iW NEWS | Marcie Bloom Fellowship Announced

Marcie Bloom, former co-president of Sony Pictures Classics and partner of Orion Classics, announced Tuesday the formation of The Marcie Bloom Fellowship in Film, a New York-based mentoring program designed to introduce up to four college seniors and recent graduates to the film industry. For the first year of the fellowship, participating colleges will be Wesleyan University, Columbia University and The New School. "I always dreamt of a career where I would have a reason to be around talented, creative people without being just a 'groupie,'." said Bloom in a statement. "I see this as a way of 'giving back' to a community which has been extremely kind and generous to me, and supportive of me for a long time." [Peter Knegt]  
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iW NEWS | NYU's First Run Fest Announces Winners

New York University's 66th annual First Run Film Festival, which screens the work of student films from the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts, announced their award winners at a ceremony at the Cantor Film Center Monday night. This year's festival screened 105 films, videos, multimedia, and animation projects, and six films were singled out for over $50,000 in cash prizes. The first prize winners of the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation Awards for Excellence in Filmmaking were Andrew MacLean for "Sikumi" in the Graduate Division, and Benedict Campbell for "Lloyd Neck" in the Undergraduate Division. MacLean and Campbell also both won their divisional awards for the screenwriting and directing, totaling $15,000 in prizes for each. They join past recipients Spike Lee, Ang Lee and Nancy Savoca, among others. A panel of industry professionals selected the winning films from a group of 14 finalists. [Peter Knegt] 
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iW NEWS | Brooks Institute Awarded 35mm Project Grant

The Brooks Institute announced that it has been chosen as the recipient of the 35mm Project, a Kodak-sponsored grant enabling Brooks Institute film students to produce a 35mm short film and collaborate with notable film industry professionals, who will serve as project mentors. Students participating in the project enroll in the Project class, apply for specific production jobs, ranging from producer to director and gaffer to accountant, and receive course credit for their hands-on training experience. The Project involves a 150-person film crew; more than 30 vendors; rental equipment, valued at more than $1 million. This is the fifth consecutive year the Institute has received this award. [Peter Knegt] 
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NY Times: Where'd You Go to Film School? In My Bedroom

When David Basulto decided to become a movie producer, the first thing he did was enroll in a class at a film school in Los Angeles. The second thing he did was drop out. Film schools "teach you a lot of theory, teach you to shoot on old, archaic systems," he said. "They're not cutting edge." The systems used at, say, the University of Southern California's Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts are anything but archaic. But Mr. Basulto's point is worth noting in the era of miniDV digital video cameras, Final Cut Pro editing systems and YouTube auteurs with development deals. Thousands of new filmmakers are just diving in, many with the help of instructional products claiming to provide low-cost, high-impact alternatives to film school. Justin Peters reports. 
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Two-day Low Budget Film School Adds Guests for This Weekend's Event

Mark Stolaroff's new No Budget Film School, which is preparing for its upcoming weekend event in Los Angeles has added guest speakers Joe Carnahan ("Narc," "Blood Guts Bullets and Octane"), David Gordon Green ("All The Real Girls," "George Washington"), and Jody Hill ("The Foot Fist Way") to a roster of participants that includes Paradigm Consulting's Peter Broderick, Antic Productions' Ron Judkins ("True Love"), 2929 Productions' MIke Upton, and others. Set for the Chaplin Theater on the Raleigh Studios Lot, the "Two-Day No-Budget Filmmaking Immersion" program will take place Saturday, October 21 and Sunday, October 22. For more information, visit the No Budget Film School website. 
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LAT: Fade In at Chapman University

In the LA Times, a look at Monday's opening of film classes at Chapman University's Marion Knott Studios, which they call one of the most advanced film school facilities in the country, boasting a new $41 million, 76,000 square foot building:

The facility features two soundstages, a 500-seat stadium-style movie theater with a digital projector, a three-camera high-definition television stage and a motion-capture stage. Two floors of pre- and post-production facilities include a production design lab, a foley stage for creating sound effects, and a hefty digital cinema server.

 
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