Motion Pictures

By: Karina Valdes The relationship between sisters is a special one and Mischa and Micaela’s is no different. The siblings spend countless hours playing, singing, and dancing together, but Mischa and Micaela’s relationship is all the more unique due to Micaela’s diagnosis of autism. In a documentary short created by students from a class co-taught by two University of Miami professors, Mischa and her family share their story. “Mischa has had to grow up a little bit faster than she’s supposed to, but what’s been so beautiful is watching Micaela [...]

Six short films created by University of Miami film students will be screened in Los Angeles this week. Miguel Angel Tamayo, a University of Miami rising senior, has always been in love with film. For many years, he watched a film a day. When he saw Carlos Saura’s "Cria Cuervos," the 1976 Spanish drama of loss and loneliness, he was smitten. It inspired him to create his own short film called “Raising Ants,” a 19-minute drama of a young girl who loses her mother to cancer and is sent, along [...]

Filmmakers, ready your cameras. This spring, Oolite Arts, an organization that advocates for the visual arts and hosts events like exhibits and arts residencies, will partner with the University of Miami to put on the ultimate film contest—The Block. Miamians across the city are invited to pitch ideas for a documentary portraying the history and culture of one of the many eclectic neighborhoods here. Heading the partnership with Oolite at UM is Ed Talavera, an associate professor in the Department of Cinema and Interactive Media. “As the premier film school in [...]

Following an advance screening of “Alita: Battle Angel,” film producer Jon Landau and director Robert Rodriguez engaged with UM students. University of Miami students got the chance to watch a special advance 3-D screening of “Alita: Battle Angel” at AMC in Sunset Place Monday afternoon, days before its national theatrical release.  But the real highlight came after the show.  Following the movie, world-renowned director Robert Rodriguez (“Sin City” and “Spy Kids”) and producer Jon Landau, known for producing the two largest grossing films of all time (“Titanic” and “Avatar”), held [...]

Join Jorge E. Ruiz Cano, a character animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), on Monday, Nov. 12 at Shoma Hall, CIB 3053, for a Q&A starting at 12:20 p.m. Ruiz Cano's credits include the studio’s first-ever VR short, Cycles, the Academy Award®-winning features Frozen, Big Hero 6, and Zootopia, in addition to Moana, the short films Feast, Frozen Fever, and Inner Workings, and the holiday featurette Olaf’s Frozen Adventure. Ruiz Cano has been a part of the faculty at the California Institute of the Arts for the last five [...]