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California College of the Arts is pleased to announce the Cinema Visionaries Lecture Series, a new initiative by the Film Program. This series brings film industry luminaries to the CCA campus for master classes and public lectures. It is funded with the generous support of Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein. It was begun in 2010 with a grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
LUMINARY FILMMAKERS
In January 2011 the inaugural Cinema Visionaries event featured the maverick film director Gus Van Sant. His public lecture was standing-room-only. “Gus Van Sant is not only a remarkable filmmaker but also a generous one,” said Film Program chair Rob Epstein. “His work runs the gamut from experimental to mainstream, so he brought a very special wealth of experience and knowledge to our campus and students.”
CCA visiting faculty member and award-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins was the second featured Cinema Visionaries lecturer, in November 2011. His feature film debut, Medicine for Melancholy (2008), was released in theaters by IFC Films and hailed as one of the best films of the year by A. O. Scott of the New York Times. Jenkins’s other projects include the shorts Tall Enough (2009), A Young Couple (2009), and Remigration (2011), all of which were highlighted at the event, followed by a Q&A.
CURRICULAR OPPORTUNITY
Guest lecturers are also invited to lead a master class, where students have the opportunity to interact with them and benefit from that direct exposure to the professional film industry. In his master class, Gus Van Sant deconstructed the process of making one of his early short films, from choosing the story for adaptation to contacting the author to the actual making of the piece. This was followed by a lengthy discussion in which students asked questions about what it is like to work as an independent artist while also making a living in the established film industry.
UPCOMING CINEMA VISIONARIES LECTURE SERIES GUESTS
Announced spring 2012 featured filmmakers will include:
April 25, 2012
JOHN WATERS (Pink Flamingos, Polyester, A Dirty Shame)
date TBA
ALEXANDER PAYNE (Election, Sideways, The Descendants)
CCA’s undergraduate programs are still accepting applications for fall admission.
About California College of the Arts
Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (CCA) is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 21 undergraduate and seven graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, master of fine arts, and master of business administration degrees. With campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, CCA currently enrolls 1,950 full-time students. Noted alumni include the painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders; the ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos; the filmmaker Wayne Wang; the conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and the designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl. For more information about CCA, visit cca.edu.
