» A night to remember. Academy of Art University School of Fashion hosts the annual Fashion Show, honors BCBGMAXAZRIA, showcases student talent. page 10.
Athletics
» Be artist. Be champion. Congratulations to our men and women’s golf and track and field teams on successful seasons. page 20.
Art returns to the Palace of Fine Arts
» A preview of the talented students of the upcoming Spring Show, which opens May 22 page 23.
The Festival de Cannes 2013 kicks off on May 15, and among the talented filmmakers in attendance will be Academy of Art University alumnus and Director of Visual Development Nicolás P. Villarreal. His animated short film, “Pasteurized,” is one of the short films to be featured during Cannes Court Métrage in the “Short Film Corner” competition.
“To be honest, for me going to Cannes is incredible,” Villarreal said. “I still can’t believe it.”
Animated Short Film. Written and Directed by Nicolás P. Villarreal. (7 minutes 33 seconds.)
Villarreal graduated from AAU in 2002. He moved back to his home country of Argentina, where he worked as a traditional animator on an Italian film while also working remotely as a freelance character designer for a company in Oakland. He returned to the States in 2005 and worked
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FASHION SHOW
honored guests of AAU Fashion Show
Renowned designers recruit talented students as fashion returns to Palace of Fine Arts
Mayor Ed Lee of San Francisco declares May 8, 2013, Max and Lubov Azria Day after famed designer and wife, shown here smiling for the camera.
By Ian Mackintosh
On the morning of Thursday, May 9th in Morgan Auditorium, Gladys Perint Palmer, Executive Director of the School of Fashion, moderated a panel discussion called “Bon Chic Bon Chat” with Suzy Menkes, renowned fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune - the Global Edition of The New York Times, and this year’s guests of honor, Max Azria who is the Founder, Designer, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of the BCBGMAXAZRIAGROUP, and his wife Lubov Azria who
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» A festival of colors. The colorful holiday, its origins, and a now much anticipated annual event. pAge 14.
More than 200 students gathered April 27 to celebrate Holi, an event that once was unfamiliar on campus but that now will be anticipated each year. This famous annual event in India, which is celebrated to welcome Spring, was brought to Academy of Art University by the Indian Student Association with help from other campus entities. With more than 160 pounds of vegetable-colored powdered and a fresh canvas, the event was planned as a guilt-free, playlike-you-never-did affair. Organizers had several problems to grapple with, such as how to keep the color from spreading; where would all the color come from; how would all the colors be arranged; how would the photographers protect their equipment; and how would students react. The group spent nearly a month brainstorming to figure out the answers.
The Indian Student Association was joined by the Professional Student Photographers Association and Imagination Awesome, as well as student volunteers (RAs from the dorms and students from varying departments), with the Campus Life team taking care of logistics.
Krishnateja Vunnava is the Indian Student Association President.
Holi, the Festival of ColoHoli, the Festival of Colors, marks the beginning of the spring season in India. Krishna Teja of the Indian Student Association hosted an event to mark this Hindu tradition and in honor of his culture on April 27.
On Holi, poople sing bhajans, a type of devotional song, of Radha and Lord Krishna. The relationship of Radha and Krishna is the embodiment of love, passion and devotion. Radha’s passion for Krishna symbolizes the soul’s intense longing and willingness for the ultimate unification with God. Shri Krishna is the soul of Radha, and Radha is the soul of Shri Krishna.
Teja added an American twist to the celebration of the embodiment of spiritual energies, by mixing pop music with traditional music.
Balinese dancers added to the celebration, expressing the story through gestures with fingers, hands and whole bodies along with head and eye movements. In Hinduism, dance helps enact the perpetual dissolving and reforming of the world.
With assistance from the Professional Student Photographer Association, run by Bladimir Carelamunoz, photographers were on hand to capture the celebration.
Thanks to all participants and to Campus Life.
Megan Padilla is an Academy of Art University student.
Nicolás from page 1
as a character designer for Walt Disney on the film “Tinkerbell.” He continued to do freelance work before being hired as an AAU instructor.
“I always thought there was something very honorable in teaching,” he said. “I wanted to work, which I still do, for movies and video games as a character designer. And teaching was in the back of my mind. I liked the idea, but my goal was first try to start working as a character designer and keep working. To work as much as I can and maybe become a teacher one day.”
“Pasteurized”
“Pasteurized” is an animated short of seven minutes and 33 seconds about a scientist who receives an unexpected visitor while conducting experiments in the middle of the night. Villarreal’s initial inspiration for the film comes from a family trip to Paris in 1998.
“We went to the Museum of Science in Le Parc de la Villette. They had an exhibit of fire and water in zero gravity,” he said. “It was a mockup candle, but the flame was making a perfect sphere, which is incredible. The water was slowly settling into a bubble. And that looked like the moon to me. So that idea stayed in my mind.”
“Pasteurized” has already been well received at several film festivals, including ones in Austin, Burbank, Savannah and Nevada, where the film won the Silver Screen Award.
“I just feel lucky that [the film] gets in some festivals, because I didn’t realize how hard it was,” he said. “I feel very grateful. As long as they
like it a little bit, I’m happy.”
The film took Villarreal 27 months to create, which he did with the assistance of a small creative team, including editor and AAU alum Alessandro Squitti and AAU Director of Animation Sherrie H. Sinclair. “[Sinclair] helped me through the whole film. Since the first initial sketches with Alessandro to the final
stage, they were helping,” he said. “I did the short pretty much by myself. I had help from friends; that was crucial to finish it, but the visual aspect, it was pretty much just me. And sometimes I needed fresh eyes that knew what they were doing, to notice things that I couldn’t notice, because I was staring at it so long.”
Advice for students
For students aspiring to follow in their instructor’s footsteps in the festival circuit, Villarreal shared some key advice he received when he was in school.
“The advice I got from my parents was, ‘try to take it as seriously as you can and work as hard as you can,’” he said. “It’s very competitive, and I know this is going to sound cliché; if you go to your classes and you take it seriously and you follow the instruction of your teachers, that’s the best advice I can give.”
Kirsten Coachman is our Assignment Editor. Follow her on Twitter: @AAUPaperGirl1
“I love 2D animation. It’s just the look that [makes it] different, because any type of animation is animation; it could be stop motion; it could be 3D. I like 2D animation, because I like to draw. I really enjoy 3D movies and stop motion movies, as well. In the end, it’s all animation.”
Nicolás P. Villarreal
Photo by Trenton Cayetano/Academy of Art University. Photo by Victor Mendoza/Academy of Art University. Photo by Victor Mendoza/Academy of Art University.