By Benjamin Pola

This year SCA expanded the festival-goer experience for its alumni and students at Sundance and Slamdance by partnering with Iron Mountain Entertainment Services (IMES) for an innovative alumni panel discussion. Titled Archival Preservation: The Future of Cinema, the panel, which featured SCA alumni Douglas Blush ’88 and Nathan Punwar ’07 and Iron Mountain representatives, Lance Podell (Senior Vice President, Iron Mountain), Ross Dinerstein (CEO of Campfire), and Hillary Howell (Director, Premium Archival Services, Iron Mountain) delved into the transformative impact of archival footage on filmmaking narratives. They also spoke about the importance of preserving cinematic history for future storytellers. 

This year’s Sundance/Slamdance had a robust SCA presence with over 53 USC projects at the two festivals, a result of collaborative efforts from more than 95 talented USC alumni. 

In keeping with tradition, SCA also hosted its annual Festival Reception in Park City, bringing USC alumni, faculty, staff, and industry partners together for a night of fun and networking. 

Three exciting projects walked away with top prizes:

Little Death took the Next Innovator Award Presented by Adobe. 
Writer: Dani Goffstein ’15; Producers: Noor Alfallah ’16, Sam Canter ’14, Christian Sutton ’18

Dìdi (??) won the Audience Award: US Dramatic
Director/Producer: Sean Wang ’16 

Desire Lines won the Special Jury Award for Next Presented by Adobe
Writer: Nate Gualtieri ’17

Congratulations to our amazingly talented alumni and students whose projects were accepted at the 2024 Sundance and Slamdance Film Festivals. Here’s the list of this year’s SCA affiliated projects:

SUNDANCE

U.S. Dramatic Competition

Dìdi (??) 
Sean Wang ’16 
Director/Producer
Sam Davis ’16  
Director of Photography
Arielle Zakowski '12
Editor
Chris Tennant ‘18
Assistant Editor

Exhibiting Forgiveness
Zebah Pinkham ’09
Art Director

A Real Pain
Jennifer Westin ’00 
Executive Producer

Love Me
Connor Flanagan ’12 (SCA/Dornsife)
Executive Producer

Ponyboi 
Sade Clacken Joseph ’18
Co-Producer
River Gallo ’18
Writer/Producer/Actor

Suncoast
Anna Schwartz ’17
Co-Producer
Sara Shaw
Editor

U.S. Documentary Competition 
FRIDA 
Brian Grazer ’74
Executive Producer
Ron Howard
Executive Producer

Skywalkers: A Love Story 
Jacques Brautbar ’16
Composer
Marc Rosenzweig ’16
Research Analyst

Sugarcane
Douglas Choi ’05
Executive Producer
Nathan Punwar ’07
Editor

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

Layla
Nina Yang Bongiovi
Executive Producer 
Forest Whitaker
Executive Producer 
Next
Desire Lines 
Nate Gualtieri ’17 
Writer

Little Death 
Jack Begert ’14
Director
Dani Goffstein ’15
Writer
Tyler Sobel-Mason ’15 
Executive Producer
Noor Alfallah ’16
Producer
Sam Canter ’14 
Producer

Premieres
The American Society of Magical Negroes
Julia Lebedev ’06
Producer

A Different Man
Aaron Schimberg ’99
Director/Writer

Freaky Tales 
Poppy Hanks ’95
Producer

Rob Peace
Zebah Pinkham ’09
Art Director

Thelma
Chris Kaye ’13
Producer
David Bolen ’13
Director of Photography
Nick Chuba ’14 (Thornton)
Composer
Will & Harper
Josh Greenbaum ’08
Director
Will Ferrell ’90
Producer 
Jessica Elbaum ’99
Producer
Monique Zavistovski ’03
Editor

Winner
Connor Flanagan ’12 (SCA/Dornsife)
Executive Producer
Steve Yedlin ’96
Director of Photography
Midnight
It’s What’s Inside
James Morosini ’14 (SDA)
Actor
Michael Schatz ’14
Colorist
Short Film Program
Pathological
Taylor Gianotas ’10
Editor
The Smallest Power
Elyse Kelly ’11
Producer

To be Invisible
Yasna Vismale ’24
Composer
Episodic
Conbody VS Everybody
Justin T. Feldman ’11
Music Supervisor
Me/We
Justin T. Feldman ’11
Music Supervisor
The Synanon Fix
Nicole Moreno ’20
Associate Producer
Lauren Berger ’19 (SCA/Annenberg)
Associate Producer

Spotlight
Hit Man
Connor Flanagan ’12 (SCA/Dornsife)
Co-Producer
Family Matinee
Out of My Mind
Tom Mazza ’87 (Annenberg)
Executive Producer

Special Screenings
The Greatest Night in Pop
Will Znidaric ’96
Editor
U.S. Fiction Short Films
Border Hopper
Blaine Morris ’22
Producer/First Assistant Director
Alex Bologna ’18
Sound Mixer
Gabriela Ortega ’17 (SDA) 
Producer/Actor

guts
Grace Hinson ’14
Production Designer
The Lost Season
Skinner Myers
Actor

Nonfiction Short Films
ALOK
Achim Mendoza ’23
Editor

40th Edition Celebration Screenings & Events
Napoleon Dynamite - 40th Edition Celebration Screening
Sean Covel ’02
Producer
Chris Wyatt ’02
Producer
DIG! XX - 40th Edition Celebration Screening
Ashley Hughes ’00 (Dornsife)
Production Assistant
Three Seasons - 40th Edition Celebration Screening
Zoe Bui ’99
Actor
Quan Lelan ’93
Casting Director

SLAMDANCE 

Narrative Features

African Giants
Omete Anassi ’17 (SCA/Dornsife)
Associate Producer
Yancey Wang ’10 (Marshall/SDA)
Executive Producer
Lily Judge ’16 (Thornton)
Editor
Narrative Shorts
Fettyland
Eric Cook ’14
Producer
Shadow
Kamell Allaway ’13
Director/Writer/Producer
Adam Tyree ’13
Producer
Jonathan Pope ’13
Director of Photography
Documentary Shorts
Fortune
Shirley Yumeng He ’20 (SCA/Dornsife)
Director/Producer
Unstoppable Features
DARUMA
Kelli McNeil ’03 (SDA)
Writer/Executive Producer/Actor
Joy Nash ’03 (SDA/Dornsife)
Actor
Good Bad Things
Shane Stanger ’23
Director/Producer
Manny Gonzalez ’23
Producer
Mel McGinnis ’23
Producer
Drew Marquardt ’23
Associate Producer
Sam Sanders IV ’23
Production Design
Matthew O’Connor ’22 (Thornton)
Composer
Nikhita Datar ’24
Production Assistant

Unstoppable Shorts

Baggage
Powell Robinson ’14
Director of Photography
Alex Winkler ’17 (Thornton)
Composer
Tiffany Lin ’20
Editor

DOSH
Nikhil Prakash 
Actor

The Legend of El Cucuy
Ashton Rae ’16
Director of Photography

Smash or Pass
Atif Hashwi ’21 (SDA/Viterbi) 
Actor

Experimental Shorts

Nowhere Stream
Luis Grane
Director

Animated Shorts

This Is a Story Without a Plan
Cassie Shao ’19 
Director/Writer/Editor/Animator

Episodes

Eindis Ends It All
Tamara Rosenfeld ’08
Director
Breakouts

CHAPERONE
Lauran Bromley ’88
Executive Producer
Liz Manashil ’10
Consulting Producer

ONE BULLET
Jeff Elmassian ’89 (Thornton) 
Composer
Spotlight
Invisible Nation
Douglas Blush ’88
Executive Producer
Yu-Ting Su ’16
Sound Designer

The Herricanes
Andrew Calof ’23
Producer
Sarah Trevino ’18 (Thornton)
Composer

For more information, please visit: https://cinema.usc.edu/festivals/sundance/sundance2024.cfm