The film “Fathead,” produced by the Entertainment Technology Center@USC, continues to garner recognition. Nominated earlier this year for a NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Short Film (Live Action) category, the film was most recently included in The American Pavilion’s Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival. “Fathead” — directed by c. Craig Patterson and produced by Erik Weaver, ETC’s director of adaptive production — was featured among 38 short films in the Showcase at Cannes and was announced winner in the Student Short Film category.

“Fathead” was shot at the new Amazon Stage 15 in Culver City as an experiment in virtual production, in-camera VFX and collaborative, cloud-based workflows. The project was co-produced by AWS, Amazon Studios with partners including Arch Platform Technologies, ARRI, Blackmagic, Epic Games, Perforce, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros.

The action/fantasy film’s trailer is available on Vimeo. The description posted on The American Pavilion’s page for finalists in the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase: When one of the last free children of Junkyard Paradise has her brother stolen away from her, no Ragamuffin army or vicious beasts will stop her from getting him back.

USC was also recognized in the Student Documentary category of the Emerging Filmmaker Showcase. Director Josh Greene won for “Waves Apart” (from The American Pavilion: What happens when your passion conflicts with your heritage? A Jewish surfer confronts the dark, antisemitic history of the sport he once loved.) The film’s trailer is available on YouTube.

Related:
ETC Releases Next Section of Virtual Production White Paper, ETCentric, 3/10/23
‘Fathead:’ Virtual Production (Almost) Completely in the Cloud, NAB Amplify, 2/20/23
ETC Releases First Section of Virtual Production White Paper, ETCentric, 2/14/23
Panelists Evaluate Challenges, Benefits of Virtual Production, ETCentric, 2/6/23
ETC Short Film ‘Fathead’ Is Nominee for NAACP Image Award, ETCentric, 1/20/23
‘Fathead’ Case Study: HPA Analyzes Color Grading in Cloud, ETCentric, 6/21/22
‘Fathead’ Team Explores Virtual Production During NAB Panel, ETCentric, 5/26/22
ETC Pushes Boundaries of Virtual Production with ‘Fathead’, ETCentric, 3/2/22
vETC to Discuss Virtual Production During SIGGRAPH, ETCentric, 8/4/22