Take some time over the upcoming recess to check out these notable recent film and TV projects, all featuring work by SVA alumni and faculty.
Cold outside; screens glowing inside: Winter break is when the School of Visual Arts’ annual list of noteworthy community animation, film, and television projects finally gets its moment.
This year’s roundup is a reminder that SVA talent is everywhere you look, from imaginative animated worlds and inventive genre exercises to sharp-edged, timely documentaries and artist-centered shorts that linger long after the credits roll. Consider the following when deciding what to press play on over SVA’s 2025–26 winter break.
Directed, co-written, and co-created by Owl House creator Dana Terrace (BFA 2013 Animation), this animated sci-fi psychological thriller brings a fresh, character-driven energy to the Arthurian universe. The pilot welcomes viewers to a planet-wide amusement park in the clouds. In the shadows below, an android princess named Guinevere becomes the risky hope of two dreamers for a better life—or the end of them.
Where to watch: YouTube.
Written and directed by rising horror auteur Zach Cregger (BFA 2004 Computer Art), this ambitious, multi-perspective film follows the aftermath of a mass disappearance of schoolchildren, a dark mystery that rewards close viewing and strong nerves.
Where to watch: HBO Max; also available for digital rental and purchase.
Directed and co-written by Ti West (BFA 2003 Film and Video), this short-film collaboration with musician and actor Kid Cudi integrates music, mood, and image into a compact, narrative-driven visual album experience.
Where to watch: Streaming exclusively on the Amazon Music app for Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers.
Common Side Effects and Scavengers Reign
Co-created by Joe Bennett (BFA 2008 Fine Arts), Common Side Effects is an acclaimed animated series about a psychedelic cure-all and a conspiracy to keep it secret. Scavengers Reign, another Bennett co-creation, is an animated sci-fi series produced by Titmouse—the animation studio founded by spouses Chris (BFA 1994 Animation) and Shannon Prynoski (BFA 1994 Film and Video)—that follows the survivors of a space disaster as they navigate a foreign world.
Where to watch: Adult Swim (Common Side Effects) and HBO Max (Scavengers Reign).
The latest documentary by David Osit (MFA 2011 Social Documentary Film), which recently made The New York Times’ roundup of 2025’s best films, revisits the controversial legacy of the TV series To Catch a Predator, examining how true-crime spectacle, online vigilantism, and media ethics intersect in the pursuit of hype and ratings.
Where to watch: Paramount+ (including Paramount+ with Showtime).
Kat Rohrer (BFA 2004 Film and Video) directed and co-wrote this German-language romantic comedy about a straitlaced doctor whose husband of 20 years suddenly leaves her, sending her into an unexpected new relationship with a free-spirited woman—and into questions about love, family, and personal reinvention.
Where to watch: HBO Max (availability may vary by region).
Directed by Bao Nguyen (MFA 2011 Social Documentary Film), this feature-length documentary investigates the disputed authorship of an era-defining Vietnam War photograph, unpacking five decades of memory, authorship, and the politics of who gets credited for images that shape history.
Where to watch: Netflix.
Simon Hacker (BFA 2015 Film and Video) wrote and directed this comedic drama about a struggling real-estate agent and failed actor facing eviction from his apartment just as his estranged young daughter shows up at his door, forcing a funny, fraught race against time—and a reconsideration of what “home” means.
Where to watch: Streaming on MUBI; also available to rent or buy via major digital platforms.
Art21’s Trey Abdella’s Miserable Dream and Guadalupe Maravilla’s “Mariposa Relámpago”
Among the new documentaries released by arts nonprofit Art21 this year are two shorts featuring SVA alumni: Trey Abdella’s Miserable Dream follows the artist and BFA 2016 Illustration graduate as he completes a new painting in his Brooklyn studio, with a detour to the amusement parks of Coney Island. Guadalupe Maravilla’s “Mariposa Relámpago” records the artist and BFA 2003 Photography graduate’s transformation of a yellow school bus into an immersive, mobile, multimedia sculpture.
Where to watch: art21.org, YouTube, and other affiliated streaming partners.
Directed by SVA faculty member Robert Kolodny (BFA 2010 Film and Video), produced by Bennett Elliott (BFA 2010 Film and Video), and featuring production design by Sonia Foltarz (BFA 2016 Animation), this biographical boxing drama follows Italian-American legend Willie Pep late in life, using his attempted comeback to explore masculinity, ego, and the stories we tell about greatness.
Where to watch: Streaming on AppleTV+; also available to rent or buy via major digital platforms.
Edel Rodriguez: Freedom Is a Verb
This American Masters documentary profiles Cuban American artist and BFA Illustration faculty member Edel Rodriguez, tracing his journey from a childhood in Cuba to his internationally published political and editorial imagery, and considering what it means to make art as an act of resistance and refuge.
Where to watch: pbs.org and the PBS app.