The Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) has named production designer Dawn Snyder as its director of education & special projects, succeeding Casey Bernay. The two are currently working together, creating a smooth transition as Snyder takes over officially today (9/1).
Bernay will stay on in a support role and continues to be involved with the Guild as a member of the board of directors and secretary of the Illustrators and Matte Artists Council.
National executive director Chuck Parker noted, “I am thrilled that Dawn Snyder has agreed to take the reins of the ADG Education Program with her thorough art department background combined with her teaching experience. Casey Bernay blazed the trail for harnessing the power of contract services to provide more than just safety training, to the ultimate benefit of not only just Local 800 members, but members of other West Coast locals as well. As Casey moves towards retirement, a seamless transition with Dawn is in the works and the winners will be the members of Local 800 for years to come.”
Snyder said, “After 38 years doing my dream job (as set designer, art director and production designer), I find myself fortunate enough to be able to help craft a program that will educate, strengthen skills, and encourage both current and future members of the Art Directors Guild to succeed in their dream jobs.”
She paid tribute to Bernay for her successful years in the position. The Art Directors Guild has developed, through Bernay, a robust education program which enables members to receive training and develop additional skills related to their work.
Snyder is best known as a TV production designer on shows such as Arrested Development, for which she won an Art Directors Guild Award. Other shows include Rush Hour, Imaginary Mary and the Netflix series Best Worst Weekend Ever. Her set design credits include Geostorm, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Van Helsing, Armageddon, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Caddyshack II and Field of Dreams.
Snyder was recently professor of production design at the Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah, Georgia, and is currently a member of the adjunct faculty at AFI.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this year’s AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chong’s Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmy® winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Award® nominee Chloë Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More