February 10, 1999 Loyola M a r y m
о
v n t University Volume 77, No. 18
Alumnus Becomes
'Sundance Kid7
■ Film : Tbny Bui’s drama, “Three Seasons,” grabs
three awards at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival,
including the Grand Jury Prize.
States fr^pftgYietnam at the age
of two. He grew up in
Sunnyvale, California and
came to LMU to study film.
Chair of the College of
Communication and Fine Arts
Howard Lavick first met Bui as
a student in a beginning film
class, but he followed Bui
through his time in the depart¬
ment. He said, “His intermedi¬
ate film work, even at that
level, showed a maturity level
much beyond his years. He
had a 360 [the intermediate
film project] that was very
visually strong, and his writing
was always mature.”
When Bui reached the
advanced film level, he traveled
to Vietnam in order to shoot his
film. Having spent some time
there before, he returned to
Vietnam to shoot “Yellow
Lotus,” the short film for his
460 film project. His crew was
partially Vietnamese and par¬
tially from Loyola. He worked
with Lavick and another film
professor, Ian Connor, on the
piece.
Shortly after Bui graduated,
Sundance : A&E, page 11
A Painter’s Life
COURTESY OF VAN GOGH MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM
“Self Portrait with Felt Hat* is among the works displayed in LACMA's
exhibit, “Van Gogh's Van Goghs* See Features, pg. 14 for details.
by Kasey Seymour
Managing Editor
For the second time in two
years, a recent LMU alumnus
has been honored with a major
award in the film industry, as
Tony Bui, *94, swept this year’s
Sundance Film Festival with
his film “Three Seasons.”The
film captured the Grand Jury
Prize, the Audience Award, and
the Cinematography Award on
Saturday Jan. 30. Last March,
Brian Helgoland, who received
his master’s degree in screen¬
writing in ’85, won an Academy
Award for best screenwriting
for the box office hit “LA.
Confidential.”
“Three Seasons” became one
ofthe only films in Sundance
history to take home both the
Grand Jury and the Audience
Awards. Shot in Vietnam, it is
also the first American film to
be shot in Vietnam since the
war, as well as the first to be
acted in Vietnamese by
Vietnamese actors. The film is
presented with some English
subtitles.
Bui came to the United
COURTESY OF OCTOBER FILMS
Tlventy-six-year old Loyola Marymount graduate Tbny Bui on the set of his Sundance Film Festival award winning
film “Three Seasons* shot in Vietnam. The film took ike Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award, and the
Cinematography Award at the recent Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
A Taste of the Classics
■ Alumni Association :
Wine Classic reaps
record profits for
scholarship funds.
by Sharon King
Staff Writer
The LMU Alumni
Association uncorked another
vintage success at the 18th
Annual Wine Classic last
Sunday. A record high atten¬
dance of 1,200 alumni, univer¬
sity supporters and wine afi¬
cionados turned up for the
tasting, which was held in
Gersten Pavilion.
The event gave experts and
beginners alike an opportunity
to sample more than 150
wines from 46 of California’s
best wineries. The proceeds of
the event benefit university
programs, including the Sr.
Remunde McKay, R.S.H.M.
and Fr. Alfred Kilp, S.J.,
scholarships. The Kilp schol¬
arship assists the children of
alumni in attending the uni¬
versity and gaining an LMU
education.
Alma Bachrach, alumni
programs manager, called the
wine classic “One of the best
events organized by LMU
alumni. The event gives atten¬
dants the chance to sample a
number of different wines at
the same«time. If you went
[wine takting] in the Napa val¬
ley, you may only be able to
reach two or three of the
wineries in a day.”
She continued, “The
wineries donate wine, and the
majority of the ticket proceeds
raise money towards universi¬
ty scholarships. The tickets
cost $65, of which $50 dollars
is tax deductible, so a lot of
money is raised.”
Christopher W. Silva, an
LMU alumnus and a represen¬
tative of St. Francis Vineyards
and Winery said, “It is won¬
derful to support the school
and especially through this
event. It is a great opportuni¬
ty to learn more about wine in
the best place to learn.” Mike
Tunaka, an alumnus of the
class of 1987, agreed that the
Wine Classic is “a great way
to support the school and have
fun at the same time.”
Other attendants included
wine aficionados such as
Susan Treptow, who touted
the Wine Classic as “The best
wine tasting event in
Southern California. I’ve been
going for the last ten years
and you bump into the same
people every year.”
The event was founded by
alumnus Art Carroll, a mem¬
ber of the class of 1961. He
devised the idea due to his
“interest in wines since high
school, especially French
wines.” He explained, “When
the French wines became very
expensive in the 70s, I began
to look around the California
wineries and came up with the
idea to put on an event that
could benefit the school.
Ticket sales for the event
started out at approximately
400, and now there are over a
thousand [sold]. The Wine
Classic is now recognized by
the wine community as one of
the best consumer tasting
events in the state.”
Carroll continued, “In the
beginning, the money raised
went to a number of different
events, such as the Special
Olympics, but now [proceeds]
go into university
Classic : page 2