BFA Students to Screen Films

Arizona Daily Star columnist Ernesto Portillo, Jr. will host a screening films produced by UA media arts students.

Students graduating from The University of Arizona School of Media Arts bachelor of fine arts program will screen their senior thesis films at the annual "I Dream in Widescreen."

The event will be held on Friday, May 15, at 7:30 p.m. at the Tucson Convention Center Music Hall with doors scheduled to open at 6 p.m. The screening is free and open to the public.

"I Dream in Widescreen" is the culmination of the students' skills, knowledge and creative vision fostered by the School of Media Arts program.

Arizona Daily Star columnist and KXCI Community Radio program host Ernesto Portillo, Jr. will host the screening.

Students in film and video production will present what is being slated as an unusually diverse and ambitious array of films. The students wrote, directed and crewed their own films, which often feature local talent.

The lineup includes a teen genre musical, a meditation on Jewish identity, a fantasy epic about a fiddler turned dragonslayer and a comedic series of commercial spots. The show will be followed by a lively question-and-answer session with all of the graduating filmmakers.

"I Dream in Widescreen" drew 800 people to the Fox Theater in Downtown Tucson last year. Event organizers said they expect to draw an even larger crowd this year.

"The School of Media Arts is excited about taking the stage at the Tucson Music Hall, in the center of Tucson's historic downtown arts district," said Lisanne Skyler, an assistant professor of media arts and producer of the screening.