FVNMAS Festival
Film, Video, New Media, Animation, and Sound Festival
May 10-16, 2021
Virtual Programming May 10-16, 2021
Encounter the next generation of film, video, sound, and new media artists as SAIC students present their thesis projects in this festival of innovative live-action shorts, animation, feature-length narrative and nonfiction works, and experimental pieces.
The festival will be hosted in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center. A new program will premiere each evening of the festival and be available to view for a week on the Gene Siskel Film Center’s Eventive platform. This webpage will be updated with the full program listing in mid-April.
Still from Last One, Siyi Zhang
Still from Christabel, Sofía Alfaro
Still from Flight Risk, Sophia Pierre
Participating Artists
Paige Thomson Alexander, Sofía Alfaro, Emily Anshen, Zoe Butler, Can, Cliff, Cindy Cheng, Cosmo Coffey, FYJ, Calla Flanagan, Jay Jung, Ān Kassel, Haruhi Kobayashi, Ines Moldavsky, orr, Peixuan Ouyang, Haomin Peng, Sophia Pierre, Ravi Shawn Jha, Emilie Robinson, Carly Paige, Kye Benjamin Stone, Adrian Velazquez, Angela Yang, Yuanqing Ye, Yonatan Yin, Zheming Yuan, Siyi Zhang.
Learn more about the graduate students participating in the festival.
Special Thanks
The festival would not be possible without the incredible work of festival programmer Amy Beste; Casey Puccini, our festival producer; Trevor Martin and the rest of the Department of Exhibitions staff; Jean de St. Aubin, Andy Berlin, and the entire staff at the Gene Siskel Film Center; our graduate assistant Denny Mwaura; the FVNMA technical staff; Frédéric Moffet, chair of FVNMA, and all the faculty members who worked diligently with the students over the past many years; and, above all, to all the participating artists for their hard work and inspiring vision.
Program 1: To Touch With Your Eyes
Premier on May 10
Program 1: To Touch With Your EyesVarious directors, USA, China, Japan, 2020-2021, 76 min
Available to stream through May 16 (link forthcoming)
Forging new paths through virtual and tactile worlds, this dazzling collection of short works offers unexpected insights into old institutions, communion through simulations, and reflections on the pain and joy of visibility.
ripe motive, Paige Thomson Alexander, USA, 2021, 3 min
The___________World, Peixuan Ouyang, USA/CHN, 2020, 18 min
BUT, Haomin Peng, CHN/USA, 2021, 12 min
Home, Cindy Cheng, USA, 2020, 6 min
Night Patrol, Kye Benjamin Stone, USA, 2021, 12 min
Sonic Playground, Haruhi Kobayashi, USA/JPN, 2020, 5 min
She Became Visible, Ān Kassel, USA, 2021, 16 min
Life Story, FENG YUNJUAN, CHN, 2021, 4 min
Program 2: The Ties That Bind
Premier on May 11
Program 2: The Ties That BindVarious directors, USA, 2021, 65 min + Q & A
Available to stream through May 17 (link forthcoming)
Performance, video diaries, and the supernatural combine in this striking collection of shorts, featuring stories of enchantment, trauma, and resilience through the building and severing of bonds.
Christabel, Sofía Alfaro, USA, 2021, 11 min
Everyone Told Me Not to Make This, Emilie, USA, 2021, 15 min
Flight Risk, Sophia Pierre, USA, 2021, 22 min
Plastic Confessions, Emily C Anshen, USA, 2021, 15 min
Peach Blossom Spring, Tiya Yuan, USA, 2021, 2 min
Program 3: Night Falls
Premier on May 12
Program 3: Night FallsVarious directors, USA, 2021, 88 min + Q & A
Available to stream through May 18 (link forthcoming)
Shadows envelop this program, which features surreal tales of haunted houses, insomniac hallucinations, nefarious corporations, and menacing creatures through animation, processed video, and 16mm film.
An Adult’s Night, Can, USA, 2021, 10 min
HOUSE OF BRINE, Carly Paige, USA, 2021, 19 min
We Exist in the Shadows, Cliff, USA, 2021, 21 min
Hear! Hear!, Kye Benjamin Stone, USA, 2021, 13 min
Who Took My Drink?, Ravi Shawn Jha, USA, 2021, 7 min
lacuna, yonatan yin, USA, 2021, 18 min
Program 4: Transits and Transformations
Premier on May 13
Program 4: Transits and TransformationsVarious directors, USA, China, 2019-2021, 67 min + Q & A
Available to stream through May 19 (link forthcoming)
In these poignant and intimate works, themes of loss, transition, transformation, and care are explored through family photo books, deteriorating VHS tapes, and delicately rendered animations.
Lazos de Familia (Family Ties), Paige Thomson Alexander, USA, 2021, 3 min
The___________World, Adrian Velazquez, USA, 2021, 21 min
m:lk, orr, USA, 2021, 4 min
weiß, orr, USA, 2019, 1 min
conch, orr, USA, 2019, 1 min
Eidolon, Cosmo Coffey, USA, 2021, 10 min
Last One, Siyi Zhang, USA, 2021, 9 min
Goodnight/Good Morning, Calla Flanagan, USA, 2021, 5 min
Once More (한마디), Jay Jung, USA, 2021, 5 min
The Genealogy of Light, Zoe Butler, USA, 2021, 8 min
The Knight in Air, Yuanqing Ye, CHN, 2020, 3 min
Program 5: Naked America
Premier on May 14
Program 5: Naked AmericaInes Moldavsky USA, 2020, 67 min
Available to stream through May 21 (link forthcoming)
A young filmmaker explores the current state of American masculinity through a series of interviews with American men, in which the interviewees are fully naked.