Weeklong festival celebrating the outstanding achievements of UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television students to honor producer Michael Deluca, screenwriter Graham Moore and Acme Filmworks founder Ron Diamond.
LOS ANGELES -- The UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT), one of the world’s most prominent academic institutions for entertainment and performing arts education, has announced that three-time Academy Award-nominated producer Michael DeLuca, Acme Filmworks founder Ron Diamond, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Graham Moore will be honored at its 24th Annual Film Festival, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Kanbar Entertainment and SAGIndie. The festival takes place June 5-10, 2015 at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.
UCLA TFT alumnus Ron Diamond will receive the Crystal Anvil Award during the Festival of Animation on Saturday, June 6. Diamond is the founder and executive producer of the Los Angeles-based animation studio Acme Filmworks, which brings together renaissance animation filmmakers and agencies to create the right fit for advertising campaigns. Acme has created such memorable promotions as the Levi's women's jeans campaign and the long-running Charmin campaign featuring Acme’s iconic bear. Other notable Acme clients include director Ridley Scott, AT&T, United Airlines, Ford, Principal Financial Group, Hilton Hotels and Microsoft. Diamond is also the co-founder of the animation news site AWN.com and serves as its president. He is currently preparing his 17th annual Animation Show of Shows, representing his picks for the year’s best animated short films, which he tours around the world for animation professionals and students.
"It's a great honor to receive this achievement award from the UCLA Animation Workshop. The Crystal Anvil is a weighty award thanks largely to my predecessors who are some of the greatest talents in animation and truly kind and wonderful people," Diamond commented. "Many of my most formative experiences occurred in UCLA's Melnitz Hall when I was a student in the early 1980's. I'm grateful to return annually to share my discoveries and experiences in the world of animation with the students and faculty of the Animation Workshop."
Graham Moore will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Screenwriting Award during the Screenwriters Showcase on Monday, June 8. Moore’s screenplay for The Imitation Game (2014) won the Academy Award and WGA Award for Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe, after topping The Black List in 2011. Moore recently adapted The Devil in the White City for Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio. He is currently writing original television pilots for HBO with director Michael Mann and SKY Atlantic with director Marc Forster, the latter which received a 10-episode, straight-to-series order at NBC. Additionally, Random House will publish Moore’s second novel, The Last Days of Wonder, about the early days of electricity, in fall 2016.
Michael DeLuca, an esteemed production executive and prolific producer with nearly three decades in the film business, will be honored with the Vision Award during Producers Marketplace on Tuesday, June 9. He has been nominated three times for an Academy Award for Best Motion Picture of the Year and three times for a Producer's Guild of America Award for David Fincher's The Social Network, Bennett Miller's Moneyball and Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips. Earlier this year, De Luca produced the box-office hit Fifty Shades of Grey, for Universal Pictures, where he currently has a production deal. De Luca will produce the next two installments of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.
Student films from many notable alumni have showcased at the annual UCLA TFT festival including Shane Acker (9); Dustin Lance Black (Milk, J. Edgar); Gil Kenan (Monster House, Poltergeist); Justin Lerner (The Automatic Hate); Justin Lin (Fast & Furious franchise, upcoming Bourne sequel), and Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights, The Secret Life of Bees), among others.
Source: UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
