The New York Film Academy is pleased to offer need based tuition grant in the name of filmmaker and friend of the Academy, Bernardo Bertolucci of up to $10,000. To qualify, applicants must show a credible need for financial assistance through documentation (i.e. parents’ income tax statement, if dependent; personal income tax, if independent). Additionally, applicants must submit a Personal Statement explaining why they would like to attend the New York Film Academy.

Writer: Josefina Mata. Director: Josefina Mata. Producers: Josefina Mata. Directors of Photography: Keith Oleng, Robert Allen. Music: Fernando Ruiz, Alberto Hermida, Hendrik Gordillo. Country: Mexico, USA. Year: 2009. Length: 21 minutes.

Congratulations Josefina! We look forward to seeing more films from you!

With new projects popping up what seems like every day Jonathan Morgan Heit is a busy young man. The star of Bedtime Stories has a part in the star-studded Valentine’s Day, a leading role in a new animated Disney TV series Jakes Team Pirates, lends his voice for the upcoming Build-a-Bear Workshop holiday feature Holly and Hal Moose: An Uplifting Christmas Adventure, made a recent guest appearance on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, appears in the upcoming movie Dinner for Schmucks and is currently filming The Search for Santa Paws in Vancouver.  In typical 9-year-old fashion he reminds me his career has already come a very long way explaining he doesn’t do much commercial work anymore, “Unless,” he says, “It’s a really good commercial.”

Along with acting, Jonathan sings, does voice over work for animated films, and is a young director.  “I’m going to New York Film Academy.  I’m making a silent film.” When I ask why a silent film when it seems this youngester has so much, he explains his inspiration…full article.

If you have always wanted to be on the big or small screen or if you want to work behind the scenes in film and TV, join the New York Film Academy and get your tickets today by calling The Bushnell box office at 860.987.5900 or buy your tickets online at www.bushnell.org

The New York Film Academy will be available to answer your questions about our acting and film schools in New York City, Los Angeles and Abu Dhabi.

This one-day workshop is FREE and ONLY AVAILABLE to New York Film Academy applicants, alumni and faculty. Spend the afternoon with our new Chair of Musical Theatre, VP Boyle and learn what it takes to audition for musicals at the Broadway level. This upbeat master class will cover:

•    Audition tips and techniques for Broadway level auditions
•    How to build the perfect audition book (repertoire)
•    Navigating the current trends in the market place
•    Finding out how to be yourself when you sing
•    A crash course in the six musical genres you really need to master
•    Guidelines you should know for the best song cuts for professional auditions

Sunday, November 15th
12:00 pm to 5:00 pm
NYFA Screening Room
Union Square Campus, 4th Floor
100 East 17th Street, NYC 10003

Registration signup sheets are available at both New York campuses. A limited number of performance spots are available. Anyone wishing to be considered for a performance spot must submit an email request to vpboyle@nyfa.edu for additional information.

VP Boyle is one of the most sought after Broadway audition coaches for professionals in New York City and is launching the New York Film Academy’s cutting-edge Musical Theatre Conservatory with a sparkling faculty of seasoned Broadway veterans. VP travels across the country to spread his irreverent approach to theatrical wellness and wears many hats in the Broadway community on both sides of the casting table. He directed the sold-out An Evening with Frank Wildhorn and Friends at Studio 54 featuring Linda Eder, Douglas Sills, Frank Wildhorn and others. He also directed the critically acclaimed presentation of The Normal Heart at Lincoln Center. He spent two years as the Producing Director for The Musical Writers’ Playground and as a casting director with Dave Clemmons Casting casting Broadway shows, tours, and original workshops. He is currently the casting director for Mason Street Warehouse and teaches audition workshops from coast to coast. As an actor, his favorite moments on the boards include The Scarlet Pimpernel with Douglas Sills and Sunset Boulevard with Diahann Carroll. VP currently has three new musicals in development and is at work on his next book, Audition Juice: 100 Ways to Love Your Life as an Actor. He lives with his French Bulldog, Violet and has more professional union cards and guild affiliations than any one person should really have. Live who you are. Love what you do.

StarNow.com

The world’s leading online casting and audition website www.starnow.com would like to offer a free year’s membership to all graduating NYFA students.

StarNow.com has posted over 85,000 casting calls since 2004 and is used to recruit talent by casting directors, agents, production companies and photographers from some of the biggest names in the industry.

You will receive your own online multi-media portfolio and be able to Apply to Casting Calls online

Being a StarNow member does not conflict with having an agent.  It’s a great way to build up your experience and even find an agent! StarNow.com is about taking control of your own career. We do not take any commission from the work you receive and many StarNow members have gone on to successful careers in TV, Film and Theatre.

Please register here then email graduate@starnow.com and we will credit you with a year’s free membership.

Take control of your acting career – register now!

vampire movie

As a biography American actress Justine Wachsberger was born in the United States. Wachsberger however calls Paris and Los Angeles, California home. She is a graduate from the University of Southern California and is a former acting school student of the New York Film Academy.

About Justine Wachsberger New Moon experience- “I thought it would be harder to be on set, just because of the buzz and the fact that all these actors started as unknown and became so big – not all of them, but the majority. I thought I would arrive on set and kind of be an outsider and not really fit in. On the contrary, everyone was really nice, really down the Earth. It was a very friendly atmosphere. I was a little stressed out at the beginning, like ‘I’m getting to Vancouver on set, what is it going to be like?’ It was actually a really good surprise.”

Wachsberger made her debut in the movie First Daughter. You can also expect to see her in Sorority Row and the forthcoming and above mentioned Twilight saga sequel, New Moon.

Auditioning students for scholarship to The New York Film Academy Conservatory, AFA & MFA Acting for Film and Musical Theatre Programs in New York City and Universal Studios, Los Angeles

Saturday November 7th
Location: London, England

FOR ACTING
Prepare (2) one minute monologues from a published, legitimate source (play, TV or film script, novel/essay). No classical material. Monologues should be memorized, contemporary and contrasting.

FOR MUSICAL THEATRE
Prepare one monologue and a 32 bar cut of a song.

Please email Chanel Kong at chanel@nyfa.com, your photo and a short paragraph of introduction, and you will be contacted with location and time.

NYFA is a fully accredited, degree granting institution. Talent-based scholarship is determined by audition results. International students are also eligible to apply for the Brett Ratner Grant, which is need-based financial aid.

We at NYFA are thrilled to be scouting the very best talent in the UK and are very much looking forward to seeing your work.

We look forward to meeting you in London!

For filmmaker and co-founder Jonathan Walls, it took his Playing For Change movement (performing the first of their traveling road shows at the Birchmere on Tuesday, October 20) close to 10 years of blood, sweat, thousands of frequent flier miles and many lucky breaks to finally relay their message that through music people can understand one another’s differences and create a better world.

“After I finished a directing workshop at the New York Film Academy, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life, but I sure didn’t think it would be [Playing for Change],” Walls relates about the peace-through-music movement in a recent telephone interview…full article.

Congratulations Jonathan! The world needs more “Playing for Change” films.

Paul Fischer, Director

Paul is a young European film producer. Born in Saudi Arabia and raised in France, he has studied at the Institute of Political Studies (Sciences-Po) in Paris before attending film school at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and the New York Film Academy in Manhattan. He is the founder and director of Ten Cent Adventures, a London-based film production company, and is the producer of the short film Gone, which premiered at the St. John’s International Film Festival and the New York First Sundays Comedy Festival; We Rob Banks, an upcoming documentary; and the currently filming feature-length documentary Radioman.

–

Mary Kerr, Trustee

Mary is a young British film director. She attended Edinburgh University before studying film at Columbia University and the New York Film Academy in New York City. Having worked at Miramax Films, she then spent years working as a casting assistant on such films as King Arthur, Derailed, Alfie and Tristan & Isolde. She wrote and directed the short film Gone (St. John’s International Film Festival, New York First Sundays Comedy Festival) and is currently directing the feature-length documentary Radioman, to be released in 2010.

Abu Dhabi Film & Acting School

One of the biggest disappointments to come out of the economic crisis was the news that the opening of Dubailand’s Universal Studios was, at best, going to be far later to the denizens of the UAE get their fix of all things cinematic? And how would they fill their time when the only movies they could see required a cable television subscription, a trip to Virgin or a ticket stub?

If you listen to Simon Hunter, however, it’s all going to be just fine. Stalwart of New York’s Film Academy and seasoned industry professional, a little over a year ago, Hunter accepted a job in the UAE’s Capital as the president of the Abu Dhabi Film School. “We were approached by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Cultural Heritage (ADACH) to set up their film school for them,” Hunter tells iQ from his Murour Road Office. “It was one of their initiatives in partnership with Imagenation to create a film industry here in Abu Dhabi.” Keen to bring in the best possible people to work on this exciting project, the New York institution was also the only real stop on the Government’s list. “They came to us because we were certainly one of, if not the biggest film schools in the world. ADACH wanted to develop the next generation of Emirati filmmakers, so that they could have a self-sustaining film industry.”

A move from the Big Apple to one of the Middle East’s richest oil countries might have seemed daunting to many people, but to the well-travelled Hunter it was just another step on a cinematic road that started remarkably early. “I started making movies from the age of 10 in Australia, and I grew up in the States as well, moving between the two countries. Then I studied English Literature at university and moved on to the Australian Film, Television and Radio School where I studied producing.” His home couldn’t contain his wanderlust for long however. “I graduated from there, and worked with Geoffrey Rush and Bryan Brown on a TV series called Twisted Tales. Then I packed up and moved to Los Angeles, where I worked as a writer and producer, primarily in creating television shows for NBC and Columbia Tristar.”

Hob-nobbing with the big shots occupied his attention for a while, but Hunter’s love for teaching would eventually lead him to Australia’s largest private film school, Bond University. A directorship there was followed by a transfer to the New York Film Academy, and the start of his road to Abu Dhabi.

Moving to the Gulf hasn’t meant abandoning his New York roots. As Hunter’s keen to point out, there are still links to the well-established institution back in the US. “In the educational sense they’re very closely linked. We fly a number of lecturers from New York and Los Angeles to come out and teach here.” But surely there aren’t many major players willing to make the trek away from their sprawling mansions and comfortable lifestyles?” We had Paul Schrader in to do a masterclass,” Hunter says, as if to prove his point. “He wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. We also had Mira Nair who made Salaam Bombay! and Monsoon Wedding. They were two of the lecturers we had last year.” So the big wigs are keen to help make Abu Dhabi a powerhouse in the region, it would seem. “It’s exotic in one respect, and it’s also a place that’s willing to invest in film. That’s why you’ll see these kinds of people coming through our doors, like David Hasselhoff. He was over here looking for finance for a couple of his projects. So this area is certainly extremely popular with these kinds of people.”

And it’ not just visitors that bring a bit of worldly gravitas to the proceedings either. The Abu Dhabi school’s President explains a little about the kind of teaching staff he’s brought over to give students the best possible opportunity to learn their craft. “We have international staff with some fantastic credits; people who’ve worked on features all over the world, high-end music videos, high-end television ads, and we have directors who’ve worked on television for NBC and the like.” Key to his plans is making use of the local talent as well. “I try to bring in some locals to do adjunct lecturing for us. My hope is that the students who graduated from here will have a network that they can connect into. They’ll have the best knowledge form around the world, but they’ll also have local contacts. That’s really what the vision of the academy was all about.”

Establishing this community of talented individuals is a fundamental part of what both ADACH and the Film School want to accomplish in the region. “The vision that we have is to teach students what we termed the “Chris Nolan method”. Chris Nolan made Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but 10 years ago he graduated from film school and made a Dhs22,000 feature film called Following. He put that into festivals, got noticed and that’s where he got the funding for Memento. Then each film helped him progress to the next level.” Emulating the likes of Mr Nolan in an industry far removed from Tinseltown might sound like an unrealistic goal, but Hunter maintains that it’s more than feasible: “The students learn skills here, they cut their teeth making short films so that when they finish they can make a longer feature. There’s so much support and excitement – it’s a great opportunity.” And one that will soon be yielding results, it would seem. “At the moment our advanced students haven’t graduated yet, so I think in the next few years we’ll see a difference. Some of the students that have graduated from out shorter programmes have moved on to companies such as Filmworks up in Dubai, and right now there’s a German production being shot. We have a number of interns on that production.” So the students coming through the institution have already begun to go out into a blossoming film industry, one that’s growing up around them. And if the Abu Dhabi school chums out these highly trained professionals, will they find an industry ready to make use of their talents? “Absolutely,” is the succinct reply. “I think we’re going to see more and more of this gradient of graduates moving into the film industry in this part of the world.

It sounds promising, both for the region and the film industry as a whole. What’s more, the two worlds could very well collide right here in the UAE, and it might not be that long before we see huge productions considering Abu Dhabi as a viable place to shoot movies. “Big budget films coming over here is, I think, the vision that the government has.” But the UAE isn’t merely happy to rent space to the Hollywood big boys. “They’d also like to able to tell Emirati stories that could be enjoyed by the world. [At the school] we have films shot in Arabic, English and I think one film in French as well. That’s what makes it exciting to be here; you have quite an eclectic mix of films being made.” Surely then, the potential pinnacle of this exciting development would be a big budget Arabic movie made right up here in the UAE? Speaking to hunter and being inescapably swept up in his tangible enthusiasm, he makes it seem like a wholly plausible next step. “If the government continues the support it has, then I think they’re at the top of the rung. The government are the ones that will definitely do it, because they’re so committed to this.”

While all this sounds exciting, much of it hinges on the students. Those already enrolled at the New York Film Academy’s campuses in NYC or LA can opt to study for a semester in Abu Dhabi before jetting back to the US. But if things are to progress as Hunter and his staff hope, the school needs a student base that’s not likely to leave the second they graduate. “Around 25 per cent of our students are local and we have some very high profile students that come to study with us, and then the remaining 75 per cent come from all over the world.” Sidestepping our desire to press for details on these “high profile” alumni (“I would have to get their permission to tell you”), it hardly sounds like the kind of demographic likely to end up in a mass exodus from the region: “We have the usual eclectic mix that you’d expect from Dubai and Abu Dhabi; it’s really a good mix of students.”

Nor are the students, local or otherwise, in for an easy time. “The students who enroll in our programme start shooting on day two. They basically attend classes from 9am until 5pm, five days a week. It’s intensive and they’ll be shooting two weekends out of four. At any one time in Abu Dhabi, when we’re in full swing, we could have 50 movies shooting on a weekend.”

With those kinds of numbers, it almost seems that the law of averages dictates Abu Dhabi will soon be a cinematic force to be reckoned with. If reports are to be believed, Universal Studios Dubai finally opens around the 2012 mark, perhaps the UAE will already have had its silver screen appetite sated by home-grown filmmakers of its own. But that’s not necessarily what Hunter and his team are aiming for: “I think the students need to be prepared to forget the Hollywood market, and instead remember that other film industries, such as India, are far bigger than Hollywood.” Dismissing the US movie moguls might seem a bold and brazen move, but the kind of students Abu Dhabi Film School hopes to boast as its alumni by then should mean they can afford to be a little more discerning in their creativity. “International audiences are maturing. They’re happy to enjoy the ‘popcorn movies’, but they’re also looking for something else, and I think those are the kinds of film we could see being made out here.

The screening of “Entre Nos” will take place at the New York Film Academy in New York City on October 20, 2009 at 7PM. Paola Mendoza and Gloria La Morte will be available for questions and answers after the screening.  All students are invited to attend.

Paola Mendoza

Poverty in America is a common theme in all of Ms. Mendoza’s work. From her directorial debut “Autumn’s Eyes,” to “On the Outs,” to her short documentary “Still Standing” and to her latest film “Entre Nos,” Ms. Mendoza has continually tackled the effects of poverty on family and children. Her films have been embraced at prestigious festivals such as Toronto, Berlin, South by South West, Full Frame, HotDocs and now Tribeca. She was a nominee for the 2008 NALIP Estel Awards, given to Latino filmmakers that show extraordinary promise in the field of directing. As a writer she won the Grand Jury Prize for the Panasonic Digital Filmmakers Award at 2007.

Gloria La Morte

Gurino who was born in Queens, New York sites his “unwavering passion for the arts,” as the major focal point for his direction into acting.  He began attending acting school when he was 9 years old and booked his first acting job portraying a Homeless Boy on the CBS Episodic “The Equalizer.” Gurino developed his craft at many different programs in NYC but is most proud of his time learning the Meisner Technique with Mr. James Brill at the Legendary Neighborhood Playhouse.  He also credits the New York Film Academy with being influential to his career.

Gurino has credits in over a half dozen films which include the 2007 mega blockbuster, “American Gangster” as well as “The Equalizer,” “Mercy,” “Just Like Joe,” “Eddie Monroe,” “This Thing of Ours,” and the upcoming film “The Sinatra Club.”…full article.

Description: New York Premiere of “Pardon us for Living but the Graveyards is Full.” A feature film Documentary directed by the New York Film Academy’s Geoffray Barbier will be playing at 9:00 PM at Clearview Cinemas Chelsea (New York City).

Host: Geoffray Barbier
Start Time: Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 9:00pm
End Time: Friday, October 23, 2009 at 12:00am

Location: CLEARVIEW CINEMAS CHELSEA NYC

TO GET TICKETS: WWW.CMJ.COM

Members of the new 90210 cast along with Executive Producer/Writer Rebecca Sinclair will be joining the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles at NYFA’s School on the back lot of Warner Brothers Studios in Hollywood.

The Q&A and screening of unseen 90210 episode is apart of New York Film Academy’s Filmmaker Speaker Series that continues throughout each year allowing filmmaking and acting students to speak with film professionals that are at the top of their industry.

Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009 at 6:00 PM / Open to students and the general public. Space is very limited. A RSVP is required to bria.wissing@nyfa.edu