Cinematic Arts

Video essays

• Jacqueline Martin

• Colin Austin

• Maxine Russell & Campbell Taylor

305

• Director: Zachary Petrie
• Producer: Stephanie Oo
• Screenwriter: Zachary Petrie
• Cinematographer: Mia LiCausi
• Editor: Vince Tran
• Production Designer: Zachary Petrie, Vince Tran, Stephanie Oo

• Director: Eddie Wokas
• Producer: Fabian Barajas, Rafaella Peng
• Screenwriter: Eddie Wokas
• Editor: Eddie Wokas

• Director: Alexa Lozano
• Producer: Lucia Carbone
• Screenwriter: Celeste Chavez
• Cinematographer: Ahmed Elbeyali
• Editor: Celeste Chavez
• Production Designer: Juliana Cabello

• Director: Stephanie Beltran
• Producer: Lucia Carbone
• Screenwriter: Stephanie Beltran
• Cinematographer: David Mendoza
• Editor: Emma Curley

• Director: Dharahasa Zakkula
• Producer: Sabrina Alarcon
• Screenwriter: Dharahasa Zakkula
• Cinematographer: Zoe Hellings
• Editor: Jordan Nguyen
• Production Designer: Emilia Compton

• Director: Aviana Easterday
• Producer: Delfinia Guzman
• Screenwriter: Aviana Easterday
• Cinematographer: Gigi Dugas
• Editor: Laxxcy Ly
• Production Designer: Austin Kiral

• Director Moeka Ishizawa
• Producer Isabela Padilla
• Screenwriter: Isabella Padilla 
• Cinematographer Skylar Moore

Video essays

• Andrew Gleason

• Izzy Alvarez

322 

• Director: Diego A. Hernandez
• Producer: Patrick P. Boone
• Cinematographer: Kasey Ayres
• Editor: Owen Gray

• Director: Minh Nguyen
• Producer: Taskeen Shaikh
• Screenwriter: Minh Nguyen
• Cinematographer: Michelle Gonzalez
• Editor: Minh Nguyen
• Production Designer: Jacob Chacon

• Director: Davan Redfearn
• Producer: Davan Redfearn, James Steele, Lucas Flynn, Aidan Ring
• Screenwriter: Davan Redfearn
• Cinematographer: James Steele
• Editor: Davan Redfearn
• Production Designer: Aidan Ring

• Director: Jazmyn Mansuri
• Producer: Brianna Rodriguez
• Cinematographer: Kevan Vu
• Editor: Aaron Torres
• Production Designer: Marek Svoboda

• Director: Daniel Acosta
• Producer: Daniel Acosta
• Screenwriter: Tes Bagwell & Daniel Acosta
• Cinematographer: Gannon Fish
• Editor: Diego Ramos

• All the students from Ben Huff's 322 class

Documentary

355

• Synopsis
  • Director: Joshua Vivero
  • Producer: Dylan Dougherty
  • Cinematographer: Fernando De Vega Moreno
  • Editor: Dylan Dougherty

• After a traumatic hospital visit, Andrew looks for support from his loved ones as he faces a crisis of faith.
  • Director: Jake Ritter
  • Producer: Gigi Dugas
  • Cinematographer: Jake Ritter
  • Editor: Gigi Dugas
  • Assistant Editor: Lou LaVoie

• A family looks back on the emotional divide created by one daughters dream of becoming a tattoo artist, and the long road towards acceptance.
  • Director: Leticia Morales
  • Producer: Mia LiCausi
  • Cinematographer: Mia LiCausi
  • Editor: Laxxcy Ly

455

• An observation of a bonsai workshop and the various challenges students face. 
  • Director: Abby Kottke
  • Cinematographer: Kehan Liu

• Through the story of a single fighter, the reality of the sports entertainment spectacle. Exploring the physical, mental and psychological personal cost of this path.
  • Director: Levi Yin
  • Cinematographer: Laci Bridgette

• An observational portrait of the Kenko Mahjong Tournament at LAPOM, a LA Riichi Mahjong Club in Gardena, CA. 
  • Director: Kehan Liu
  • Cinematographer: Abby Kottke

• Inside Fingerprints Music, a self-proclaimed “shrine to music and pop culture,” one store’s thirty-year journey reveals how a fiercely independent space can survive industry upheaval while shaping a loyal community
  • Director: Danielle Perales
  • Cinematographer: Hannah Mcgarrigle Putnam

465

• Farmersville, a small town, was once the subject of the Farmersville Film Project in the 1960s, which was an initiative by the government aimed at supporting social progress. This documentary returns to the town with open questions, exploring how the community's present compares with the expectations from its past.
  • Director: Savannah Gasca
  • Producer: Yaretzi Alvarez
  • Cinematographer: Levi Yin
  • Editor: Abby Kottke
  • Assistant Editor: T Lopez

• An experimental visual essay that peels back the remnants of a young life interrupted. More than a decade after his passing, this film shows what is left of someone’s life through the artifacts and memories that still exist.
  • Director: Marylou Jaurez
  • Producer: Danielle Perales
  • Cinematographer: Kehan Liu
  • Editor: Laci Monay

• Inside a hidden shop overflowing with treasures, 84 year old carpenter Florencio Blanquel spends his day championing Mexican art, culture, and community. 
  • Director: Mateo Medina
  • Producer: Wil Mcgee
  • Cinematographer: Jonathan Sintora
  • Editor: Grecia Martinez
  • Assistant Editor: Hannah Mcgarrigle Putnam

Video Essays

• This video essay is about a genre we are all familiar with even if we didn't have a name for it: Afrosurrealism. Films like Nope, Sorry To Bother You, and Sinners are all works that if not outright Afrosurrealist, use techniques that are Afros.
  • Forrest Wilson III

• This project explores how horror cinema shifts from external to psychological fear as female characters evolve from vulnerable victims to central figures shaping the experience in fear.
  • Christina Borquez 

• In the space between audience and text, short edits have emerged as an expression of a new cinephilia. 
  • Wil Mcgee

• Cally Nguyen

Narrative

• After a heated argument with her older sister, Blu sets off on the LA metro to her prestigious school, only to be faced with a series of unfortunate events, revealing the chaotic heart of LA.
  • Director: Alana Morris
  • Producer: Olivia Hernandez, Alexandro Estrada
  • Screenwriter: Teyha Terry, Alana Morris
  • Cinematographer: Noel Mendoza
  • Editor: Jacob Chacon
  • Production Designer: Rafael Larranaga

• A mother signs her socially awkward teen daughter up for a beauty pageant to help boost her confidence and self-worth.
  • Director: Mariam Mkhitaryan
  • Producer: Elly Efe
  • Screenwriter: Celeste Garcia
  • Cinematographer: Kayla Dior
  • Editor: Presley Wallace
  • Production Designer: Alondra Patino

• Mira Thompson, a once aspiring artist now corporate worker, wants a new promotion at her job but faces hardships in her male dominated workplace. She questions whether the stress is worth it. The positions she is put in test her resolve to the brink of a mental colla
  • Director: Ella Oji Kaplan
  • Producer: Sara Holst
  • Screenwriter: Jayson Hanmer, Diego A Hernandez
  • Cinematographer: Kiya Johnson
  • Editor: Karma Sarni
  • Production Designer: Jenna Dava & Adrienne Basham

• A young woman, on the brink of losing herself to the relentless grind of adulthood. Margot loses her passion for playing the piano. When main character Margot comes face to face with a massive debt, she sells her cheris
  • Director: Madeline Pointon
  • Producer: Camila Gomez
  • Screenwriter: Morgan Bowen
  • Cinematographer: Angel Acosta
  • Editor: Owen Gray
  • Production Designer: Luz Mariel Guzman

• After attending a Filipino cultural event, Malaya, a recent immigrant, and her Americanized roommate, Angelica clash over how to make a fruit salad.
  • Director: Kristen Dana Vinluan
  • Producer: Jayson Hanmer, Olivia Hernandez
  • Screenwriter: Kristen Dana Vinluan
  • Cinematographer: Ella Girtsman
  • Editor: Destiny Lee
  • Production Designer: Alex Zavala

• A grieving mom struggles to keep her family’s cake tradition alive for her daughter's first birthday without her dad.
  • Director: Jamie Nguyen
  • Producer: Yamil Cervantes
  • Screenwriter: Iyanah Hernandez
  • Cinematographer: Mitchell Flanigan
  • Editor: Owen Gray
  • Production Designer: Will Hudelson

• An old superhero who’s lost his powers redefined what it means to be a superhero without going out and saving the world.
  • Director: Brianna Rodriguez
  • Producer: Sopheary Yean, Jackson Wilfong
  • Screenwriter: Brianna Rodriguez, Andres Amezquita
  • Cinematographer: Erick Arango
  • Editor: Aaron Torres
  • Production Designer: Aris Cason

INTERMISSION

• Black Vans and Worry Dolls: After his asylum claim is denied, a young Latino college student with deep trust issues must choose whether to trust his emotionally guarded, Americanized Arab immigration attorney — or take on a broken system by himself.
  • Director: Yousef Khafaja
  • Producer: Alexandro Estrada, Patrick P. Boone
  • Screenwriter: Yousef Khafaja
  • Cinematographer: David Gomez
  • Editor: Minh Nguyen
  • Production Designer: Robert Cuthill

• Aquila Viera, a smart college student follows through with a medical abortion, but when the affects start to take a otherworldly mental and physical toll, Aquila struggles to find herself, and someone to just…listen. 
  • Director: Kelly Leonardo
  • Producer: Sara Holst, Rafael Arreola
  • Screenwriter: Bella Lopez-Cottrel, Kelly Leonardo
  • Cinematographer: Cedrix Lontok
  • Editor: Nicole Ramirez
  • Production Designer: Sadie Munoz

• An introverted mailman, Jeff, must complete all of his deliveries by his deadline or miss out on the chance to deliver his letter to the mother he never got to meet.
  • Director: Michael Hy
  • Producer: Juliana Daubert
  • Screenwriter: Julia Williams
  • Cinematographer: Kasey Ayres
  • Editor: Luca Delouise
  • Production Designer: Alex Zavala

• After a near-fatal accident, a young mother is thrust into a dreamlike realm where she must confront the life she’s lived, the artist she abandoned, and the woman she still longs to be before time runs out.
  • Director: Sandra Tran
  • Producer: Elly Efe, Camila Gomez
  • Screenwriter: Sandra Tran
  • Cinematographer: Catherine Del Castillo
  • Editor: Minh Nguyen
  • Production Designer: Autumn Udarbe

• After sneaking out for a hookup causes his skin to rot, Arturo must confront his fear of disappointing his hardworking immigrant mother.
  • Director: Diego A Hernandez
  • Producer: Jayson Hanmer
  • Screenwriter: Diego A Hernandez, Jayson Hanmer
  • Cinematographer: Kiya Johnson
  • Editor: Karma Sarni
  • Production Designer: Jenna Dava, Adrienne Basham

• Haunted by grief, a depressed young man stumbles into a coffee shop and meets the old owner. Together, they reflect on change and find comfort in their new worlds.
  • Director: Jonah Greenebaum
  • Producer: Kiley Perez, Jonah Greenebaum
  • Screenwriter: Jonah Greenebaum, Josh Levine
  • Cinematographer: Ryan Ricupito
  • Editor: Karma Sarni
  • Production Designer: Melissa Chavez

• A soft-spoken Latina college freshman, unsure of where she fits within her family, discovers her voice—both musically and emotionally—through the power of a choir, which becomes her pathway to identity, heritage, and home.
  • Director: Francesca Troiani
  • Producer: Kiley Perez, Francesca Troiani
  • Screenwriter: Francesca Troiani
  • Cinematographer: Michelle Gonzalez Aguirre
  • Editor: Nicole Ramirez
  • Production Designer: Autumn Udarbe, Sadie Munoz