k.valdes11

As the title of producer Sanjeev Chatterjee’s latest movie implies, Mi Amor is a Miami-based love story but not exactly the kind most people might imagine. With his first feature film, the University of Miami’s award-winning documentarian set out on “an unusual experiment” to revitalize the global appeal of Indian Bengali films on “a micro budget.” Written and directed by the critically acclaimed Bengali filmmaker Suman Ghosh and starring two of Calcutta’s top actors, Mi Amor was shot mostly in English, partly in Bengali, and entirely in Miami during two grueling weeks in May [...]

For a select group of motion pictures students, a once in a lifetime opportunity to screen in Los Angeles began after winning Canes Film Festival in May 2016.  Out of 85 entries submitted to Canes Film Festival, the School of Communication’s year-end film festival, five were selected by a jury of industry professionals to screen at the Directors Guild of America Theater in LA during the 11th annual Canes Film Showcase. While in LA, the student filmmakers spent two intensive days touring studios, attending Q&A sessions, and participating in an [...]

Recent University of Miami School of Communication graduate, Brody Gusar, M.F.A. ’09, is off to Florida Supercon to showcase his new film, The Next Big Thing. Directed, co-written, edited, and produced by Gusar, the film was also produced by three other UM alumni, Mustan Dawood, M.F.A. ’09, Krystyna Ahlers, B.S. ’10, and Brendan Merrill, B.S.C. ’08, and co-written with Iain Roush. Ahlers acts in the film as well. The Next Big Thing is a dark comedy about friendship, revenge, and the lust for fame. The main character, Julian, always wanted [...]

Erica Larence, a Motion Pictures major and member of the Class of 2013, recently published a book, Caine and Mabel. The book is about a girl who adopts a rescue dog after her best friend moves away. Larence said that the idea for the book came from her rescue dog, Caine, who is named after the Miami Hurricanes. Larence wrote the book in January of 2015 and then edited it for about a month. In March, she found Vi Pham, the illustrator of the book. “It was a really cool [...]