ArtPower! Up&Coming Film Festival Showcases Emerging Talent

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The Up&Coming Film Festival recognizes excellence in student filmmaking at UC San Diego. Photo: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications.

Rising filmmakers from the University of California, San Diego will show their work at the 6th annual ArtPower! Up&Coming Film Festival this month. This year, the festival has been expanded to include a student networking event—Talent Campus—on May 8 and two nights of film screenings on May 15 and 16. Special presentations by leading researchers and filmmakers will explore the intersection of art, science and technology. All events take place on the UC San Diego campus and are free and open to the public.

ArtPower! at UC San Diego, the university’s renowned multi-arts presenter, brings leading innovators in film, dance and music to campus to engage students and the local community in the arts. The Up&Coming Film Festival is the finale of ArtPower!’s yearlong film series.

Featuring work described by the organizers as “fresh, in some cases raw, but always bristling with energy, originality and ambition,” the Up&Coming Film Festival has become increasingly popular and competitive over the years. Several films which premiered in last year’s festival have been selected to screen as part of PBS’s internationally distributed “Shorts Showcase” series, a testament to the caliber of talent featured at the festival.

“This year is especially exciting for me,” said Rebecca Webb, curator for ArtPower! Film. “In addition to a multitude of great campus and community partnerships, ArtPower! Film has expanded Up&Coming 2013 to three nights of networking, live music, presentations of the latest trends in new media and screenings by our talented UC San Diego Up&Coming filmmakers.”

The student films were chosen from more than 40 entries by a panel of industry professionals including Webb; Beth Accomando, UC San Diego alumna and KPBS film critic; Adrienne Hughes, director of the UC San Diego Media Lab; Albert Lin, UC San Diego alumnus, research scientist and National Geographic Explorer; Tara Knight, UC San Diego professor of theatre and dance; Steve Rivele, screenwriter; and Michael Trigilio, lecturer for the UC San Diego department of visual arts.

Rebecca Limerick, best film winner at Up&Coming 2012. Photo: Erik Jepsen/UCSan Diego Publications.

In addition to undergraduate and graduate student work, the festival will show a selection of films by High Tech High students who are mentored through the ArtPower! Film Practicum program. The program is one of several ways that ArtPower! reaches out to K-12 audiences to engage young students in the visual arts.

Events scheduled for the 2013 Up&Coming Film Festival include the following:

• Talent Campus, May 8, 6 p.m., The Loft
  Open to all UC San Diego students
  This networking event for emerging talent and seasoned film professionals will include a presentation of “The New Media Industry” by filmmaker Jodi Cilley, who will focus on how shifts in the industry have changed the way media is created, distributed and consumed. Albert Yu-Min Lin, UC San Diego research scientist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer, will present “Frontier: Where Media Meets Everything.” Lin will discuss the roles and responsibilities of media in science and innovation as well as share his own experiences as a principal investigator of the international Valley of the Khans Project. Alan White, an L.A.-based filmmaker who directs both award-winning commercials and critically acclaimed films, will discuss Navigating Two Worlds: Commercials and ArtHouse Films.
• Up&Coming Film Festival, May 15, 7 p.m., Qualcomm Institute Auditorium (formerly known as Calit2 Auditorium)
  Free and open to the public
  The first night of the festival will feature works at the intersection of art, science and technology. Special presentations include “Mikumentary,” a series of short, independent, non-commercial films about the Hatsune Miku phenomenon by UC San Diego professor and filmmaker Tara Knight, and “Drone Technology and Filmmaking,” a presentation by UC San Diego research scientist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer Albert Yu-Min Lin. A post-screening conversation with Lin will take place at 9:30 p.m.
• Up&Coming Film Festival, May 16, 8 p.m., The Loft
  Free and open to the public
  Night two of the festival will feature a selection of short films by UC San Diego students, as well as work by High Tech High students who are mentored through the ArtPower! Film Practicum program. The films range in genre from docudramas and experimental shorts to comedies and animation. A total of $2,000 in prizes will be awarded to winning films. A post-screening celebration will follow at 9:30 p.m. with live music performed by Ed Ghost Tucker.

In addition to the Up&Coming Film Festival, the 2012-13 season of ArtPower! Film included work exploring the Arab Spring, selections from the 2012 Berlinale Film Festival, “Foovies” focused on themes of food and family, and other special screenings.

ArtPower! at UC San Diego is able to offer a robust season of programming each year thanks in large part to community support. Private contributions enable ArtPower! to bring leading artists and performers to campus, as well as facilitate arts outreach and engagement programs. Visit artpower.ucsd.edu/giving to learn more.