DMD Student Animators – Winning Hearts and Awards

STORRS, Connecticut, October 13 – UConn Digital Media & Design’s 3D Animation and newly renamed Motion Design & Animation concentrations have always been brimming with talented and passionate student artists, but recently students have been making waves with their work all over the northeast. Several of our talented animators recently had their work juried into competitive festivals. Standing alongside filmmakers from across the globe, Katie Sawosik, Lucas Lazarre, Ali Loftus, Cassidy Keller, and Liam McNeece, proudly showcased their work and are helping to build UConn DMD’s national reputation as a top program to study digital animation.

image of Katherine Sawosik
Katie Sawosik, on the red carpet at the 8th Annual Trinity Film Festival.

Katherine Sawosik, a May 2019 BFA in 3D Animation graduate, has had incredible success with her BFA Senior Thesis project, Stand. The film has won two awards so far, “Best of Individual Category” at the MetroCAF 2019 Festival in New York, NY, and 2nd Place at the 8th Annual Trinity Film Festival in Hartford, CT. MetroCAF is the annual NYC Metropolitan Area College Computer Animation Festival organized by the New York City chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH (Association of Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques). Started in 2003, MetroCAF has grown into the most important local festival of its kind. Trinity Film Festival also features short films made by college students from around the world. Stand was the first animated film to win an award in the festival’s history.  Joining Katie at MetroCAF were Ali Loftus with her 3D animation, Butterscotch & Beetle, and Lucas Lazarre with his 2D animation, Mayhem, which also was a finalist in NASA’s ProjectMars International Film and Art Competition.  All three animations screened at the New York Institute of Technology’s Auditorium on Broadway on September 27.

Cassidy Keller and Liam McNeece, juniors in DMD’s Motion Design & Animation concentration, created a short film titled A Life of Dreaming that was featured in Art All Night: the 7th Annual Trenton Film Festival. This festival took place the weekend of June 15, 2019 and featured more than 200 short films from over 40 countries.

UConn DMD students are striving to create and share meaningful work with the world. The Department and faculty takes great pride in their students’ achievements and are thrilled to see these talented, hardworking students recognized for their efforts.

artist wooden mannequin doodling
A still from Katie Sawosik’s 3D Animation, Stand.

animation with astronaut on a planet
Film still from Lucas Lazarre’s 2D animation, Mayhem.

3D artwork
Film still from Ali Loftus’ 3D animation, Butterscotch & Beetle.

UConn Digital Media & Design provides an innovative and transformative experience to educate students in animation, gaming, web design & development, digital media business strategies, film/video production, and the digital humanities. Learn more about DMD at dmd.uconn.edu.

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If you would like more information about this topic, please call Stacy Webb at 860-486-6765, or email digitalmedia@uconn.edu.

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