Junior Film Student, James Mattise, has been awarded the 2013 Photography and Film Dean’s Scholarship.

Born in 1991, James Mattise (maht-ice) is currently pursuing his BFA in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Photography and Film Department. He works in various mediums including film and video making, painting, sculpture, instrument design, and collage.  He is a recipient of a Phi Kappa Phi School of the Arts Scholarship, VCU Photo/Film Undergraduate Research Grant, and the VCU Film Outstanding Junior Award. James currently lives in Richmond VA, where he is the founder and coordinator for Studio Two Three’s Film and Video Series.

http://www.jamesmattise.com/

The first year MFA Students will exhibit their show, entitles “The Meeting of Parallel Lines,” at Black Iris Gallery April 26th to May 30th.

The show features work by: Cynthia Henebry, Janelle Proulx, and Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa.

The opening reception will occur April 26th, from 7-10pm. “The Meeting of Parallel Lines” is located at the Black Iris Gallery, 321 W. Broad St.

For more information, please visit the event’s Facebook page.

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May 2, 2013 @ 3PM
Pollak Building, Room 305

Alexis Bravos is a filmmaker and writer from Chicago. Working primarily in 16 mm film, she explores the natural world as a strategy for portraiture. She is interested in possession, antiquated film processes, botany and the power of  the sea. Her films have been screened internationally, including at the Ann Arbor Film Festival where her film  Hepworth  won the Eileen Maitland Award in 2011, The Anthology Film Archives, Other Cinema, Big Muddy Film Festival, Humboldt International, and others. Her films are distributed by Canyon Cinema. She lives in Hillsborough, NC where she tends to 10 acres of land, many chickens, a goat, and a toddler.

Congratulations to our Undergraduate Student Mark Harley who won a competitive internship at the Center for Photography at Woodstock!
Hurley explains his position:

“I will be a 2013 Summer Workshop Intern at the Center for Photography at Woodstock, in Woodstock, New York. I will be one of four assistants during the Center’s intensive Summer Workshop & Lecture schedule. Some of the photographers participating in workshops and lectures this summer are Phillip Toledano, Alex and Rebecca Norris Webb, David Hilliard, Kelli Connell, Mary Ellen Mark, Henry Horenstein, and Mark Klett, among many others. The workshops run from the end of May until the middle of October” (Hurley).

1030  Glenn Jodun

1040  Jessica Osband

1050  Micki Multer

1100  Jennifer Ling

1110  Jessica Overcash

1120  Victoria Jump

1130  Diego Valdez

1140  Kate Cantolina

1150  Elyse Smith

1200  Michael Weinheimer

1210  Lauren Lyon

Break for Lunch

110  Kaelne Koorn

120  Alexis Mattila

130  Logan Whitman

140  Kelsey McNeil

150  Adrianna Rossi

200  Elizabeth Crawford

210  Beth Harris

220  Augusta Pittman

230  Jaime Kelman

240  Soo-Hyeun Kwon

250  Jaclyn Brown

300  Eric Bujnowski

310  Sam Norwood

320  Mark Harley

330  Breonca Trofort

340  Melanie Kobran

Associate professor Sonali Gulati is joining 9 other school of the arts faculty who have received a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship.

“Often characterized as “midcareer” awards, Guggenheim Fellowships are intended for men and women who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productivescholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts” (www.gf.org).

The awards average about $30,000 per award, which provides “Fellows with blocks of time in which they can work with as much creative freedom as possible, grants are made freely. No special conditions attach to them, and Fellows may spend their grant funds in any manner they deem necessary to their work” (www.gf.org).

Gulati talks about her project which will be funded with this award: “my project is titled ‘The Indian Patient’ and it is a documentary film that uncovers the thriving underground medical industry of curing homosexuality in India.”

Her most recent film, “I am” is an award winning documentary that has screened at numerous national and international festivals.

Photography Film Assistant Professor Brian Ulrich also won  this prestigious award in 2010.

Click here for a list of the 2013 award recipients.

Adjunct Faculty David Williams will screen his film “Thirteen” at the Grace St Theatre, in conjunction with the James River Film Festival, April 17th at 7:00PM.

From the James River Society Film Festival:

“David Williams’ low-budget feature played at international festivals (Toronto, Berlin) in 1998 and, like his previous Lillian (1993), garnered kind words from Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times:“Thirteen … puts aside the artifice and the razzle and looks solemnly at the beauty and puzzlement of life.” Reprising the character of Lillian as the adoptive mother of the thirteen-year old Nina, who desperately wants her own car, Williams evokes other films about adolescence—400 Blows, To Kill A Mockingbird among them. His story has pathos, humor, and insight and the actors bring a credibility to the screen that professionals might overstep.”

Williams will also participate in a Q&A after the screening. For more information, visit the James River Film Festival website, or email with questions, info@jamesriverfilm.org.