during World War II. The Collatz Conjecture by Kelsey Taylor (Production – B.A. ’13) is about Ben, who struggles to prove the impossible Collatz Conjecture and nearly misses his soul mate. Chelsea Bo’s (Production – B.A. ’14) short There Will Be Crumbs, tells the story of two girl scouts battling for cookie selling turf and Sean Drummond (Production – B.A. ’14) will screen Shadow Dancing, about woman comes across a lost VHS tape that brings back the nostalgic memories of her youth, during the Opening Night Gala. Sophomore Matt Thompson (Production – B.A. ’16) will screen his music video for Kyle Maloy’s song Not a Trace, which follows a happy, yet tragic, couple lost in the woods while commenting on the depths of love.
Not a Trace is coming off of a win for Best Music Video at the Action on Film Film Festival in Monrovia, CA. Thompson collaborated with his fellow LMU film production classmates, cinematographer Matthew Law (Production – B.A. ’14) and 1st AD Paul O’Hannigan (Production – B.A. ’15) on the shoot. This is Thompson’s fourth consecutive film at NFFTY over the past three years. His first was a feature film, Night Sights, which took the Jury Prize at NFFTY 2012 and was later picked up for distribution by ITN Distributions.
Yamashita, The Collatz Conjecture and Shadow Dancing were winners at the 2013 Film Outside the Frame. Yamashita won best animation and best director, The Collatz Conjecture won student choice and best production design, and Shadow Dancing took home the Cub Award.
NFFTY will take place in Seattle, WA from April 24th through April 27th. Click here for more information about NFFTY and screening dates/times. Watch Thompson’s video for Not a Trace below.
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