Page 76 – NYFA

Meet the Fashion Photographers Teaching at New York Film Academy (NYFA)

At New York Film Academy (NYFA), students have the rare opportunity to learn fashion photography directly from working professionals who are distinguished in their field. Studying from one of the fashion capitals of the world—New York City—NYFA Fashion Photography students gain hands-on experience, from prep to post, with industry-standard camera and lighting equipment.

Students will learn all aspects of a professional fashion shoot—including casting, working with both natural and artificial light, working with models and hair/makeup/stylists, as well as editing and retouching images into a final story. These lessons will come from experienced instructors with real-world experience from across the globe—photographers who have made names for themselves in the industry with their exceptional work.

Take a look at the instructors teaching their craft in New York Film Academy’s 4-Week Fashion Photography workshops:

Maddalena Arcelloni

Maddalena hails from Milan, Italy, and since 2004, her passion and interest in photography has been growing, ranging through various genres. Her current work is focused on fine art, fashion, and editorial photography. Her work has been featured in fashion magazines including Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Italy, Paper, Vanity Fair, Elle, Tush, Schön, Kinfolk, The September Issues, S Magazine, Mia Le Journal, Teeth Magazine, and several others. Currently, Maddalena lives and works between New York & Milan.

Andrea Belluso

Andrea began his photographic career at the age of 16, working under renowned photographer Bardo Fabiani. For the next 30+ years, Belluso has worked as a photographer and video producer, capturing fashion icons like Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, and Naomi Campbell. Belluso created his own modeling agency, fashion magazine, international model competition, and a television program that was distributed in 54 countries. In the photographic community, he is known as the “Light Shaper” due to his unique approach to lighting. Andrea is also an ambassador for Non-Violence Project as well as being an ambassador for the world’s leading medium format camera brand, Phase One. Apart from his commercial work, Andrea also publishes photographic art books and holds photographic art exhibitions.

Chris Knight

Chris Knight was born in Wiesbaden, Germany and hardened by the humid climate of Florida. He combines his unconditional love of art history with his conditional love of technology, topping it off with a flair for the cinematic and an uncompromising eye for detail. His work has appeared in or on Vogue, People, MSNBC, ABC, Ocean Drive, GQ, and others. Chris is the author of The Dramatic Portrait and an instructor at Pratt Institute as well as New York Film Academy.

Thomas Werner

Thomas is the author of the book The Fashion Image for Bloomsbury Press, London, with a second book on fine art photography currently being written for the publisher. An Editor at Large for IRKmagazine, a Paris-Band fashion and culture magazine and website, and former Photography Program Director at Parsons School of Design in New York, Thomas currently lectures internationally on topics of photography, fashion, education, and contemporary professional practices, with a series of recent presentations and workshops in six cities across China. He is the former owner of Thomas Werner Gallery in Manhattan’s Chelsea Art District, and a former National Board member and New York Chapter President for the American Society of Media Photographers. He has been a photography consultant for COACH and Rodale Publishing, among others. Thomas was an instructor at the United Nations Education First Summer School, and is now presenting workshops on effective message development and visual communication on an international basis.

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New York Film Academy Australia (NYFAA) Partners With Australian Production Design Guild (APDG)

New York Film Academy Australia (NYFAA) is excited to announce its official 2020 industry partnership with the Australian Production Design Guild (APDG).

APDG Fiona Donovan — NYFAA Associate Chair of Filmmaking Patrick Ryan presenting the APDG Award for Best Production Design for a TV Drama or a Web Series to winner Fiona Donovan

The APDG welcomed NYFAA to the 9th Annual APDG Awards Ceremony last December. Patrick Ryan, Associate Chair of Filmmaking, presented the award with NYFAA naming rights for Best Production Design for a TV Drama or Web Series at the Australian Production Design Guild Awards held in Melbourne.

The APDG Awards is an annual event organized by the Australian Production Design Guild. The event acknowledges excellence in design on Australian or International productions for feature films, short film, TV productions, webseries, and stage productions. This year, the event was held on the prestigious stage of The Melba Spiegeltent.

Ryan spoke onstage while presenting the award, saying “On behalf of NYFA Australia, I’d like to say a thank you to all the production designers for making this world a little more beautiful one work at a time.” It was met with a round of applause from the industry guests.

Nominees included Black Mirror: Striking Vipers, Bloom, and Tidelands. The winner was Fiona Donovan, APDG, for her work on A Place to Call Home.

In 2020, the APDG will make further headway into Queensland, where a thriving film industry is led by leading local and international practitioners across the fields of NYFA Australia’s studies.

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Feature Film By NYFA BFA Filmmaking Alumni ‘Easy Living’ Screens at Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Easy Living, the debut feature film by New York Film Academy (NYFA) BFA Filmmaking alum Orso Miyakawa and his brother Peter—and shot by NYFA BFA Filmmaking alum Andrey Nuzhnyy, is screening at this month’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival as an Official Selection.

The film is self-described as a melancholic, coming-of-age comedy about a fourteen-year-old boy, his older sister, and a bizarre American tennis teacher who come up with an absurd plan to help a migrant sneak across the border. It recently had its premiere at the Torino Film Festival in Turin, Italy.

Orso Miyakawa and Andrey Nuzhnyy met during their first year together at NYFA’s New York campus. Together, Miyakawa and Nuzhnyy moved to Los Angeles a year later to complete their BFA in Filmmaking studies at NYFA’s Burbank-based location.

easy living torso miyakawa — NYFA BFA Filmmaking alum Orso Miyakawa

“We always worked on each other’s projects,” says Miyakawa of his time with Nuzhnyy at NYFA, “we watched hundreds and hundreds of movies together, and most importantly, we developed a similar sense of humor—which I believe is the key to understanding why we collaborate so well with each other.”

After graduating and working on various film sets around the world, Miyakawa and his brother Peter, who also collaborated on several NYFA projects, returned to their home country of Italy where they started a production company with their friends, family, and Nuzhnyy. Their company, Wise Pictures began producing short films and music videos before moving onto international feature films and collaborating with artists like Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria)

Their film Easy Living kicked off its festival run with its premiere at Torino, one of the largest fests in Italy. The film, written and directed by the Miyakawa brothers, was inspired by their childhood home, a small seaside town on the border between France and Italy.

easy living Andrey Nuzhnyy — NYFA BFA Filmmaking alum Andrey Nuzhnyy

Despite its specific, personal roots, the Miyakawa brothers have always aimed for the film to reach a universal audience. “The movie takes place around the Italian border with France,” Miyakawa tells NYFA, “but it could easily be transported to the US border with Mexico and work perfectly fine.”

Easy Living will screen at Santa Barbara International Film Festival, one of California’s most prestigious cinema fests, on Monday, January 20 at 4:30 p.m. local time. The film will screen two more times at Santa Barbara, on Tuesday, January 21 at 2:40 p.m. and Wednesday, January 22 at 8:20 a.m.

New York Film Academy congratulates Peter Miyakawa and New York Film Academy (NYFA) BFA Filmmaking alumni Orso Miyakawa and Andrey Nuzhnyy on Easy Living and encourage everyone in the Santa Barbara area to check out the film!

Shanghai Theater Academy Students Graduate New York Film Academy (NYFA) Photography Workshop

On January 28, New York Film Academy (NYFA) held a graduation ceremony for twenty students from Shanghai Theater Academy, who successfully completed a 1-Week Photography workshop at NYFA’s New York campus, located in downtown Manhattan.

Shanghai Theater Academy is one of NYFA’s many partner schools in China. Michael Young, NYFA President and CEO; Dr. Joy Zhu, Executive Vice President for the China Region; David Mager, NYFA-NY Chair of Photography; Liu Zhixin, Shanghai Theater Academy Vice President; and Shanghai Theater Academy Professor Yang Qingqing attended the ceremony and gave speeches to the graduates.

At the ceremony, Vice President Liu Zhixin of Shanghai Theater Academy congratulated the graduates and thanked New York Film Academy for providing such a wonderful study opportunity for students. NYFA President and CEO Michael Young told the graduates that the program demonstrated NYFA’s core philosophy of providing hands-on experience while encouraging students to take an active role in every aspect of filmmaking and to tell their stories through the visual arts.

NYFA Vice President Dr. Joy Zhu mentioned that Shanghai Theater Academy and New York Film Academy have a long-term and deep partnership and welcomed all the graduates to study further at NYFA in the future.

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Remembering NBA Legend, Academy Award Winner, and Supporter of the Arts Kobe Bryant

NBA superstar and Academy Award winner Kobe Bryant was among nine passengers, including his daughter Gianna, who died tragically in a helicopter accident on Sunday, January 26.

One of the greatest basketball players of all time, Bryant played for the Los Angeles Lakers for twenty years, before retiring in 2016. Among his many athletic achievements, Bryant was the youngest player in league history to reach 30,000 career points, the all-time leading scorer in Lakers franchise history, and was selected to start the annual NBA All-Star game for a record 18 consecutive appearances—where he won a record-tying four MVP awards. Additionally, he won two Gold Medals as part of the United States Olympic team.

After retiring from the NBA, Bryant made a name for himself off the court as a supporter of the visual arts. He founded the multimedia production company Granity Studios, which partners with award-winning writers, producers, and illustrators to develop original content that would marry sports concepts with fantasy and storytelling elements.

Bryant wrote, produced, and hosted one of Granity’s first projects, Detail, a series for ESPN+ that aims to teach basketball by deconstructing in detail individual NBA playoff performances.

In 2018, Bryant won an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for Dear Basketball, which he co-produced through Granity Studios. The animated short, directed by Glen Keane and scored by John Williams, visualizes the letter Bryant wrote announcing his retirement from the NBA. The film’s win made Bryant the first African American to win an Academy Award in that category and the first former professional athlete to be nominated and to win an Oscar in any category.

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Bryant’s cross-cultural contributions have left the sports community, arts community, the city of Los Angeles, and Bryant’s friends and family deep in shock and mourning. Just hours after the accident, the Grammy Awards were presented live, where numerous presenters, performers, and award winners—including Lizzo, Lil Nas X, and Alicia Keys—paid respects to the star and his family.

Shaquille O’Neal, a New York Film Academy (NYFA) Filmmaking alum who played with Bryant on the Lakers and earned three consecutive NBA championships alongside him, was one of the countless mourners praising the life of Kobe Bryant on social media.

“Kobe was so much more than an athlete, he was a family man,” O’Neal wrote in one of several posts remembering his friend. “That was what we had most in common. We love our families. Whenever we got together I would hug his children like they were my own and he would embrace my kids like they were his.”

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New York Film Academy is deeply saddened by the loss of NBA legend and Academy Award winner Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and all those lost in Sunday’s crash. Rest in Peace, Black Mamba.

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New York Film Academy (NYFA) Invited to 2020 Lunar New Year Reception Celebrating Year of the Rat

On the evening of January 23, New York Film Academy’s Principal Jean Sherlock, President and CEO Michael Young, and Greater China Region Vice President Joy Zhu attended the 2020 Lunar New Year Reception to celebrate the Year of the Rat at the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York. Consul General Huang Ping and his wife Zhang Aiping hosted the event and welcomed more than 300 guests from various institutions and industries.

Decorated with an array of lanterns and streamers, the reception was held an atmosphere of joy, peace, and harmony. Huang Ping gave an impassioned speech, sending holiday greetings and best wishes to guests, the vast number of overseas Chinese in the eastern United States, international students, and personnel of Chinese enterprises.

At the reception, a theatre group from the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China put on a wonderful dance. Young artist Baicheng Wu gave performances including the singing of Auld Lang Syne, pianist Haochen Zhang performed one of Claude Debussy’s Préludes and other classical songs. Guests exchanged greetings and conversed with each other in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

Around 8:15 p.m., the highly anticipated Lunar New Year fireworks show started. The Manhattan night sky shined with colorful, majestic fireworks. The consulate hall was full of cheers and happiness. The background music for the fireworks show included traditional Chinese songs that reflect the Silk Road spirit and Dunhuang culture. Large crowds watched the show from both sides of the Hudson River.

New York Film Academy wishes everyone a warm and happy Lunar New Year!

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‘ARABIAN ALIEN’ BY NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY (NYFA) STUDENT NOMINATED AT SUNDANCE 2020

New York Film Academy (NYFA) BFA Screenwriting student Meshal Al Jaser is headed to Utah later this month–his short film, Arabian Alien, will screen in this year’s lineup at the Sundance Film Festival, and is nominated for the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film.

Al Jaser originally hails from Saudi Arabia and enrolled in the BFA Screenwriting program at NYFA’s Burbank-based campus in Summer 2017, where he honed his skills at writing short and feature screenplays.

Arabian Alien was written and directed by Al Jaser and tells the story of Saad, a married Muslim man dealing with depression when an alien from outer space is suddenly introduced into his life. The short was produced by NYFA alum Almotaz Aljefri.

Al Jaser, only 24 years old, has already shown his skills as a filmmaker, having written several shorts, as well as acting in and directing Is Sumiyati Going to Hell?, which won Best of the Month at the 2017 Gold Movie Awards.

The iconic Sundance Film Festival is the country’s largest independent film fest and one of the most well-known around the globe. Held annually in Park City, Utah, this year’s Sundance Film Festival will run from January 23 – February 2.

The lineup for this year’s Sundance is its most diverse to date, with accepted feature films representing 27 countries and including 44 first-time feature filmmakers. Nearly half of the directors are women, while 38% are people of color. As a native of Saudi Arabia, Al Jaser continues NYFA’s proud tradition of graduating talented filmmakers from every corner of the world.

New York Film Academy congratulates NYFA student Meshal Al Jaser and NYFA alum Almotaz Aljefri on the success of Arabian Alien and wishes them success at this year’s Sundance Film Festival!

New York Film Academy (NYFA) Welcomes MultiChoice Talent Factory Scholar-Filmmakers

New York Film Academy started off the New Year by welcoming two esteemed MultiChoice Talent Factory full scholarship winners to our hands-on, intensive 8-Week Filmmaking workshop in New York City. These winners were chosen as the top of their class at the Multichoice Talent Factory in their respective countries.

The Multichoice Talent Factory is MultiChoice Africa’s flagship Corporate Social Value (CSV) initiative. It is a 12-month training program distinctly designed to train the next generation of African film and TV creatives in partnership with stakeholders across the continent and globe—including New York Film Academy.

The scholarship winners are Mainala Silondwa from Zambia and Hillary “Hillax” Lanogwa from Kenya. Silondwa is an emerging film director who was a production manager for the final-year MTF student film, The Painting and casting assistant, production manager and offline editor for Savannah Skies; Lanogwa is a cinematographer who was the camera operator for MTF student films Ensulo and Promises.

“The entire New York Film Academy Filmmaking Department’s team considers it a huge honor to welcome both Mainala and Hillary,” declares NYFA instructor and Chair of Short-Term Programs, Jonathan Whittaker, “two high-caliber filmmakers who bring so much raw talent and passion into the classroom and on set, to NYFA.

“These scholarships present not only the opportunity to hone Mainala’s and Hillary’s skillsets but also to positively impact their respective domestic film markets. The time-tested techniques and protocols they will learn from their Hollywood and New York experienced instructors will give them a leg up on the competition back at home. We have no doubt that after proving themselves yet again in our programs both Hillary and Mainala will go on to have enduring and successful careers in the industry.”

written by Blake Babbitt, NYFA Associate Director of Outreach

FEATURE FILM BY NYFA BFA FILMMAKING ALUMNI ‘EASY LIVING’ SCREENS AT SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Please note: NYFA does not represent that these are typical or guaranteed career outcomes. The success of our graduates in any chosen professional pathway depends on multiple factors, and the achievements of NYFA alumni are the result of their hard work, perseverance, talent and circumstances.