Category: Alumni News & Interviews

Get insight into the Entertainment Industry from Los Angeles Film School and LA Recording School Alumni and learn about their latest projects.

2026 Spotlight Academy; Lane Cheek, Brandon Harding, Cynthia Hernandezgarcia, Mario J. Novoa

Meet the 2026 Spotlight Academy Class

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The Los Angeles Film School is proud to announce the four alumni inductees to the 2026 Spotlight Academy: animation production manager Cynthia Hernandezgarcia (Animation 2017), Emmy Award-winning producer Lane Cheek (Film 2010), GRAMMY-winning recording engineer Brandon Harding (Recording Arts 2013), and filmmaker and educator Mario J. Novoa (Film 2004). Their work spans Nickelodeon and Netflix animation, network television, Beyoncé’s Album of the Year, and more than a decade of independent documentaries about LGBTQ+ and Latino Los Angeles.
2026 horror movies

Ghostface, Sharks, and a Very Yellow Hallway: LAFS & LARS Alumni Behind 2026’s Horror Hits

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Horror carried 2026. Ghostface turned 30 and posted the best opening in Scream history. A YouTube creator broke A24's opening-weekend record with a movie about empty office hallways. Zach Cregger gave Resident Evil the strongest debut the franchise has ever had, and Netflix found a global audience for sharks swimming through a flooded kitchen. LAFS and LARS alumni have credits on six 2026 horror movies and series, working everywhere from VFX houses and dub stages to casting offices and the video assist cart.
Phillip Bladh winning Oscar

LAFS Alum and Production Sound Mixer Phillip Bladh Talks Sound of Metal, A24, and Oscar Night

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Few people understand the emotional power of sound in film better than Phillip Bladh. Sound of Metal, directed by Darius Marder (The Place Beyond the Pines) and starring Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler, Jason Bourne, Rogue One) and Olivia Cooke (House of the Dragon, Bates Motel), relied heavily on the expertise of its sound professionals to tell the touching, poignant, and at times sonically imposing story of a heavy-metal drummer going through the life-altering experience of losing his hearing.
Joaquin Phoenix on the set of c'mon c'mon

How Does a Film Get Recognized Into the Criterion Collection?

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Today, we are celebrating the induction of select films from director Mike Mills’ body of work into the Criterion Collection as a collection titled I’ll Remind You of Everything, which compiles the director's deeply personal, semi-autobiographical trilogy of films mapping out parent-child relationships, including Beginners, 20th Century Women, and C’mon, C’mon.
Phillip Bladh

Let There Be Sound: An Interview with A-List Sound Mixer Phillip Bladh

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For Oscar-winning sound mixer Phillip Bladh, sound has never just been technical — it’s an emotional audio journey for audiences that can make or break a film. Long before winning a Best Sound Academy Award for his groundbreaking work on Sound of Metal, the Los Angeles Film School alumnus was a musician obsessed with microphones, recording equipment, and the invisible ways sound shapes human experience.
S'yrai Smith

Alumni Spotlight: Sy’Rai Smith Turns Family Legacy Into Her Own Sound

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Sy'Rai Smith didn't come to The Los Angeles Film School to follow in anyone's footsteps — but her grandmother made sure she got here anyway. "The reason why I went to school to begin with is because of my grandmother," Sy'Rai says in our new video interview. Sonja Norwood, a veteran talent manager who has taught in LAFS's Entertainment Business program since 2018, kept coming home raving about the school. "She always came back and was like, 'It's so great, I think you should go there.'" Sy'Rai enrolled - and stayed. She's now a double LAFS alumni, graduating summa cum laude with degrees in Entertainment Business.
Prop Master Joshua Bramer

From LAFS to Hollywood: How Joshua Bramer Became the Prop Master Behind Everything Everywhere All at Once, Euphoria, Don’t Worry Darling, and More

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Long before he became an in-demand Hollywood property master working on acclaimed productions like Everything Everywhere All at Once, Euphoria, Freakier Friday, and Blonde, he was a kid in Michigan, completely fascinated by movies like Hook and Jurassic Park, watching behind-the-scenes bonus content behind his favorite films, which he hoped would reveal how movie worlds were created. Today, Joshua Bramer helps create those worlds himself—designing and sourcing the props that bring characters, stories, and entire universes to life onscreen.