Summer Semester Recap!

WOW! Another semester done, and this one goes in the record books as one of the busiest and most successful to date for the Digital Video Program.

May

Two of our films, the family adventure "Flight of the Melvin" and the supernatural thriller "Covet" were selected for Phoenix Comicon.

Two of our videos from TEDxPhoenix 2011 made it to the front page of TED.com and scored over 3000,000 views combined.

The new Digital Video Program "highlights reel" debuted on YouTube and Vimeo, featuring some of the best work by our students from 2005 to the present.

The trailer for our Mass Effect fan film "Red Sand" debuted on YouTube and has racked up over 40,000 views to date. (The previous teaser for the film is at over 110,000 views.) The trailer also brought us significant press coverage by the likes of MSNBC, Kotaku, and more.

After screening at Phoenix Comicon, our multi-award-winning film "Covet" debuted online.

Professor Paul DeNigris' thesis film "Parallax" screened as part of the Short Film Corner at the Cannes Film Festival.


June

The UAT DV crew took a road trip up to Salt Lake City, Utah, to collaborate with the folks at Frogpants Productions to produce the DVD of their "Nerdtacular '12" event.

"Flight of the Melvin" was selected for GenCon Indy (a HUGE gaming convention in Indianapolis) and Dragon*Con (another HUGE convention for games, comics, and genre entertainment in Atlanta).

The videos produced by UAT DV for February's "Geeks' Night Out" event in Tempe were published to YouTube.


July

"Flight of the Melvin" got a rave review on Arizona film criticism site Apocalypse Later. So did "Parallax."

Professor Paul DeNigris and student Jared Oppie traveled to San Diego to film w00tstock 4.0, a "geek variety show" event held concurrently with San Diego Comicon. w00tstock was founded by MythBuster Adam Savage, Star Trek alum Wil Wheaton, and comedy music duo Paul & Storm (who had met the DV crew at Nerdtacular and invited us to come to w00tstock). The resulting videos are online on YouTube.

Our big film festival hit from last year, "Fallout," continued its amazing run by screening at the Fright Night Film Festival in Louisville, KY, where it won "Best CGI" and "Best Action Film."


August

"Flight of the Melvin" was selected for the Atlanta Horror Film Festival.

UAT Digital Video took home the award for BEST FILM in this year's IFP Phoenix 48-Hour "Beat the Clock" Film Challenge for our psychological thriller "Screaming in Silence."

Professor DeNigris' film "Parallax" screened at the landmark Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood as part of the 2012 Hollyshorts Film Festival.

Great Review of 'Flight of the Melvin'

Arizona film blogger Hal Astell has been reviewing UAT films for a while and today he published his latest post, a wonderful review of our sci-fi adventure comedy "Flight of the Melvin," which he caught at Phoenix Comicon.

It's a family friendly affair, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's some sort of soporific Disney picture with cutesy singing candlesticks. It's so much better than that.

Read Hal's full review on his blog, Apocalypse Later. While there, you can also check out his stellar review of Professor Paul DeNigris' thesis film "Parallax."

'Melvin' and 'Parallax' Screenings at Arizona International Film Festival

UAT Digital Video's family-friendly sci-fi comedy "Flight of the Melvin" will be screening at the Arizona International Film Festival in Tucson, Arizona, as part of their "Shorts for Youth" program.

Shorts for Youth
Saturday, April 21st @ 3 pm
The Screening Room
127 East Congress Street
Tucson, AZ 85701

Buy Tickets Here!


Professor Paul DeNigris's Thesis Film "Parallax" (winner of "Best Arizona Short Film" at the 2012 Phoenix Film Festival) will also be screening at Arizona International. The film was produced by an all-star crew of UAT DV students and alumni.

Arizona Shorts
Wednesday, April 18th @ 8 pm
The Screening Room
127 East Congress Street
Tucson, AZ 85701

Buy Tickets Here!

'Parallax' Wins Best Arizona Short at 2012 Phoenix Film Festival!

At the 2012 Phoenix Film Festival awards ceremony last night, Professor Paul DeNigris' Master's Thesis Film "Parallax" was awarded the Copper Wing for "Best Arizona Short." The film was produced with the participation of an all-star team of UAT Digital Video students and alumni who volunteered countless hours to make the compelling and realistic Iraq War drama. A huge contingent of UAT students, alumni, faculty, and staff also contributed to the film's budget on Kickstarter, so "Parallax" truly was a community endeavor.

UAT Digital Video won this prestigious award last year for the sci-fi action thriller "Fallout." This year's Arizona Shorts competition was tough, with lots of great entries in what many festivalgoers have described as the best batch of Arizona Shorts to ever play the festival. So "Team Parallax" is especially gratified to have won when pitted against such a great group of films! Congrats to everyone involved!

'Parallax'' and 'Covet' Selected for 2012 Phoenix Film Festival!

We've just gotten notification that two films created by our faculty, students, and alumni have been selected for the 2012 Phoenix Film Festival!

First up is Professor Paul DeNigris' Master's Thesis film, the Iraq War drama "Parallax." Shot in April, the film involved a massive crew of UAT Digital Video alumni and current students who volunteered to help Paul complete the requirements for his Master's Degree. The film tells the story of a wounded U.S. soldier who is cared for by an Iraqi civilian and his son, which forces the soldier to re-examine his own prejudices and undergo a life-changing shift in perspective. The genesis of the story came from a presentation at UAT Inservice by former Student Government President Alexander Snyder and UAT Student Services staff member Hiba al-Fatle about their own experiences during the Iraq War. The entire UAT community supported the production of the film in one way or another! "Parallax" will be part of the "Arizona Shorts" competition group at the festival.

Next is "Covet," an entry for the IFP/Phoenix 48 Hour Film Challenge last July which was co-produced by UAT Digital Video, Professor DeNigris' Locked Horns Productions, and Steve Wargo's SWAT HD (a frequent employer of UAT DV interns and a co-producer of "Parallax"). "Covet" won 4 awards in the 48 hour challenge and will now be part of the "Arizona Showcase" group of shorts at the festival!