2026 Fellowship Forum: New films. Big questions. Bold ideas.

All are invited. Come meet the people shaping the future of cinematic arts.

Each year, the Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts offers fellowships to students, faculty, and staff across UC San Diego, providing funding and access to professional production equipment. Our fellows take the opportunity and run with it. They make films, experiment with new forms, conduct research, and build careers as artists and thinkers worth watching.

The 2026 Fellowship Forum brings that work and the people behind it into focus. The afternoon event features three segments of project clips and brief panel conversations exploring the inspirations, challenges, and discoveries behind the work. The event will end in a celebratory closing reception with light refreshments.

Featuring current undergraduate and graduate students, recent alumni, and faculty, the projects span coming-of-age stories, historical memory, experimental media, and the blurred lines between documentary and fiction.

FEATURED FELLOWS:

• Leila Abdelrazaq, Graduate Student, Visual Arts
• Evan Apodaca, Graduate Student, Visual Arts
• Esme Brigham, Alumni, Visual Arts
• Cameron Cao, Alumni, Communications 
• Hannah Gurne, Alumni, Literature/Writing, Theatre, Cinematic Arts
• Tatum Howey, Graduate Student, Literature
• Jackson S. Kroopf, Faculty, Cinematic Arts
• Vaishnavi Kurupath, Undergraduate Student, Economics, Cinematic Arts
• Isabelle Liang, Undergraduate Student, Cinematic Arts
• Sarah Rose, Graduate Student, Visual Arts
• Arnold Villagrana, Alumni, Visual Arts

FREE AND OPEN TO ALL. PLEASE RSVP!

• NEAREST PARKING: Scholars Parking Structure (Directly below the venue) - 9655 Scholars Dr N, La Jolla, CA 92093 
• VIEW MORE DETAILS ON THE WEBSITE - SICCA.UCSD.EDU