9th Annual Adam D. Kamil Media Awards

May 23, 2019, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Adam. D. Kamil Gallery, Mandeville Center, UC San Diego

The Kamil family, Department of Visual Arts, and School of Arts and Humanities at UC San Diego invite you to the 9th Annual Adam D. Kamil Media Awards Reception. Please join us for an evening of film and creativity to honor the memory of Adam Douglas Kamil and showcase the talent of undergraduate UC San Diego students.

The Adam D. Kamil Media Awards were developed to help UC San Diego undergraduates polish their skills in film production and to help them realize their creative potential in this field. Adam was a UC San Diego, Visual Arts Media major with a passion for the power of media to connect people. To honor the memory of their son, who passed away in December 2009, the Kamil family has established the Adam D. Kamil Media Awards. The awards consist of a grand prize of $2000 and two finalist prizes of $1000 each.

“We hope that through this award, Adam’s creative spirit will inspire others to develop their talents and to grow as sympathetic and sensitive individuals,” stated Elaine Kamil.

All media submissions will be displayed during the week in the Adam D. Kamil Gallery within the Visual Arts Department. The gallery show will culminate with a recognition ceremony and reception. Winners will be announced at this time and the event will include a screening of the selected project.

Adam D. Kamil Media Awards Exhibition

May 21, 12-3 p.m.
May 22, 12-3 p.m.
May 23, 1-2:45 p.m.
Adam. D. Kamil Gallery, Mandeville Center, UC San Diego
Free and Open to the Public

Undergraduate students from all majors submit their films to be evaluated by a committee of visual arts faculty and graduate students. In January 2014, the Kamil Family endowed the award and in recognition of this contribution, the department has named the Mandeville Annex Gallery as the Adam D. Kamil Gallery. This gallery is a site for undergraduate art shows and hosts the annual reception and exhibition for students that participate in the Adam D. Kamil Media Awards.

Grand Prize Winner: Julio Diaz, ROUNergy: You're Valuable

A newly hired employee at ROUNergy has recently acquired his orientation video which goes over the job’s description and company values. In this film the protagonist finds himself with an urge to escape the realities of a highly structured repetitive corporate structure. –Julio Diaz

Runner Up: Yinxi Li, DONE.

My animation is about after a teenage girl is raped by her teacher, how her inner world changed. Acquaintance rape has become a severe social problem right now. Sometimes, teenage girls or boys have no idea how to protect themselves. Moreover, when the sexual harassment happened to them, they are too scary to ask for help. I hope the tension of my video can make people think about how to protect their children effectively. –Yinxi Li

Runner Up: Weihan Jiang, Rooted

The film starts with the eucalyptus groves that were planted in La Jolla region 100 years ago, where now the UCSD campus resides on. Although the trees have become the signature of UCSD campus, they are not native species of California. In a remote area in China, the migrants in a declined weapon factory follow a similar path of eucalyptus trees. The relative ephemerality of their presence contrasts with the long-term impact they had on the regional culture and infrastructure. It’s a story told by the filmmaker, the fictional fisherman in an ancient Chinese tale, and millions of migrants that are gradually phased out in the modernization of China. –Weihan Jiang

2019 Submissions:

Another Place - Kenji Bennett
Black Water, White Noise - Olivia Ho, Nicole Mendez, Yuwei Zhang
Call Drops - Albert Rincon
DONE. - Yinxi Liu
Hydracora - Carmen Sierra
Inolvidable - Karina Magdaleno
Jane - Haoyuan Li
Lifting the Veil - Somaly Son, Nalani Tran
Living - Electra Martin
Love Is - Justin McHugh
Murder of June - Wai Lam Cheung
Novena - Nolan Valerio
Po Xiao - Yuchen Ji, Hui Jing, Jing Wang
Postcards from Rialto - Emanuel C. Castro
Rainbow Thoughts - Abner Vargas
Rational Displacement - Matt Tang
Rooted - Weihan Jiang
ROUNergy: You're Valuable - Julio Diaz
Shutters and Bows - Zackary Szabo
A Simulation Trailer - Shashi Mostafa
Since Then - Dachan Min
Take Me Fishing - Jon Heskes, Adair Huang, Conrad Jones, Eugenie Juan

Photos by Patrick Hennessey