News
School of Film and Animation

From steel beams added to the RIT skyline to new fencing to mark the start of projects, here’s a rundown of what you might see on campus this summer.

WROC-TV interviews Anna McClanahan, a film and animation: production option student, and Gabriel Ponte-Fleary, a film and animation MFA student, about their film, Say Cheese.

Kiki Johnson '22 (film and animation) had demonstrated a commitment to communicating real-world issues in her storytelling. The latest example is her capstone film, The Walk to School.

Say Cheese, a pioneering, heartfelt film directed and produced by two RIT students, took home the top prize in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films program announced during the final night of CinemaCon in Las Vegas late Thursday. The project featured the combined creative efforts of students, faculty, and staff in RIT’s School of Film and Animation and NTID.

WXXI’s “Connections” program features Vashti Anderson, assistant professor in the School of Film and Animation in the College of Art and Design.

Three student teams showed what technology, the arts, and design means at RIT. They designed technology to help astronauts keep physically fit in space, incorporated virtual reality to enhance signing and captioning support for the Deaf, and built a modern sculpture of the human body made of computers.

Aaron Gordon ’13, CEO of Optic Sky, an advertising and digital experience production company; Franklyn Athias ’85, CTO and senior vice president for Xfinity Mobile Retail Convergence; and Erin Sarofsky ’98, ’00 MFA, an award-winning creative visionary, discussed how the pandemic opened up the eyes of many industries to the future.

Alexandra McDonald ’22 showcased her experimental film, "Amalgamate," at the Academy Award-qualifying festival, and is set to also display it at Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival April 23.

Accomplished alumni are returning to campus to discuss the future of technology, art, and design as part of the Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival on April 23. The Imagine RIT Futurists Symposium is from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Wegmans Theater, RIT MAGIC Center. It will also be available to watch as a livestream.

Jahaad Shairi, a School of Film and Animation sophomore, has been selected as a 2022 CIEE Frederick Douglass Global Fellow—an honor awarding him a full scholarship to represent RIT at a four-week leadership program for students of color that is set in Ireland and focused on peace, social justice, and conflict resolution.

It was a memorable and historic Academy Awards for Hollywood and a number of RIT alumni at the 94th Oscars from Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre.

Animation Career Review has again named RIT one of the top game design universities in the country. RIT ranked No. 5 on the list of Top 50 Game Design Schools and Colleges in the U.S. and No. 2 in New York state.