Unitec hosts American film students
Wednesday 01, August, 2012
If you’ve been hearing American accents around the Mt Albert campus over the past week, chances are they belong to eight students from the School of Film and Animation at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, who are here on a five-week study abroad programme of coursework. They are being hosted and sponsored by Unitec's Departments of Performing and Screen Arts (PASA) and Design and Visual Arts (DVA).
The RIT students have the unique opportunity to collaborate with Unitec students on production projects involving film, animation, dance, music, and other art forms, and all students are attending courses on New Zealand film and animation history, theory and practice.
The programme also features field trips travelling to New Zealand scenic locations, attendance at screenings of the New Zealand Film Festival, visits to production studios, and participation on an assortment of cultural and film and arts-related activities. The programme founders and co-directors are Dr. Scott Wilson (PASA), Miriam Harris (DVA), and professor, Stephanie Maxwell (RIT).
"It has been a fabulous experience for our students. Unitec staff and administrators have been amazingly helpful and generous in all aspects of staging and facilitating this study abroad programme,” says professor Maxwell. “The students have already forged important relationships with other students on productions, and they are learning so much about New Zealand's cinema, culture, and scenic beauty. They are not going to want to go home.”
The Rochester delegation is:
Stephanie Maxwell (Professor, School of Film and Animation at RIT; RIT teacher)
Adam Chitayat (4th year BFA, School of Film and Animation at RIT)
Gordie Earle (4th year BFA, School of Film and Animation at RIT)
Katie LeVander (4th year BFA, School of Film and Animation at RIT)
Alexandra Rebeck (3rd year BFA, School of Film and Animation at RIT)
Emily Abele (2nd year BFA, School of Film and Animation at RIT)
Ray McCarthy-Bergeron (3rd year MFA, School of Film and Animation at RIT)
Jethro van't Hul (BA, University of Washington)
Melanie Nelson (BA, University of Washington)
Shelby Scott (3rd year BFA, School of Film and Animation at RIT)
Harlan Doolittle (4th year BFA, School of Film and Animation at RIT).
Photo caption: Rochester Institute of Technology students/staff with DVA and PASA staff during their welcome on to the Unitec marae on campus last week.
For more information, contact:
Peter Rees
Promotions & Publicity Coordinator
Performing and Screen Arts
UNITEC
(09) 815 4321 ext. 7284