Award Winning Industry Veterans to Present Winners of School of Visual Arts' 28th Dusty Awards

NEW YORK, May 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Reeves Lehmann, chair of the BFA Film and BFA Animation programs at the School of Visual Arts (SVA), along with award-winning producer, Annie Flocco, producer/director of the Dusty Film & Animation Festival, today announced this year's presenters for the 28^th Dusty Awards:

Academy Award-nominated producer/director, David Silverman (The Simpsons, Monsters, Inc., Maggie Simpson In: The Longest Daycare);  Producer and co-founder of Emmett/Furla Films, Randall Emmett (Silence, Lone Survivor, Everest); VP of children's programming at PBS, Linda Simensky (Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Nature Cat, Odd Squad); Editor, Jim Helton (Blue Valentine, A Place Beyond the Pines, The Light Between Oceans); Animation director at TED-Ed, Biljana Labovic (Guard Dog, Idiots and Angels);  Producer and New York Women in Film & Television president, Alexis Alexanian (Maggie's Plan, The Hottest State, Pieces of April);  Producer and IFP program manager, Zach Mandinach; Academy Award-winning production sound mixer, Chris Newman (The Godfather, The Exorcist, Amadeus);  Writer/director, Gillian Robespierre (Landline, Obvious Child, Casual); Cinematographer, Fred Murphy (Hoosiers, The Dead, October Sky); Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker, Sam Pollard (Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson, 4 Little Girls, When the Levees Broke); Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, Jay Cocks (Gangs of New York, Silence, The Age of Innocence); Director/cinematographer, Reed Morano (Meadowland, Frozen River, The Handmaid's Tale).

Media personality Valerie Smaldone returns to emcee the event, which is taking place at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 23^rd Street, NYC on Monday, May 8, at 6:30pm EST. (Red carpet event begins at 5:30pm.) The event streams live at dusty.sva.edu.

This year, in conjunction with the event SVA will present Dusty Outstanding Alumni Awards to Academy Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino (BFA 1990 Film & Video)-Up, Lost, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; producer and founder of Titmouse, Shannon Prynoski (BFA 1994 Film & Video)-The Venture Bros., Niko and the Sword of Light (Amazon Original), Nerdland; and director/producer and founder of Titmouse, Chris Prynoski (BFA 1994 Animation)-Motorcity, Nerdland, Metalocalypse. Hoping to carve their own path to success, more than 15 film, and animation thesis students, out of over 100 who are graduating this semester, will receive awards for film, directing, screenwriting, editing, cinematography, documentary, animated film, character animation, and animation production design, among others.

"The Dustys and the award ceremony have become one of the country's foremost events for discovering new talent in film and animation," states Reeves Lehmann. Annie Flocco agrees, "Year after year, the event brings attention to remarkable work by SVA students, and proves to be a launch pad for many successful careers." Recent alumni and student achievements include Gillian Robespierre (BFA 2005 Film & Video), writer and director of the feature Landline, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2017 and was acquired by Amazon; Randall Emmett (BFA 1994 Film & Video), producer of the Oscar-nominated 2016 feature Silence; and BFA Film senior Ameer Kazmi, winner of the 2016 Coca-Cola and Regal Films national competition, who will be screening his thesis film at the Dusty Festival this year.

The 2017 Dusty Festival headlining sponsors include AbelCine, ARC-Adorama Rental Co, Animation Magazine, B&H Photo, Bryan Singer-Bad Hat Harry, Carlos Saldanha-BottleCap Productions, Foto Care, Gotham Sound, IFP, KitSplit, New York Women in Film & Television, Nice Shoes, Nickelodeon, Radical Media, Randall Emmett-Emmet/Furla/Oasis Films, Rota6, SCS Agency, Inc., SVA Campus Store, Technicolor PostWorks New York and Toon Boom Animation. 100% of the sponsors' donations directly benefit the film and animation thesis students through grants and in-kind awards.

School of Visual Arts has been a leader in the education of artists, designers and creative professionals for nearly seven decades. With a faculty of distinguished working professionals, dynamic curriculum and an emphasis on critical thinking, SVA is a catalyst for innovation and social responsibility. Comprising of more than 6,000 students at its Manhattan campus and 35,000 alumni in 100 countries, SVA also represents one of the most influential artistic communities in the world. According to Animation Career Review, (one of the top animation school rankers in the country), SVA was recently named the #1 animation college on the east coast and #5 nationally among the top two percent of schools.

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SOURCE School of Visual Arts