The first five MFA students to graduate with a degree in the Expanded Animation Research + Practice and four Hench MFAs who joined Kathy Smith’s XA Thesis class presented their thesis films in the elegant USC Eileen Norris Theater on May 12, 2024. The screening was followed by a catered reception in Queens Court sponsored by Sony Pictures Animation. The XA projects were “Phosphenes” by Delaney McCallum, “Moses – Beyond the Waves” by Dina Garatly, “Perfect City: The Strangers” by Shengwei Zhou, “I Can’t Even” by Aisha Harper, and “Wild Animal” by Tianyun Lyu. The Hench projects were “Celestial” by Vicky Shunyi Xi, “Meiyu (Words of her)” by Charlene Xu, “Illusory” by Shiqi Hu, “One Day I May” by Shon Xiao. “Boy Cut” by Professor Sheila Sofian’s Documentary Animation students (Cullen Burt, Abby Corbett, Indira Escobar, Shon Xiao) completed the program.

On April 28th and May 2nd, 2024, students in Lisa Mann’s Cinematic and Media-based Installation class transformed a large vacant retail space into a tranquil oasis of light, sound, and motion. The impressive street-level storefront at The Grand LA is located directly across the street and in full view of the iconic, Frank Gehry-designed, Walt Disney Concert Hall. The exhibit was the culminating project for the installation class and included original audio and video projections by Christopher Bowles (IMGD), Lillian Lin (CAMS), Quinn Liu (IMGD), Dulce Meija Morales (Production), Shea Noland (Roski Art and Design), Nitesh Sridhar (IMGD), Ian Wang (MA+P), and Zifei Zhang (Journalism).

In April 2024, Physics student Charith Chandra Sai Balne, XA students Zeping Sun and Sijia Zheng, and XA Professor Kathy Smith created a series of images in collaboration with the Wrigley Institute’s Dr Jessica Dutton and Allison Agsten imagining a sustainable future for Los Angeles. These images are also installed on Catalina Island at Wrigley Institute and were featured in the LA Times article, “Can AI dream up a more sustainable Los Angeles?”

On April 29, 2024, XA MFA-2 student Brittaney Smothers received the SCA Council on Diversity & Inclusion Certificate for Outstanding Work. The event honored students from each SCA division/program for their “groundbreaking contributions to empowering diverse voices and perspectives.” Chosen by faculty members, the Certificate for Outstanding Work acknowledges students who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to diversity and inclusion initiatives. The award was presented to Brittaney by XA Professor Maksymilian Naporowski.

To kick off the year-long, IBM-funded digital Time Capsule 2050 creative projects, XA and IBM hosted a panel and participatory workshop in April 2024 to provoke discussions about what new technologies might potentially enable in the future – in cinema and in life. The panelists– Scott Mahoy, Yves Bergquist, Stuart Candy, Rachel Joy Victor, and Marientina Gotsis– spoke about AI, neural networks, Sora, sustainability, ethics, Ethnic Futurism, and trends in medicine and health fields. During the workshop, students played a game meant to spur creative speculation about the future.

In March 2024, XA Professor Kathy Smith presented a 50-minute lecture, “Visualizing New Narrative Forms,” at the NVIDIA GTC Conference about her creative research on NeRFs and AI experiments from the XA AI Dream Lab and her signature course “Contemporary Topics: Animation Dreams and Consciousness” exploring the relationship of science, philosophy and art to new forms of animation. NVIDIA GTC is an AI conference where attendees convene to see “real-world examples of how AI and accelerated computing are helping tackle the world’s toughest challenges.”

In March, 2024, XA hosted its first Expanded Animation Portfolio Day in the School of Cinematic Arts Gallery. Bento Box, ShadowMachine, Open the Portal, the Gotham Group, Silverlake Shorts, and Pinkfong were among the 18 studios, galleries, screening venues, advertising agencies, and agents that attended the event and reviewed student portfolios. XA students Delaney MCCallum (MFA ‘24) and Xindi Zhang (MFA ‘25) helped organize the event.

Directed by MFA 2 Sijia Zheng in collaboration with Wrigley Institute for Environment & Sustainability, “Coral Banking” is an entirely AI-animated, science visualization that highlights the research being done to save coral reefs around the world. The AI Dream Lab is funded by the USC Research Collaborations Grant overseen by XA Professor Kathy Smith. Special thanks to Dr Christina Vinton, Dr Jessica Dutton, and Wrigley Arts Curator Allison Agsten.

Last spring, Dina Garatly (XA MFA ‘24) received a prestigious Women in Animation (WIA) Scholarship award. The WIA Scholarship Program is an annual award for women and non-binary student applicants who demonstrate artistic talent, a passion for animation, and a promising future in animation, VFX, or gaming. The scholarship provides cash awards as well as workshops, animation equipment, and software donated by Foundry, LAIKA, Toon Boom, TV Paint, Wacom, Disney and other industry partners. Dina, who is originally from Saudi Arabia, was one of 17 winners in a pool of 189 students applying from 76 domestic and international schools.

XA Professor Lisa Mann’s artwork “George Wilson: Home (more-or-less)” is on display for three years at Sidney F. Tyler Park, on S. Lake Avenue at Oakwood Place, Pasadena, as part of the Pasadena Rotating Public Art Program Series IV. The audio-sculpture is composed of four, steel shopping carts welded into a map of Pasadena with labels identifying the location of services for the unhoused. The audio component of the sculpture consists of a 2002 interview with George Wilson, who was unhoused at the time, reflecting on his street survival techniques and outlook on life

“Our Bodies, Our Battleground” is a compilation of short animations using the ancient art of frottage (rubbing color media on paper over textures) created during a workshop for the USC 2023 Visions and Voices event, “Art, Activism and Reproductive Rights.” The workshop was led by XA Professor Lisa Mann and visiting artist and Evergreen Professor Emerita Ruth Hayes.

USC animation alumnx Miguel Jirón has recently completed work as Head of Story on the critically acclaimed Sony Pictures Animation “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” The 2023 film is the sequel to the Academy AwardⓇ-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” on which Miguel worked as a story artist. Miguel is returning to USC in the fall ‘23 semester to teach CTXA 592 Master class, Advanced Storyboarding: Inside the Animation Story Room.

“A Cow in the Sky” is the true story of the Ethiopian man, Mulugeta Seraw, who was studying in the U.S. and was murdered by white supremacists in 1988. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June. XA Adjunct Professor Greg Garay was brought on during the early stages as the animation director and provided storyboards, concept art, and key animation for the project. He assembled and oversaw a team of mainly USC alumni and current students, including Shelby Chan and David Amberg. Greg reports, “For it to be recognized at such a prestigious festival, the same festival I used to hear about when I was an undergrad in NYC, is more than I could’ve hoped for.”

Arlyn Villaruz has been the program coordinator for Expanded Animation since October 2022. Although new to USC, she has been an avid moviegoer of SCA’s Outside the Box [Office]. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Cal State Fullerton. Arlyn has been serving students for the past twenty years, including her work at two previous colleges, and has also worked in film distribution and exhibition. She grew up in Hawaii and enjoys traveling. In her spare time, she likes to meet friends over popcorn brunch, preferably at one of the vintage movie theaters around Los Angeles.

XA Professor Sheila M. Sofian’s CTXA 470 Documentary Animation Production class won the BEST FILM award at the Youth Collective Film Festival for their collaborative film, “Illegitimate Voice.” The theme of the 2023 festival was DEMOCRACY. “Filmmakers were encouraged to think beyond politics and show creative and thoughtful interpretations of what democracy can mean.”

XA Professor Kathy Smith is completing her VR project “Dimensions,” an immersive journey through the Australian bushland, in peace and in trauma.

In June, XA Adjunct Professor Sam Gurry presented a call-to-action screening at the 2023 Society for Animation Studies (SAS) conference held at Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ. The screening, “GAY AF: Pathos & Joy,” was an overview of contemporary Independent short animation focusing on Queer stories that are unapologetic, lusty, and bursting with joy. Filmmakers included David Delafuente, Cheng Hsu-Chung, Huntrezz, and more.

XA MFA 3 Shengwei Zhou has released the first and second episodes of his Perfect City Series: “Perfect City: The Mother” and “Perfect City: The Bravest Kid.” Both films have been selected at multiple festivals, including the 46th and 47th Hong Kong International Film Festival, 28th Encounters Film Festival, 20th London Short Film Festival, and the 26th and 27th Fantasia International Film Festival. They have qualified for Oscar, BAFTA, Canadian Screening Awards, and European Film Awards.

XA Professor Lisa Mann is a founding member of M.A.M.A. (Mother Artists Making Art) an interdisciplinary, mother artist group. M.A.M.A.’s latest installation, “Pop-Up Condom Shop,” was commissioned for CalArts 50th Anniversary celebration on April 28-29. It features a mobile shop dispensing glitched, generative AI “ERUPT RESPONSIBLY” custom condoms, video, banner, and website which address the inequities in female and male-focused contraception.

XA Adjunct Professor Sam Gurry’s film “Up Close” was screened in April at Pleasure Dome in Toronto. The show, entitled Reimagining Queer Liberation, featured 10 short works made between 2020-2022 by 2SLGBTQIA+ Canadian and international artists. The works “reflect different understandings and re-imagining of what queer liberation means today.”

Last spring, students in XA Professor Lisa Mann’s Cinematic and Media-based Installation class collaborated with USC architecture students to create nest-like, video and audio-embedded structures inspired by bird species native to Los Angeles. In preparation, students visited the Doheny Library exhibition of John James Audubon’s “Birds of America” water colors and watched a panel discussing the disappearance/resilience of birds and their habitats, as well as Audubon’s racist legacy. The structures were installed at the Clockshop art space near the LA River as part of the USC Visions and Voices series, “The Vanishing Worlds of Audubon,” co-organized by Lisa, Professor of Architecture Aroussiak Gabrielian, and the USC Libraries.

In March, XA Professor Kathy Smith presented a 50min talk entitled “The Indefinable Moods of Artificial Intelligence” at NVIDIA GTC March 2023 discussing how AI reflects the collective unconscious, driving new forms of art creation, structure, and narrative forms. Kathy showed her personal dream work and AI experiments including those from her CTXA 579 and CTXA 524 courses.

In March, Professor Emerita Christine Panushka served on the Jury for the 61st Ann Arbor Film Festival in Ann Arbor Michigan. The Jury watched 10 features, 12 competition programs, and gave out 24 awards. Panushka also screened her recent animated feature film “Blood of the Family Tree.”

In January, XA Adjunct Professor Sam Gurry presented, “Teddy Bears and Little Friends: the films of “Nanny” Lynn Ochberg” for Los Angeles Filmforum at 2220 Arts + Archives. Ochberg created her “digital realism” animations 30 years ago using a Commodore Amiga. Following the screening, Sam hosted a Q&A with Ochberg.