Two UWM Peck School of the Arts filmmakers will screen work at Park City, Utah, film festivals.
Sky Hopinka, a film department instructor and alumnus, will return to the Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 19-29. His film “Visions of an Island” will screen in the festival’s documentary short film program and in its environmentally themed New Climate program.
Hopinka received an MFA from the department in 2016. He is a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and a descendant of the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians. His heritage informs his video work. His film “Jáaji Approx.” screened at Sundance in 2016.
“Visions of an Island” will also screen in the Whitney Biennial 2017 at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York from March 17 through June 11.
Kym McDaniel, a student pursing a film MFA, will have work in the 2017 Slamdance Film Festival, Jan. 20-26. Her film “Press Play” will premiere in the experimental shorts program. The film is about a little girl facing entrapment in an adult world.
Filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Lena Dunham gained notice early in their careers at Slamdance. Winners of the festival’s jury prizes for narrative, animated and documentary shorts qualify for Academy Awards.
