Sept. 13, 2002
INFORMATION: Sue Bozman or John McElwain, (661) 362-3415 or 3494

Animation Professor Wins Two Awards in New Orleans Film Festival

College of the Canyons Animation Professor Sheila Sofian has won two prestigious awards in the 2002 New Orleans Film Festival. Her film, “A Conversation with Haris,” won the grand prize and the best animated film award.

“A Conversation with Haris” is a painting-on-glass animated film that describes an 11-year-old Bosnian boy’s personal experiences with war. Sofian’s film is one of some 500 that were submitted for the 14th-annual festival, which gets under way Oct. 10.

Sofian, who also serves as chair of the college’s Animation Department, is no stranger to recognition. Both “A Conversation with Haris” and “Survivors,” an experimental documentary animation about domestic violence, have received past awards.

Additionally, Sofian was recently awarded a coveted Guggenheim Fellowship for “Truth Has Fallen,” an ongoing feature-length film project about James McCloskey and his crusade to free from incarceration people wrongly convicted of capital crimes.

Sofian studied at The United World College of South East Asia in Singapore and Old Dominion University in Virginia before receiving her bachelor-of-arts degree in film animation from the Rhode Island School of Design. She completed her master of fine arts at California Institute of the Arts. Her work has been used in a wide range of media ­ from feature films to television series to Internet sites.