Here are a just a few of the great things MCAD alumni are up to in their film careers. 

Kevin Barlow (BFA ’95), Minneapolis, is owner of the recently opened FUSION Animation Studios (http://www.fusionanimation.com)) in Minneapolis. The studio’s launch coincided with the release of his animated short Lithium, which was named “Best Short Most Likely to Become a Feature or TV Series” at the California International Animation Festival in 2007.

Dave Bowden (BFA ’80), Denver, won an Emmy Award from the National Television Academy, Heartland Chapter, for his HDCam videography on Colorado Spaces: Boulder. Bowden is the founder and Executive Producer of the Sustainable Media Network, which produces educational and promotional videos about renewable energy and sustainable practices.

Jason Hagen (BFA ’02) and Nathan Anderson (BFA ’03), New York City, premiered their short film Black in L.A. Nathan and his brother Seth co-directed the film, and Jason produced it under their Lullskull Ltd. [[http://www.lullskull.com/]] banner. The film was selected into and screened on the opening night of the 2008 Derby City Film Festival. In addition, their film The Merciful Death of Jonas Blake was selected into the 2008 Freewaves “HollyWould” New Media Festival.

Henry LaBounta (BFA ’82), Los Angeles, has supervised visual effects for Spielberg’s Minority Report with other film credits including Mission Impossible 2 and Forces of Nature. He has work at DreamWorks and Industrial Light & Magic (Twister, Casper and Star Trek VII Generations). In 1996, he was nominated for an Academy Award for designing the effects on Twister. In the same year, he was awarded the British Academy Award for that film. Read an interview with Henry at http://www.siggraph.org/programs/archive/reports/conference/2005/interviews/henry-labounta

Gene Landry (BFA ’06), Minneapolis, and his production company, Red Dilemma [[http://www.reddilemma.com/]], premiered the feature film Regular Joe in September 2007 at the Varsity Theater, Minneapolis.

Dan Lund (BFA ’89), Los Angeles, joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1991 working in both animation and visual effects including the Academy Award-winning film Beauty and the Beast along such high profile productions as The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Aladdin. In 2005, he directed the documentary Dream On Silly Dreamer about the demise of cell animation at Disney. Read more about Dan at http://fullecirclestuff.blogspot.com/2009/02/conversation-with-dan-lund.html

Katie Maren (BFA ’06), Minneapolis, recently completed her animated short The Adventures of Super Puff [[http://www.superpuff.net/ ]]and worked with the filmmaking group Cut! Do It Again! to create the shorts Midnight Motel for the 48-Hour Film Project and Death Favor which was named Best Film in the Minneapolis Diesel Film Racing 12-hour challenge.

JoeEllen Martinson (BFA ’05) was honored with a retrospective of her work with William Rees (BFA ’02) of The Candy Eye Factory [[http://www.candyeyefactory.com/ ]]featured at the Bearded Child Film Festival in August 2008.

Rachel Morgan (BFA ’06) and Stephen Gurewitz (BFA ’06) formed a production company, Rugged Beauty Pictures. Rachel recently released the documentary film From Grass to Glass and is currently working on her first full-length feature film titled Don’t Pass Me By.

Bill Rude (BFA ’96), Los Angeles, is an animation, illustration and special effects artist in television and film. He is currently working on work includes Most recently he is working on episodes of Popular Science Magazine’s “Futures” series airing on Discovery’s Science Channel. [[Visit Bill’s personal webpage http://www.atomicrocket.com/]]

Mary Sandberg (BFA ’74) and Dave Sandberg produced an animated, feature-length film entitled “My Art School Summer” which has been making the festival circuit, including the Festival of International Erotic Animation in Rio de Janeiro in November 2007.

Robert Schwartz (BFA ’77), Los Angeles, has earned recognition working in virtually ass aspects of film production, ranging from Disney’s blockbuster Iron Will to documentary and educational films including the award-winning Philanthropy for PBS. He is currently, president of Seismic Pictures, a new startup production company which produces motion pictures for the global marketplace. Read an interview. [[http://yourindustryinsider.com/2009/05/inside-scoop-film-producer-robert-schwartz/]]

Baaron Schulte (BFA ’02), New York City, is an animator at Blue Sky Studios; his credits include Horton Hears a Who and Ice Age.

Chris Sullivan (BFA ’83), Chicago, is an animator, filmmaker and performance artist. He has been creating experimental film and theatre for over 20 years. He has shown his work in festivals, theatres and museums all over the country and in Europe. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship. He lives in Chicago and teaches Animation and Film at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Mark the Encounter, performance work, Open Eye Theatre in October.

Jake Yuzna (BFA ’05), Minneapolis, is currently in the process of completing his first feature film. His short films include Better Left Alone and Between the Boys.