Accomplishments of Cinema Studies Students
Current students in the program: To be included in this section, email: cinema@rci.rutgers.edu Rutgers alumni who studied with CS faculty members: KAAMIL ALI graduated from Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences with a major in Philosophy and a minor in Cinema Studies. He also doubled majored with the School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies, earning a degree in Communication. In the near future, he plans on working in public relations while attending film school at NYU. He has made several one minute films regarding film theory, a twenty minute film about the controversial issue of marijuana legalization, and plans on making several more short films revolving around controversial topics such as prejudice and racism, heroism in war, and censorship. CHRIS CRAM graduated from Rutgers College in 1999. Through John Belton’s screenwriting class (while still a student), Chris got a job as a production assistant working for Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier on Chasing Amy. He went on to work on a number of feature films and projects, eventually specializing in visual effects. Since 2007, Chris has worked as a studio executive for Universal in Los Angeles. While there, he also earned an MBA from Babson College. He is currently Vice President of Visual Effects for Universal, overseeing effects for feature films through all phases of development, production and post. He has worked closely with many filmmakers including Guillermo del Toro, Edgar Wright, Tony Gilroy, Sam Mendes, M. Night Shyamalan, Brett Ratner, and Judd Apatow. JAMES FAZZARO graduated from Rutgers College in 1997 with a Major in Biology and a Minor in Cinema Studies. While supporting himself with laboratory work he has developed and executed several independent short film and video projects while honing his skills as a cinematographer and editor. He has shot and edited numerous projects for other directors in the New Jersey and New York city area. In 2004 he received a Certificate for Cinematography from NYU SCPS after taking their immersive hands on courses.Currently James is preparing to transition into freelance cinematography and videography full time. He is putting together a reel of Super 8, 16/S16 and SD/HD video he has compiled over the last 12 years while continuing to amass more short film and event video credits. Recently he has teamed up with local producer James Morgart to form the Morgue-Art Productions LLC Company, with several shorts on the immediate horizon and the feature film Won Ton Baby to go in production for summer 2009. PAUL ANDRE FONAREV graduated from Rutgers College as an Edward J. Bloustein Distinguished Scholar in 2003. He continued in the USC School of Cinematic Arts, graduating in 2008 with an MFA in Film Production and a USC Annenberg Fellowship. Paul has edited and done sound work on numerous short films, two of which received Student Academy Awards in 2008. He currently works on independent feature films, commercials and short films as a sound editor and production sound mixer through his own company MISO Sound.The two Academy Award winners are "Pit Stop" and "A Day's Work." "Have You Ever Heard About Vukovar?" played at Tribeca Film Festival. Some of the other shorts that Paul worked on were "Tully and Elsa," "Cheerbleeders," "Coons" and "The Restorationists." The feature that Paul did some production sound on was called I Am Bad. NICOLLE K. GALLO Nicolle Gallo graduated from Rutgers with a minor in Cinema Studies in 2009. She spent the summers of 2007 and 2008 interning at ABC in Manhattan for the daytime soap opera "One Life to Live". She interned in production in 2007, and in the writing department in 2008. While there she contributed to several montages, including ones for the 2008 Daytime Emmy Awards. She also aided the writers, assisted the producers, and rehearsed lines with actors. Nicolle has a page on imdb as a result of her internship. LEA KOUSSOULIS graduated from Rutgers College in 2003. In her senior year at Rutgers she worked at Miramax Films in Production Finance and New Media & Marketing. She went on to take additional film classes at the School of Visual Arts in New York where she completed her own short film. Since then she has served as a freelance Production Coordinator on various independent film projects and has remained active in the film community. She regularly serves as a judge in the NJ Film Festival. Currently, Lea is a professional in the cosmetics industry working for L'Oreal. She is a graduate student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York specializing in Cosmetics & Fragrance Marketing and Management. She looks forward to applying her film and arts background to creative product development. MICHAEL LACANILAO graduated from Rutgers College in 2005 with a major in Philosophy and minor in Cinema Studies. In 2007, he received his MA in Philosophy from the University of Rochester. He has been studying at the Rochester Institute of Technology since 2008, supporting himself through scholarships, the occasional teaching job, as well as directing short films and commercials. In 2012, one of his promotional spots for the Little Theatre won ADDY awards at the local and district levels and is currently a national finalist. At the moment, he is completing his MFA thesis, a film about undocumented immigrant students who grew up in the United States but find themselves swimming countercurrent to a system that is forcing them to return to home countries they know nothing about. Samples of work: www.vimeo.com/hydrogliphix JESSICA LIPMAN graduated from Rutgers in 2008 with a major in English and double minor in Cinema Studies and Comparative Literature. During her junior and senior year, she was a contributing writer and Vice President for The Rutgers Review, the university's alternative arts and entertainment biweekly newspaper. She contributed articles about film culture, with topics ranging from actor highlights to film comparisons. In April of 2007, she volunteered for Tribeca Film Festival, working in the Panels Department. Her involvement in the planning department for the Tribeca Talks and ASCAP music events allowed her to gain experience with film event planning, publicity, and acquisitions. Then, during the summer of 2007, she interned at New Line Cinema and HBO's Picturehouse, gaining experience in the Publicity Department and General Office. Jessica begain making her own films at Rutgers University in the newly introduced Writers House courses. Jessica is currently a video editor for the Rutgers English Department. KEN RODGERS graduated from Rutgers as a Henry Rutgers Scholar in 1996 and went on to the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California. He earned a Master of Fine Arts Degree from the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program in 1998. He spent two years working on script development with the production companies of director Oliver Stone and actor/director George Clooney. Ken has also taught screenwriting at Rutgers. Since 2001, Ken has been a Senior Producer for NFL Films, where he has created content for dozens of channels, including HBO, ABC, CBS, NBC, ESPN, FOX, A&E and the History Channel. He has produced NFL Films Presents (ESPN), Biography (A&E), Inside the NFL (HBO), Monday Night Football, and the Sports Emmy Award-winning Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Kansas City Chiefs (HBO). Ken has also directed the "I'm going to Disney World!" commercial campaign featuring Super Bowl champions. GREG SATZ graduated from the Rutgers Business School in 2009 with a major in marketing and a minor in cinema studies. Throughout his stay at Rutgers he has been actively involved in The Screenwriters Community of RU (SCRU) and Knight Time Productions (KTP). Becoming the president of SCRU and the treasurer of KTP has enabled Greg to continue the wonderful tradition of holding student film showcases every semester so that members of these clubs and the general public get the chance to see their creative works displayed on the big screen with a large supportive audience. In the future Greg plans to combine his love of cinema studies with his background in business to work for a marketing department in the television or film industry. He also intends to continue doing what he loves the most: writing and filming movies with friends and enjoying great films at theaters. JASON SCHARCH is a Senior in the School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program. He is a double major in Journalism and Media Studies and Visual Arts, a minor in Cinema Studies, and currently works as a Video Assistant and Marketing Intern for the Rutgers University Scarlet Knights football team. His past work experience includes interning for AOL Studios as a Production Intern, working for Rutgers University Television Network as the Public Affairs Manager, and producing promotional video material for the international organization ACM SIGGRAPH. Jason is the recipient of the 2009 and 2010 Flip Wilson Memorial Scholarship, the School of Arts and Sciences Academic Excellence Award, a National Finalist in the 2007 Video Product Development competition for SkillsUSA, and a Northern Regional Grand Finale contestant in the 2010 Campus MovieFest competition. He hopes to become a producer in the film or television industry, and plans on beginning work on that dream in May of 2011, when he will be graduating. JAMIE SHUALI graduated from Rutgers in 2004 with a Bachelors of Arts in English Literature and a minor in Cinema Studies. She has since been working on feature film and television sets in New York including Shortbus, The Devil Wears Prada, The Bourne Ultimatum, American Gangster, Law & Order and Noise. Jamie has also worked as an assistant to actors such as Nick Nolte, Jon Voight and Emmanuel Beart. Jamie has written and directed several short films including "Nihilists" (2004) and "Legume" (2005) which have screened at multiple festivals around the U.S. In early 2008, she wrapped up a horror short that she directed entitled "The Legend of Suzi" and is currently overseeing post production on a dramatic short entitled "Love Harriet" which she wrote and directed. Currently, she resides in Jersey City.