USC Wonderland Award

Alexander Aprahamian

2018
2nd Prize
Major: Film and TV Production
Masters Student

Film

Melanie Wagor

2007
4th Prize
Major: Cinema Film, Production
Junior

Film

Alanna Hanson

2012
Major: Cinematic Arts, Production

Film

Jonathan Petermann

2017
Graduate Student
Major: Film Production

Film

David Server

2006
4th Prize
Major: Cinema & Television (Critical Studies)
Senior

Film

Monica Dadlani

2013
Major: Acting; Cinematic Arts
Freshman

Film

Leah Sargent

2009
White Rabbit Prize
Major: Cinematic Arts
Senior

Film

Nina Kharazmi

2016

Film

A surrealist portrayal of a young adult’s struggle in search of truth beyond the realm of her preconceived reality

As human beings age, they become increasingly constrained by the social world. Innocence and curiosity from childhood escapes, as our understanding of reality becomes solidified over time. At a point of transition in life, many people find themselves questioning their purpose. This is especially true of young adults, moving from the role of a dependent student to the professional arena. Who am I? What should I be doing? What will I become? These questions are often answered with a false sense of certainty and limited within supposed normalcy.

This film presents these concerns through surrealist experiences of a young adult in an urban setting. The story begins by presenting a world void of color. This black and white realm is symbolic of the preconceived notions of the world based on our own knowledge and experiences. In this universe, everything has a place and manner of being. Additionally, people move very quickly, representing the idea that we are always running out of time. As a result, people are forever chasing the future while forgetting to be present within the moment.

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Issac Hagy

2005
Major: Cinema & Television, Critical Studies
Junior

Film

Lindsay Trapnell, Writer and  Director
Jeff Chen, Photographer and Editor

2005
Major: Cinema & Television, Production
Sophomore

Film

Melanie Wagor

2008
Major: Cinema Television Production
Senior

Film

Jonathan Jimin Hong

2010
East Asian Area Studies major, Cinematic Arts minor
Senior

Phantasmagoria lives up to its name in both form and content. While one side is a series of shifting sounds, dissolving composition, and superimposing images to depict the nostalgia and ghostly pasts that never occurred, the other is a portmanteau world, a blend of two types of plots: a segment of an East Asian film and a larger adaptation of Lewis Carroll's prose on ghosts. Separated into three Cantos—“The Trysting”, “Hys Nouryture”, and “Sad Souvenance”—and only using the stills of three contemporary movies from China, Japan, and Korea, Hong imitates and recreates a digitalized version of Carroll's “Phantasmagoria” through an East Asian point of view. By altering the original meaning with newly composed subtitles, the dialogue one experiences is in a way perverted yet reimagined in the psycholinguistic spirit of Carroll.

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Nadia Nikolic

2008
Major: Cinema Production
Graduate Student

Film

Adam Williams

2007

Film

Christina Wolfgram

2013
Major: Professional Writing
Masters Student

Film

Click to view artist statement.