The film adaptation of Lost on a Mountain in Maine, produced by Sylvester Stallone and set for cinema release in 2024, is based on the inspiring true story of a child surviving the wilderness. Andrew Knightlinger, (a writer/director who was born and raised in Madagascar, and then later South Dakota), will discuss the process of making the film, as well as his experiences navigating the entertainment industry. In addition to Lost on a Mountain in Maine he has written/directed the prairie-set character study Tater Tot & Patton now streaming on all platforms.  He is also the recipient of the Slamdance Film Festival Grand Prize for Screenwriting.

Futurist Bruce Sterling will critically examine the past, present, and future state of Artificial Intelligence. “AI is not entrepreneurial in spirit, it is not exciting, cutting edge start up innovation.  AI is big tech oligarchy.”

Bruce Sterling is a writer, journalist, design philosopher and futurist.  He has written a dozen science fiction novels and many short stories for which he earned several Hugo awards and other prizes.  As a writer, as well as an editor of anthologies like MIT Technology Review’s Twelve Tomorrows, Bruce has been playing a main role in shaping the genre of cyberpunk.

Vincent Warne, (writer, artist, and current Managing Editor of the Millennium Film Journal whose work concerns the history and future of film and the moving image), gives an introduction to Vilém Flusser, and thoughts on AI art.  More than any other medium, AI text-to-image synthesis lays bare the truth that all art is really curation.  An artist absorbs influences from the world—from experiences, memories, other artworks—and synthesizes them into a new form via a medium.  AI images work in the same way.

 

Location TBD.

Rowan will screen and discuss their work in documentary, narrative, and commercial. They will cover the ins and outs of making your first film, fundraising for your project, and how to get your start. Rowan will ask the students questions, and Leah will facilitate a discussion afterward. This is not to be missed if you are an aspiring filmmaker or visual artist. Ro has found ways to do both successfully. Bring your dinner and your friends!
RoHeadshot.jpg

Rowan West Haber is an aesthetically minded Writer/Director.  An MFA graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, they were a Sundance Momentum Fellow,  a Sundance New Frontier Lab, and an Art of Practice Fellow. They were selected for the Universal Pictures Directing Lab, AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, Film Independent’s Episodic Lab and Project Involve, Outfest’s Screenwriting Lab, and were a shadowing director on FX’s Pose. They were featured on The Alice Initiative’s 2018 list of directors ready to helm studio films, Indiewire’s 8 Best Trans Directors Working Today, and have been a fellow at Yaddo, MacDowell, and UCross Artist Residencies.

They won a Webby, New Orleans Film Festival, and LA Film Festival awards and were nominated for a GLAAD award for their series, New Deep South. Their series Braddock, PA (Topic) gained critical attention from The New York Times and The New Yorker. They directed Stonewall Forever for Stink Studios as well as Celestial for Tribeca Studios x Bulgari, and have done commercial work for Mercedes, Pepsi, Spotify, Facebook and Apretude to name a few.

Recently, they directed the finale for the FX x Killer Films Gotham and GLAAD  Award-nominated  series Pride. They are currently directing a feature documentary EPed by Lauren Greenfield and produced by Caryn Capotosto entitled We Are Pat about the 90s SNL cult figure It’s Pat. They are also attached to direct Amasia Entertainment’s (Green Hornet, Them That Follow) trans coming of age film, Handsome and their film Shell.ai, which is a modern feminist horror retelling of the Frankenstein story from the perspective of a female technologist, is being produced by Seaview (Slave Play, Reality). They are also attached to direct the feature adaptation of Brontez Purnell’s award-winning novel  Since I Laid My Burden Down, which is being adapted to screen by Savannah Knoop and just won the 2021 SFFILM Rainin Grant. They were  an advisor for Sundance’s first Trans Possibilities Lab  and are currently a Sundance Humanities Sustainability Fellow. They are a member of the collective of artists, scientists and technologists called Talk to Me About Water.

They speak Spanish and Portuguese, and when they aren’t doing creative work, they are definitely on a mountain somewhere.

WEBSITES
Rowan Haber / Personal
https://www.rowanhaber.com/

Talk to Me About Water
https://www.talktomeaboutwater.com/

A curated selection of student work is showcased in this end-of-semester screening.

Weber Theatre, Watson Fine Arts, 7:00 p.m.

A curated selection of student work is showcased in this end-of-semester screening.

Weber Theatre, Watson Fine Arts, 7:00 p.m.

A curated selection of student work is showcased in this end-of-semester screening.

Weber Theatre, Watson Fine Arts, 7:00 p.m.

A curated selection of student work is showcased in this end-of-semester screening.

Weber Theatre, Watson Fine Arts, 7:00 p.m.

Soloway is the creator of the groundbreaking Amazon series Transparent, a poignant comedy that artfully explores identity, love, sex, god, and boundaries through the lives of a complicated American family. Other contributions to American/Jewish/Feminist/Trans culture include the critical I Love Dick, adapted from the novel by Chris Kraus and the Sundance award winning film Afternoon Delight. Soloway will discuss their creative process and career in a Q&A style conversation.

Join the Film & New Media Department for a screening celebrating student work completed this semester.