Join us for an evening with David Lowery on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. A screenwriter and award-winning filmmaker, Lowery will be in conversation with Brook Hinton, CCA’s Film Program co-chair. Both MFA film and BFA film school students are encouraged to attend and ask any burning questions about Lowery’s three feature films: A Ghost Story, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, and Pete’s Dragon.

In January of 2013, Laura Poitras received an email from an anonymous senior government employee. Edward Snowden, nicknamed “Citizenfour,” leaked detailed documents about secret NSA surveillance programs to Poitras and two U.S.-based journalists. “You ask why I picked you. I didn't. You did,” Snowden wrote in an early email to the filmmaker.¹  

If you had to choose the best Pixar characters ever, which ones would they be? Rolling Stone published its list last summer. Joy, the happiness heroine of Inside Out, was the top pick. Sweet yet determined waste-collecting robot WALL•E, Dory, the blue tang fish with an absurdly short memory, and imperious food critic Anton Ego from Ratatouille were next in line. Joy is #1 because she represents, according to the magazine, “a classic Pixar switcheroo: taking a character that's cute and fun and then letting her lead the audience to a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.” Compelling stories stem from the complexity of human behavior: spontaneous, calculated, sorrowful, hard-won. CCA’s Animation Program asks students to consider how motivation influences action. How do characters advance along story arcs? How do they grapple with identity and voice? These questions were at the heart of the Pixar@CCA: Summer Story Intensive, a collaborative program with Pixar Animation Studios that focused on new voices in animation.

When you choose an art school, you choose a creative culture influenced by the political atmosphere. You are discovering your people: contemplative, inward-looking, proactive, all of the above, or some combo. Here, in the Bay Area, where art, tech, and politics play together, our graphic design students choose to uproot conventional expression and activism. During 2017 SF Design Week, they made mail meaningful again with Postcards to the President, a project that encouraged attendees to write messages to POTUS, Vice President Pence, state reps, and local leaders.

Your art portfolio plays a big role in whether or not you get into the art school of your dreams. Creating a high-quality collection of samples that showcase your abilities is the best way to increase your odds.