Memorial Day Scholarship for Military Service Members & Veterans

NYFA Veterans

In appreciation of the brave men and women who protect our nation, the New York Film Academy is providing an exclusive opportunity for military service members and honorably discharged veterans to receive a 4-Week Scholarship to study at either our Los Angeles or New York campus during the 2014 calendar year.

We’re offering three 4-Week Scholarships–one in each of the following disciplines:
• Filmmaking
• Acting for Film
• Photography (Please note: 4-Week photography students are required to have their own DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera with them at the start of the program)

To be eligible to be selected as a scholarship winner, we ask:

Participants need to create a 90-second video telling us your story, and upload it to your YouTube channel.

Topics to include in the video:

• Your military background and experience
• Which program you want to study (Acting for Film, Filmmaking or Photography)
• Why you want to pursue your passion at the New York Film Academy
• Anything else you would like to share with us to help shape your story

In addition to the above points, we encourage participants to include a sampling of their creative work within the video. Perhaps you could edit in a snippet of a short film you’ve created, a scene in which you’ve acted in, or a couple of your iconic photographs. While this is not mandatory, it never hurts to show off your artistic skills!

How to Submit

Participants must upload their 90-second video to their YouTube channel with the title “New York Film Academy Memorial Day Competition – Your Title/Name (ex. “Sergeant John Doe”).

Once you have uploaded your video onto YouTube, copy the video’s URL link and paste it into a post to NYFA’s Veterans Facebook page. In your post to NYFA, include your name and contact information so we can reach the winners. If you’re uncomfortable posting your contact information online, please email your details and the link to your post to [email protected].

Deadline

Videos must be properly submitted by Memorial Day: Monday, May 26th 2014 by 11:59PM.

How the Winners Are Selected

The winners will be determined based on the following combination:

• The story told to us in your video
• The public’s response to your video on our Facebook page (therefore, don’t forget to share a link with your friends and family to our Facebook page so they can like, share and comment on your video!)
• You’re able to submit a copy of your DD214 directly to NYFA, once we’ve contacted you as possible winner.
• Winners will be announced before the end of June 2014!

If you have any questions, please email [email protected] with “Memorial Day” in the subject line. For more information about our Veterans Benefits, visit: www.nyfa.edu/veterans

We look forward to your entries!

Craziest Moments in Oscar History

As much as the Oscars are Hollywood’s Big Night and a chance for the industry’s vanguard to applaud the year’s accomplishments in film, they are equally notorious for creating bizarre pop cultural moments that extend far beyond film. You might not remember that The King’s Speech won Best Picture in 2011, but you probably do remember Anne Hathaway’s cringe-worthy hosting duties. With the 86th edition of the Academy Awards coming up this Sunday, we’ve decided to take a look back at some of the more controversial, bizarre, and memorable moments in Oscar history.

Scheen Littlefeather at the 1973 Oscars

Phoning It In

Since many critics and filmmakers consider the 70s to be Hollywood’s Golden Age, it should come as no surprise that many of the daring moves being made on screen would spill over into awards season. George C. Scott made history in 1971 when he turned down the Best Actor award, choosing to stay home in New York City and watch a hockey game, while famously declaring the event as a “two-hour meat parade.” Two years later, Marlon Brando made an even bolder move when in lieu of accepting his Oscar for his role in The Godfather, he requested that Sacheen Littlefeather represent him and decline the award on his behalf, decrying “the poor treatment of Native Americans in the film industry.”

Snow White Crashes the Oscars

Actor Rob Lowe croons a tune to Snow White

The Oscars are full of misguided or just plain awkward musical numbers, but 1989’s trainwreck takes the cake by a long shot. In a show helmed by Grease producer Allan Carr, the opening number featured Rob Lowe, who was in a protracted PR effort to rehab his image after a sex tape scandal, and aspiring 22-year-old actress Eileen Bowman who pranced down the Shrine Auditorium dressed as Snow White while greeting clearly uncomfortable guests. Things only got worse from there as the performance dragged on for an insufferable 15 minutes, resulting in Carr being shunned by the industry, Disney suing ABC for their unlicensed use of the trademarked Snow White character, and Bowman leaving Hollywood for good.

Running Naked

Robert Opel streaks during the 1974 Oscars

The 70s are an absolute treasure trove for crazy Oscar moments, but at the 41st edition in 1974, conceptual artist and gay rights activist Robert Opel made a permanent impression on many Oscar viewers when he streaked across the stage prior to the announcement for Best Picture.

Seth MacFarlane

Seth MacFarlane hosting the 85th Oscars

It’s hard to imagine many people having high hopes when it was announced Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s brand of bro humor would be hosting the 85th ceremony. But he hit rock bottom almost instantly with the insensitive and infantile number “We Saw Your Boobs”, a song about, you guess it, the fact that viewers had seen the breasts of certain actresses sitting uncomfortably in the theater. With roughly half of the audience consisting of women, the ensuing backlash from the likes of Jane Fonda and Lena Dunham should have come as no surprise to MacFarlane.

Brotherly Love

Angelina Jolie kisses her brother after the Oscars

While Angelina Jolie is pretty much universally admired at this point, it’s hard not to remember her ‘bad girl’ antics during her rise to fame in the 90s, which reached their peak when during her acceptance speech for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her turn in Girl, Interrupted, she declared “I’m so in love with my brother right now”. The jaw-dropping moment came later in the evening when images of the kissing siblings emerged, making many people uncomfortable.

Marisa Tomei’s Win

Marisa Tomei holds her Oscar statue

Having served as fodder for Oscar conspiracy theorists for over twenty years, one could literally hear a collective gasp in the audience when presenter Jack Palance announced the Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar for the My Cousin Vinny star when most had assumed Vanessa Redgrave would win for her part in Howards End. While many speculated that Palance had simply read the wrong name and the Academy was forced to award the wrong person, they have claimed again and again that Tomei was indeed the winner. And yet, there remains considerable doubt about the veracity of the claims. Either way, it’s hard to argue with Tomei’s great performance in the film.

Red Carpet Rebels

rsz_1showimage

Outside of fashion week, there are few more influential runways for fashion watchers than the Oscars’ red carpet. While there are countless examples of iconic dresses, two of the most memorable fashion moments came from a trio of artistic renegades. First, in 2000, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone chose to lampoon the inflated aura that red carpet fashion promotes by dressing in drag in two iconic dresses: Jennifer Lopez’s revealing Grammy outfit and Gwenyth Paltrow’s famous pink dress that she wore to the previous year’s Oscars. Not to be outdone, the following year Icelandic singer Björk stunned fashionistas the world over by showing up in a dress designed like a swan, which the singer took one step further by pretending to lay an egg on the red carpet.

JLaw’s Fall

Jennifer Lawrence stumbles as she goes to accept her Oscar

Cue the moment when the world collectively fell in love with Jennifer Lawrence. What could have been (and probably was for her) the most embarrassing moment for a young actress only helped to bolster her image when she tripped on her sprawling Dior dress and fell while walking up the stairs to receive her award for her role in Silver Linings Playbook. Lawrence showed nothing but grace and humility, remarking to the applauding office, “You guys are only standing up because I fell and you feel bad.”

Call For Entries: Athens Video Art Festival 2014

Call for entries for Athens Video Art Festival

Here’s an exciting opportunity we’ve found for students and alumni to have their work reach an international audience. The Athens Video Art Festival is holding its 10th edition in May and is currently receiving submissions across a number of categories. A celebration of digital culture, the festival aims at bringing both local and international artists together who work in different fields to encourage all facets of digital creation. With a focus on blurring the boundaries between disciplines, interested applicants can apply online in the following areas by March 10.

  • Video Art
  • Animation
  • Installations
  • Performances
  • Music
  • Web Art
  • Digital Image

There are no entry fees and applicants can choose to create an original piece on a subject of their choosing.

VIEW Conference 2014 Contests

View Conference 2014 Turin, Italy 14-17 Oct

Here are some exciting opportunities for our 3D Animation and Game Design students to not only have their projects reach a wider audience, but also win an award! VIEW Conference, an annual international computer graphics conference, has announced a series of contests for 2014 aimed at both students and non-students.

Firstly, the VIEW Award 2014 is open to any filmmaker who has made an animated short film using 2D/3D animation and VFX in the past two years. Filmmakers can choose to submit in the following categories: Best Short, Best Design, Best Character, and Best Digital Visual Effects. The deadline for submission is August 31, 2014 and the award for first prize is 2,000 Euros.  More information can be found here.

For those filmmakers interested in using their art to address social issues, this year sees the creation of the VIEW Social contest aimed at artists who have created a 2D/3D or VFX animated feature, short, music video, and piece of advertising with a focus on social themes in 2013 and 2014. Applicants can submit in the categories of Best Gameplay, Best Art Design, Best Architecture, and Best Music by August 31, 2014 to compete for a grand prize of 1,000 Euros. Learn more here.

Emerging game designers have the chance to submit their original video games by September 15, 2014 in the categories of Best Gameplay, Best Art Design, Best Architecture, and Best Music. View more here.

For anyone who has a passion for comics, another new addition to this year’s conference is the VIEW Comics Contest in which applicants are encouraged to create an original comic based on a previous edition of the conference. The deadline for entries is August 31, 2014 and entrants will compete for a 500 Euro prize. Discover more here.

Finally, for those either from Italy or interested in telling stories about Italy, the ITALIANMIX competition welcomes works across genres and visual forms that, if chosen, will be included in the program for VIEWFest 2014.

So if you’re looking for a platform to showcase your work and win an award, consider submitting today.

NYFA Survey: Have We All Switched Over to Streaming?

Given the upward trend of online streaming versus traditional cable television and the big screen, the New York Film Academy has decided to conduct a survey to see how our followers are watching their favorite movies and television programs. If you have a minute (literally, no more than a minute), we’d love to get your answers to a few questions pertaining to this topic. Thanks so much for you time!

NYFA Grad Animates Instagram

Yet again, while scoping the Internet, we stumbled across another talented New York Film Academy Animation graduate. Eliska Podzimkova, who studied here in the summer of 2012, created a very innovative Instagram page called eliskap (formerly animateNY). Though she now resides in Prague, Eliska, like so many of our students, fell in love with New York City during her studies. Her admiration and nostalgia for the city inspired her to create the page in which she offers followers the chance to put her ‘personal touch’ on their image, if they hashtag #animateNY.

Being that we had an “in” with Eliska (she went to our school), we were fortunate enough to have her collaborate with us on an image. We hope this will be the first of many collaborations as we’re huge fans of her creative work! Be sure to follow the New York Film Academy on Instagram to see more of Eliska’s work and other happenings at the school.

animateNY NYFA Grad
animation by Eliska Podzimkova

Your ‘InstaShort’ Could Be on Good Morning America!

86th oscars

In honor of the upcoming Oscars, New York Film Academy students, alumni and faculty are invited to participate in an exciting Instagram video-making opportunity for a chance to have their InstaShort aired on ABC’s Good Morning America.

good morning americaInterested students, alumni and faculty are asked to make an “InstaShort”: A 15-second Instagram short film remaking a movie that’s been nominated at this year’s 86th Academy Awards. Participants are required to upload their finished film to their Instagram account with the hashtag #GMAInstaShorts, the film title, NYFA members involved, and tag @NewYorkFilmAcademy.

ABC will be airing selected shorts and combine all submissions into one video that will be shared across all of our social media channels with a blog post of credits (school, students involved, parts they played, etc.).

For your chance to have your video aired on ABC’s Good Morning America next week, simply post your “InstaShort” on your own Instagram account AND send your video clips to [email protected] by Tuesday, February 25th.

We look forward to seeing your entry!

Haiti Optimiste Benefit with Arcade Fire and Donna Karan

Haiti Event NYFA

New York Film Academy students, faculty and alumni are invited to a phenomenal star-studded event called Haiti Optimiste this Thursday, February 20th at the Florence Gould Hall on 55 East 59th Street, NYC. Haiti Optimiste is an annual benefit organized by Ciné Institute and L’Alliance Francaise, celebrating new Haitian cinema with the purpose of raising funds for the film and media education of young Haitians.

Ciné Institute provides desperately needed free college education and employment opportunities to underprivileged Haitian youth. It is the only college of its kind in Haiti, where just 1% of high school graduates can afford to attend university.

The evening will include a screening of films from the Institute, followed by the announcement of the new Brioni film fund and a Q&A with Ciné Institute supporters, fashion designer Donna Karan, Arcade Fire video director Vincent Morisset, and actors Michael Kenneth Williams (HBO’s Boardwalk Empire) and Jamie Hector (HBO’s The Wire). Members of the Grammy Award-winning rock band Arcade Fire will also be present for the evening.

This is for a great cause and could be a great networking opportunity for young filmmakers in the New York City area. If you’re interested in $25 discounted tickets (down from $60-$300), send an email RSVP to Ihuoma Mambo at [email protected].

NYFA Acting Grads to Perform ‘Sweet Tweets’ at Second City Hollywood

sweet tweets nyfaFor those of you in the Los Angeles area, be sure to come out and support our New York Film Academy actors, Theresa Scott, Cassandra Shea, Kimberly Alu and Kimberly Sorce, in their performance of Sweet Tweets at Second City Hollywood, March 12th and March 19th at 9pm! Tickets are $10 and can be bought at SecondCityHollywood.com.

What is Sweet Tweets, you ask? Celebrity Twitter meets the audience in hilarious sketches revolving around silly tweets, proving that celebrities are people too! As one of the newest, most offensive comedy bunch to hit the scene, “Your Favorite Ex Girlfriends” soars to new heights to illustrate their humorous take on celebrity tweets! After creating their own theatre comedy sketch show (Sketch Time Strangers), these girls are coming to Second City Hollywood and bringing their unconventional humor with them – get ready!