A group of SCA students gather in a movie theater. You know the vibe.
Style filled the room as students sat shoulder-to-shoulder in their best wardrobe at The Ray Stark Family Theatre in USC’s George Lucas Building. The crowd of nearly 200 students buzzed with more anticipation than they would for your typical on-campus screening.
Here, they weren’t waiting for a film to start rolling or a Q&A to begin. When they left the room, there would be nothing to log on Letterboxd.
Tonight, they were the stars.
On April 3, the School of Cinematic Arts hosted First Look 2025, an annual ceremony dedicated to awarding and recognizing exemplary films by USC students. Nominated films spanned style and form, with entries from animation, comedy, documentary, drama, genre and social change categories. Nominations included Outstanding Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design, Screenwriting and Sound Design.
“We are excited to showcase our emerging filmmakers,” said Bonnie Chi, Assistant Dean of Industry Relations at USC.
Sandrine Cassidy, Senior Director of Festivals, Distribution and Talent Development at USC, hosted First Look 2025. Cassidy started with SCA 27 years ago; alongside Chi, she helped build the Office of Industry Relations, which runs the annual ceremony.
“Every year, it’s exciting,” Cassidy said. “It’s a new slate of films and a new slate of filmmakers.”
Cassidy appreciates the breadth of films recognized at the awards show — ambitious technical achievements competing alongside straightforward, heartfelt projects. Movies are awarded in various categories by two distinct bodies: faculty members and an industry jury.
“It’s an opportunity for them to be together in the same room across different divisions and cohorts,” Cassidy said. “Being recognized from your faculty, from the industry, that is not a grade. It’s so fantastic. And it’s great to be awarded at a festival, but this is kind of like your peers, you know? Your home.”
Jaden Esse, a student in his final year of the Film and Television Production MFA program, served as the first AD on “No Loose Ends.” The neo-noir film follows a perilous encounter shared by a waitress and a Bible salesman late at night in a small-town diner.
“The arts are tough,” Esse said. “You’re always working on different projects. You’re always scattered all over the place. So I’m just happy to be here, to not only celebrate ‘No Loose Ends,’ but everyone else’s hard work.”
Esse and his peers developed the film as part of the CTPR 546 course, Advanced Production Graduate. “No Loose Ends” received the Outstanding Screenwriting award and was nominated alongside six other films in the Best Genre category.
“It’s a very collaborative process,” Esse said. “There were a lot of people with really good energy.”
This collaboration lies at the heart of First Look. With each award distributed, a wave of applause and cheers of “Woo!” filled the room. “You will work with each other for the rest of your lives,” SCA Dean Elizabeth Daley told the students at the start of the ceremony.
Many of the students present worked on multiple projects recognized at the ceremony. Caileigh Gold, a May 2024 graduate of the MFA production program, served as director of photography for both “Death Doula” and “Many Thousands Lost.” Gold won Outstanding Cinematography for the latter.
“I met both of the directors in a class called 546, which is a narrative production class here,” Gold said. “They both sent me their scripts, and I loved them.”
Gold shot the two films nearly back-to-back. Despite the heavy workload this created, she said the artistic gratification she gets from filmmaking outweighs its burdens.
“Emotional storytelling is the most important thing. Cinematography can just be camera and lighting, but how do you put those elements and infuse them into the story to help tell a better story?” Gold said. “My favorite thing to do is be on set.”
Gold wasn’t always interested in cinematography. When pursuing film in undergrad, she took on multiple roles including directing. It wasn’t until she came to USC for graduate school that adjunct assistant professor Jeremy Royce encouraged her abilities as a director of photography (DP). As a DP, Gold builds upon skills she first began developing as a still photographer in high school.
Now, First Look has recognized the progression of her talents.
“We shot [’Many Thousands Lost’] on these gorgeous vistas in Malibu. We shot in a real-life juvenile detention center,” Gold said. “This film in particular is my favorite thing I’ve ever shot. It means a lot to me, and we just put a lot of heart in this project. I’m very proud to be a part of it.”
Like Esse, Gold valued the opportunity to reunite with her peers and celebrate their hard work before leaving USC.
“I know that these are the people I’m gonna be working with for the rest of my career, and it’s very important to me that I am in contact with all of them and getting to see everybody tonight. It’s just very inspiring to see people win awards,” Gold said. “I haven’t been nominated for much in my life, but it means a lot to be recognized by the faculty because they’ve all become huge champions of me and are ushering me into my career now.”
The night concluded with two special awards: the First Look Pitch & Panel Panavision Award and the Focus Features Best Film Award.
Over 30 pitches were entered in the competition for the First Look Pitch & Panel Panavision Award, with students submitting their best ideas for projects they hope to film in the near future. A panel of judges heard students present a narrowed-down list of five pitches, with one selected for the grand prize at the First Look ceremony that night.
“The pitch that won was chosen for its story, its originality, its team, its vision and its producibility,” said O’Shea’' Myles, SCA Industry Relations’ Career Services & Film Festival Coordinator, in a speech during the event.
Less than 12 hours earlier, third-year Film and Television Production MFA Daniel Roman stood before the panel. Here, he pitched “Vermont,” a project he planned to film over the summer of 2026. The crowd roared as both “Vermont” and Roman’s names were called.
“It’s about three LAUSD eighth graders growing up in an increasingly gentrified South Central LA,” Roman said. “One of the kids loses his dad’s guitar, which was the only material thing he brought with him when he immigrated from El Salvador, so the story is just them over the course of one day trying to track it down, and it takes them through the different neighborhoods of LA.”
The film derives its name from Vermont Ave., where Roman said the entirety of the film will take place.
“It cuts through South Central, West Adams, Pico Union and Los Feliz, and it’s also the place of the Salvadoran Street Market, which is one of the biggest street markets here,” he said. “A very important part of the culture of Latino immigrants in LA is street vending so that market is kind of the heart of the story.”
Roman expressed surprise and gratitude for the award, which comes with a $60,000 grant from Panavision for camera rentals to produce the film. An introvert, he worked hard to memorize his pitch so he could convey the strength of the story without having to wing it on the day.
“I felt good during, but before I was definitely very anxious,” Roman said. “Thankfully, I got through it without missing anything or forgetting anything.”
Aaron Saffa, manager of the New Filmmaker Program at Panavision, presented Roman with the award. Despite this involvement, Saffa noted that he and Panavision do not themselves decide the grant’s recipient.
“We very much trust O’Shea” and the team here behind first look to make all those decisions on their own. We just support the program, support them and the amazing work they’re doing,” Saffa said. “I work with USC in any way I can. There’s obviously tremendous talent in this school.”
Before he presented the award, Saffa told the crowd, “I look forward to working with all of you for many years to come.” In an interview, he remarked that there’s a degree of self-interest from Panavision in supporting USC’s emergent talent.
“We help people, and therefore it ends up helping us,” Saffa said. “When all of these amazing filmmakers, cinematographers and directors and whatnot get out into the world, they know that Panavision is their home and they’re working with us for the rest of their career.”
Though only one pitch received the $60,000 prize at First Look, Saffa encouraged students to pursue Panavision’s ongoing grant programs as another potential avenue for support.
“I was a producer myself, and I definitely know firsthand that filmmaking is an extremely difficult process. You have to have a tremendous amount of passion, enthusiasm and drive to make any of this happen, and it can oftentimes be a very discouraging and lonely process,” Saffa said. “Any format where we get to show and celebrate independent cinema, people who are doing what it takes to make these films, I think, is fantastic.”
Marisa Messina, a creative executive at Focus Features, presented the night’s final award. A volunteer panel from various departments across Focus viewed the slate submitted for the Focus Feature Best Film Award.
“At least five people watched each one and then narrowed it down to a final winner,” Messina said. “They were all so amazing that we had a hard time, actually.”
Messina announced the team behind the comedy “Royal Foot Guards” as the recipients of the top prize.
“I’m very moved. I’m very honored,” said Pranay Mathur, director of “Royal Foot Guards.” “We just had a great celebration with our team. I think we were all really shocked, but also so thankful. I’m at a loss for words, really.”
Mathur, a senior in the Film and Television Production BFA program, spent the summer devising an approach to the film — its storyboards, style, feel. When his team assembled in August, they hit the ground running.
“We had a lot of daunting tasks. We had to build a grunge basement, we had to build Buckingham Palace,” Mathur said. “I couldn’t have done it without my team. They were relentless, so was I, and we made something we’re really proud of. It was a lot, but we made something we’re really proud of.”
“Royal Foot Guards” received nominations for Outstanding Directing, Outstanding Producing and Best Comedy. Mathur took home the prize for Outstanding Directing, while Billy Tsiolis and Joe Grode received first runner-up in Outstanding Producing. “Royal Foot Guards” also received first runner-up in Best Comedy.
The comedy film follows Chester Popplestone, a relentlessly cheery man forced to suppress his nature as he strives to become a Royal Foot Guard at Buckingham Palace. “Royal Foot Guards” was developed at USC as part of Advanced Production Undergraduate (CTPR 480).
Mathur cited a number of comic influences that drove him through the film’s production — the kinetic flair of Edgar Wright, the visual language of Wes Anderson and the deadpan humor of Taika Waititi, to name a few.
With the Focus Features Best Film Award, Mathur and his team earned a $10,000 grant and a meeting with Focus executives.
“It’s motivation, really. I’ve always wanted to make films, and this award means a lot,” Mathur said. “It means I’m doing something right, so I just want to keep doing things right, keep going on and make content that people really connect with.”
Messina said students like Mathur should get used to having their names called at ceremonies like this.
“USC has a good track record of filmmakers going on to have very long careers,” she said. “To get a little taste of it now while you’re still at USC, it’s just good practice for lots of awards that they’re gonna win in the future.”
A full list of awards at First Look 2025 can be found below.
Faculty Awards
Outstanding Cinematography
Narrative Fiction Winner: “Many Thousands Lost,” Caileigh Gold
1st Runner-Up: “Goodbye Stranger,” Ziqi Yang
2nd Runner-Up: “Barbie Boy,” Devon Johns
Documentary Winner: “La Linea,” Abel Guan
1st Runner-Up: “Boil That Cabbage Down,” Thom Kristensen
Outstanding Directing
Winner: “Royal Foot Guards,” Pranay Mathur
1st Runner-Up: “Neither Donkey Nor Horse,” Robin Wang
2nd Runner-Up: “Barbie Boy,” Remi Gabriel
Outstanding Editing
Winner: “Neither Donkey Nor Horse,” Ted Beck & Avo John Kambourian
1st Runner-Up: “Last Words,” Aric Lopez
2nd Runner-Up: “Dear Mr. Hitman,” Aanchal Ramchandani & Divyansh Singh
Outstanding Producing
Winner: “Silence = Death,” Kate Hanson & Adetola Omilana
1st Runner-Up: “Royal Foot Guards,” Billy Tsiolis & Joe Grode
2nd Runner-Up: “Neither Donkey Nor Horse,” Robin Wang, Jesse Aultman, Aslan Dalgic, Chirsten Vanderbilt Ellis, Lilith Mo
Outstanding Production Design
Winner: “Model Citizen,” Jackson Dahl
1st Runner-Up: “Barbie Boy,” Melissa Housos
2nd Runner-Up: “Ava,” Kalina Kirkbridge
Outstanding Screenwriting
Winner: “No Loose Ends,” Neil Zafar Haeems
1st Runner-Up: “Curtains,” Joanna Fernandez
2nd Runners-Up: “Barbie Boy,” Remi Gabriel and “Hand-Me-Downs,” Megan Dang
Outstanding Sound
Winners: “Starting Line,” Yorkson Yuxuan Liu & “Model Citizen,” Vincent Essid
1st Runner-Up: “M87,” Jacob Piller & Su Lee
2nd Runner-Up: – “AVA,” Wellesley Wellesley Mobasser & Hector Martinez
Industry Awards
Best Animation
Winner: “WILD ANIMAL”
1st Runner-Up: “OROBORO”
2nd Runner-Up: “Flowers for Mom”
Best Comedy
Winner: “Curtains”
1st Runner-Up: “Royal Foot Guards”
2nd Runner-Up: “Last Words”
Best Drama
Winner: “Neither Donkey Nor Horse”
1st Runner-Up: “Trife”
2nd Runner-Up: “Mr. Floof”
Best Documentary
Winner: “Talk Straight, Duda”
1st Runner-Up: “A Good Death”
2nd Runner-Up: “La Linea”
Best Social Change
Winner: “Many Thousands Lost”
1st Runner-Up: “Silence = Death”
2nd Runner-Up: “NENA”
Best Genre
Winner: “THE THINGS WE KEEP”
1st Runner-Up: “Model Citizen”
2nd Runner-Up: “Death Doula”
First Look Pitch & Panel Panavision Best Pitch Award
Winner: “Vermont” by Daniel Roman
Focus Features Best Film Award
Winner: “Royal Foot Guards”