Every Friday is an opportunity to focus on an aspect of Dodge College. This Friday the focus is on alumni and the work they are doing.

If there is something you’d like to have included please feel free to email Jon Hernandez, Alumni Relations Coordinator, at jonherna@chapman.edu or fill out the online form.

Justin Riley

Justin Riley (BFA/TBJ ’11) has started a new organization called Purpose Over Profit. They focus on encouraging anyone who will listen, to find and pursue their true self

Ela Alyamac’s (BFA/FTP ’00) feature film Lost Birds has been added to Amazon Prime for distribution. Lost Birds is about an Armenian Village in 1915. Redo and Maryam return from their secret dovecote only to find an empty house and a ghost village. The children embark on a journey to search for their mother, along with their bird Bacik.

 

DJ Dodd (MFA/FTP ’12) will be announcing distribution news soon on his feature Warning Shot starring David Spade, James Earl Jones, and Bruce Dern. He’s currently in post on River Runs Red starring John Cusack, Taye Diggs, Luke Hemsworth, and George Lopez and Supercon starring John Malkovich, Maggie Grace, Mike Epps, and Ryan Kwanten. DJ is currently in production on The Winemaker’s Son starring Richard Dreyfuss and Joe Pantoliano. He’s set to produce Supreme Ruler in July starring Juliette Lewis, Tom Berenger, Anthony Anderson, and Garrett Dillahunt.

John Swetnam’s (MFA/SW ’05) spec script Invasion has been picked up by Blumhouse. The thriller revolves around a home invasion that happens during an alien invasion.

Madison Wade (BFA/TBJ ’16) has accepted a new role with ABC10 in Sacramento, CA as the weekend evening anchor and reporter.

Rachel Skidmore (MFA/FTP ’10) will have the New York premier of the VR experience Dinner Party at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.

Justin Simien

Justin Simien (BFA/FTP ’05) will be speaking at the Producers Guild of America’s “Produced By”, held in June 2018.

Kyle Higgins (BFA/FP ’08), New York Times Best Seller, will screen his short The Shadow Hours at WonderCon 2018 on March 25th. The short will then be exclusively available on IGN.com, Monday, March 26th. The short is about twin brothers who were born with a mysterious condition where one brother must be asleep for the other to be awake. They pose as a single person in their waking hours and are successful private investigators.

Cameron Kelly (BFA/SCAC ’15) will appear on We Need to Talk, a new show that will start on the new streaming service Facebook Watch. She will also be in a Lifetime Movie, Healing Hands. 

Branislav “Bruno” Tatalovic (MFA/FTP ’09) has established a new film festival called KinoDrome featuring short-form content. The festival is designed for newly established film artists and film students, seeking their first public show and festival exposure.

*Video of Kyle Higgin’s, The Shadow Hours