National YoungArts Foundation Announces 171 Finalists Will Participate in YoungArts Week in Miami, Florida.
Weston, FL (PRWEB) January 14, 2014 -- Lance Oppenheim, a Pine Crest School senior, has been selected as National YoungArts Foundation Finalist in the Cinematic Arts. Out of approximately 11,000 applications from students in ten disciplines across the country.
Oppenheim is recognized for his outstanding work and accomplishments as an award winning filmaker. His works have been screened at 38 international film festivals and have won awards at 15 festivals. Of 687 Winners from 46 states, 171 Finalists from across the nation will come together for the 33rd annual YoungArts Week in Miami from January 6-12, 2014.
"I am unbelieveably honored to have been featured alongside hundreds of my generation's top creative minds," stated Oppenheim.
Oppenheim's most recent short film entitled, "quicksand" received widespread attention after being selected as a "Vimeo Staff Pick" and "Short of the Week" and subsequently broadcasted nationally by PBS this past Fall.
In the short-film documentary "quicksand," Oppenheim weaves together his late grandfather’s long-forgotten 8mm film reels with present-day interview footage, which chronicles his grandfather's noble attempt to grapple with the late stages of Alzheimer’s, while desperately struggling to recapture forgotten memories.
“Motivated by my grandfather’s unfulfilled dreams of filmmaking, I decided to piece together a film that he had already unwittingly made,” said Oppenheim, whose grandfather passed away last year. “It was my grandfather’s dream to make films. If he was still here with me today we both would be sharing this surreal moment.”
During YoungArts Week, Finalists will participate in a week of intense master classes and workshops with internationally renowned artists such as Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Irving Sandler, Rita Moreno, Andrew Rannells, Shelly Berg, Shalita Grant, Lourdes Lopez, and Judith Hill to name a few. Throughout the week, Finalist’s work will be further adjudicated to determine additional award levels including a monetary award of at least $1,000, with top-level awardees receiving $10,000. Students will also have the opportunity to share their work with the public through performances and film screenings at the New World Center; and on the YoungArts campus. YoungArts Week performances will be livestreamed on youngarts.org.
On Sunday, January 12, YoungArts Week will conclude with world-renowned architect and YoungArts Artistic Advisor Frank Gehry, who is designing the master plan for the YoungArts campus, participating in a discussion at the YoungArts campus entitled, Design Now + Design Futures with Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator and Director of Research and Design, Department of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid.
YoungArts is the exclusive nominating agency for the U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts, the highest honor that can be awarded to any artistically talented graduating high school senior. Every year YoungArts nominates 60 YoungArts Winners to the White House appointed Commission on Presidential Scholars, 20 of whom are then selected to become U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts.
About Lance Oppenheim
Born and raised in South Florida, Lance is an award-winning-17-year-old filmmaker. Lance has directed, edited, and produced three well-recognized short films that have ignited serious discourse online, in high-schools, college classrooms, and leadership programs across the country, as well as at both national and international film festivals, on The White House official blog, and on national public television. A number of Lance's films have been commissioned by various national, non-profit organizations, including frequent collaborator,The Opp-Guide to Community Service where Lance serves as the President helping youths find and locate service learning opportunities. During his summers, Lance has worked for The Weinstein Company and Hasbro/Universal Studios in Los Angeles and has collaborated on various independent projects.
About the National YoungArts Foundation
The National YoungArts Foundation (formerly known as the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts) was established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison to identify and nurture the next generation of artists in the literary, performing, visual and design arts, and to contribute to the cultural vitality of the nation by supporting the artistic development of talented young artists.
To date, YoungArts has honored more than 17,000 young artists with over $6 million in monetary awards and facilitated in excess of $150 million in college scholarship opportunities.
Some of YoungArts’ work is featured in its Emmy nominated HBO series YoungArts MasterClass, which chronicles the work of renowned artists sharing their art and life experiences with YoungArts Winners. Artists such as Edward Albee, Frank Gehry, Bill T. Jones, Julian Schnabel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Liv Ullmann, Renée Fleming, Kathleen Turner, Bruce Weber, Alan Alda, Josh Groban, Joshua Bell, and Robert Redford have or will appear in the series.
Lance Oppenheim, Lance Oppenheim Films, http://lanceoppenheim.com, 954-384-6114, [email protected]
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