SVA Announces Winners Of DUSTY Awards

School of Visual Arts (SVA) proudly announced the winners of its 2011 Dusty Film and Animation Festival and Awards, now in its 22nd year, at an awards ceremony held on May 10, 2011 at the SVA Theatre in New York City (333 West 23rd Street). Highlighting over 100 films by students graduating from the BFA Film, Video and Animation Department, the annual awards were bestowed at the invite-only event. This year's Dusty presenters included notables from the world of film, television, and animation including, Edward Burns, Doug Liman, Chris Newman, Annie Sundberg, Andrew Mondshein, Aaron Augenblick, Joan Brooker-Marks, Alex Levi, James Janowsky, George Lavoo, and Frankie DeMarco, and hosted by radio personality Valerie Smaldone and SVA animation faculty member Sheila Evans. For more info and event images, please visit www.sva.edu/dusty.

The 2011 DUSTY winners are:

Outstanding Film: Victoria Rivera for Retrato De Una Familia (Portrait of a Family)

Outstanding Achievement in Directing: Victoria Rivera for Retrato De Una Familia (Portrait of a Family)

Outstanding Achievement in Screenwriting: Joseph Paolucci for Blades of Grass

Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Lewis Meyer for In the Grass

Department Award for Outstanding Body of Work in Cinematography: Spencer Katz for Retrato De Una Familia (Portrait of a Family)
Outstanding Achievement in Editing: Ryan Halasz for Project Enigma

Department Award for Outstanding Body of Work in Editing: Nick Noyes for Retrato De Una Familia (Portrait of a Family)

Outstanding Achievement in Sound: Melvin Cubero II
Outstanding Documentary: Jacquelyn Lobel for Tengenenge

Traditional Animation Awards:

Outstanding Achievement in Traditional Animation: Zachary Bellissimo for Blenderstein and Michael Ruocco for Destiny is for the Birds
Outstanding Achievement in Traditional Character Design: Zachary Bellissimo for Blenderstein

Outstanding Achievement in Traditional Production Design: Mirella Toncheva for Treasure of the Golden Skull

Stop-Motion Animation Awards:

Outstanding Achievement in Stop-Motion Animation: Zachary Williams for Pineapples & Pork in...BAD WRAPS

Outstanding Achievement in Stop-Motion Character Design: Zachary Williams for Pineapples & Pork in...BAD WRAPS

New York Women in Film and Television Award: Aubrey Carp

National Board of Review Human Spirit Award: Brittany Brothers

"We are very happy to be presenting Outstanding Achievement Awards this year, marking our 22nd year of the Dustys, recognizing the fine works of these many filmmakers and animators, and giving members of the industry the opportunity to see the work of the next wave of talented and hard-working individuals," said Reeves Lehmann, chair of the BFA Film, Video and Animation Department at SVA. "We are pleased to celebrate the successes of our students with professionals from the worlds of film and animation. We also want to extend our appreciation to the many great sponsors and supporters, some who have been with us a number of years, and others who joined more recently. And we'd like to call special attention to the truly remarkable work by festival producer Annie Flocco and co-producer Meredith Engstrom, for another year of excellence. Also a big thanks to the crew at the SVA Theatre."

The 22nd Annual Dusty Film and Animation Festival kicked off Friday, May 6 and ran through Tuesday, May 10, highlighting over 100 films by students graduating from the BFA Film, Video and Animation Department at the School of Visual Arts (SVA). The program included screenings of short films, videos and animations; and an awards ceremony with notable presenters from the film and animation industry. This year's Screenwriters Night, (Saturday, May 7, 2011) was presented in collaboration with Susan Batson Studio. Scenes by SVA's screenwriting thesis students were performed live on stage. Screenwriters Night was directed by Susan Batson, founder of Susan Batson Studio, and produced by film producer and SVA faculty member Annie Flocco.