Digital Arts Pratt

Congratulations to DDA alumni Diana Kentell, Alyssa Alles, and Jacob Sommer, whose films will be featured at the Flicks International Student Short Film Festival in Groningen, The Netherlands!

Feed by Diana Kentell
Celebrity Cribs: To Hell and Back by Alyssa Alles
Blood, Lead, and Octane by Jacob Sommer

Michael Hirsh
Wednesday February 18th 2026
11:30am
3E-2 Digital Plaza, 3rd Floor Myrtle Hall

Michael Hirsh is a significant figure in the Canadian television industry, a highly accomplished entrepreneur and executive who began his career as a filmmaker and later founded three successful animation companies: Nelvana, Cookie Jar, and WOW! Unlimited Media.
He is recognized industry wide as a leading business and brand builder since his achievements have helped shape today’s era in animation production and distribution.
Some of the shows that he developed and produced include Babar, Tintin, Care Bears, Droids, Ewoks, Magic School Bus, Franklin, Little Bear, Beetlejuice, Arthur, Caillou, Doodlebops, Johnny Test, Castlevania, and Bee and PuppyCat.
Animation Nation, published in 2024, is Michael Hirsh’s behind-the-scenes account of working with such famous cartoon franchises and larger-than-life personalities including George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, and Tim Burton. Michael is proudest of his work building the Canadian and global animation business.

TOMORROW!

MORAKANA
Wednesday February 11
11:30am
3E-2 Digital Arts Plaza, 3rd Floor Myrtle Hall

MORAKANA is a New York City-based studio founded by Tiri Kananuruk (Thailand) and Sebastián Morales Prado (Mexico).

Their work is characterized by scientific and artistic inquiry, development of custom tools, and experimentation. By leveraging scientific principles and challenging the role of technology in our lives, MORAKANA invites us to think critically about plausible means for nature to reclaim the physical and digital ecosystems we are part of.

They teach at the School for Poetic Computation, New York University and Yale University. Their work has been supported by CultureHub, Autodesk Pier9, Mana Contemporary, Tropical Futures institute, Gensoace, and NEW INC among others.

Momoko Seto
Wednesday February 4th 2026
11.30 am - 1.00 pm EST
MH3E_02, Digital Arts Plaza, 3th floor
200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11205

Born in Tokyo, Momoko Seto studied at Le Fresnoy National Studio for Contemporary Arts in France before working as a director at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).
In 2021, she was awarded the Cristal du CNRS, the highest distinction for a scientific director. During this phase of her career, she directed the PLANET series, consisting of four short films, including PLANET Σ, which won the Audi Short Film Award at the 2015 Berlinale.

In 2022, she won the Fondation Gan pour le Cinéma award for her first feature film, Dandelion’s Odyssey, an ecological and poetic odyssey mixing 3D animation, macro live action and timelapses. The film was presented at the Critics’ Week closing ceremony at Cannes in 2025, where it received the FIPRESCI Award (International Federation of Film Critics).

www.setomomoko.org

Scenes from MAGfest 2026! Game Arts students had the opportunity to demo their games, attend panels, and network with alumni and other professionals in the game development industry.

Blood, Lead, and Octane by Jacob Sommer has been selected to be part of the competitive exhibition at 3° Festival Internacional AnimaVerso!
March 26 – 29, 2026, Florianópolis - State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Congratulations to DDA alum Paige Vang whose film Penumbra has been chosen for the Official Selection of the 26th edition of Sottodiciotto Film Festival ! Penumbra will be screened in Turin from 10 to 15 December 2025 at Cinema Massimo!

Congratulations to DDA alumni Mira Seeba .seeba and Bruce Xu whose films Heaven’s Escape and Half Moon were selected for screening at this past weekend’s Bisbee Festival of Animation in Bisbee, Arizona! .royale

Congratulations to DDA alum Isabella Fraga-Abaza!
We’re proud to share that Isabella has been named a 2025 Princess Grace Award winner, joining a cohort of outstanding artists recognized for their exceptional creativity and impact.

The Princess Grace Foundation supports emerging talent across dance, film, theater, and animation — and we are thrilled to see a Pratt artist honored among this year’s awardees.

Please join us in celebrating Isabella’s incredible achievement! 💛✨

Sign up for Japan Society, Foreign Exchange Series!

Justin Leach
Producer of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.

LeSean Thomas
Creator and Director of Cannon Busters.
Supervising Director of The Boondocks.

Date: Wednesday, November 19, 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM.

Location: Pratt Institute Myrtle Hall, 3rd Floor, Digital Plaza, 536 Myrtle Avenue.

The Pratt Digital Arts Department is thrilled to welcome Xin Liu, a multidisciplinary artist and engineer, who creates sculptures, digital experiences, and films featuring machinery, genetic material, petroleum, and rocket debris to explore the verticality of space, extraterrestrial exploration, and cosmic metabolism.

🎤Guest Speaker: Xin Liu​
​📅 Date: November 12th, 2025​
​ 🕛 Time: 12:00 PM EST​
​ 📍 Location: Digital Plaza, 3rd Floor, Myrtle Hall
​ 🎟️ Admission is free and open to all.

About Xin Liu
Xin Liu (b.Xinjiang) is an artist-in-residence at SETI Institute and the founding Arts Curator in the Space Exploration Initiative at MIT Media Lab, a Visiting Fellow at Cornell Tech, and an advisor for LACMA Art+Tech Lab. Currently, she is a resident artist at Somerset House in London.
Her work has been shown at the Shanghai Biennale, Thailand Biennale, M+ Museum, Yuz Museum, MoMA PS1, MAXXI Rome, Sundance Film Festival, Ars Electronica, Onassis Foundation, and Sapporo International Art Festival, among others.
Liu has led and successfully launched two International Space Station payloads and one sub-orbital flight payload onboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard system, and flown three parabolic flights.