Art Faculty Receives Inaugural Fellowship to 2025 University Film and Video Association Conference

This summer, Luis Benavides, M.F.A., assistant professor of digital media at Idaho State received the University Film and Video Foundation's (UFVF) Early Faculty Career Fellowship. Benavides was one of nine film and video practitioners, faculty, and scholars from universities across the U.S. awarded this inaugural fellowship to attend and present at the 79th annual conference of the University Film & Video Association (UFVA) held July 22-26, 2025 at Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas.

Benavides presented, "How to Make 3D Art Without Losing Your Ghost in the Machine: A fun, slightly chaotic guide to 3D, AI, and archives in the age of digital doubt.," an adaptation of his previous participation at ISU's Humanities Café, where he presented "The Humanities: Now in 3D!" on April 24, 2025.

UFVF Fellows were invited to participate in a panel focusing on innovation in the field of media studies at the 2025 Conference.

Benavides shared his insights as both a documentarian and a teacher of 3D animation to explore how digital doubt, nostalgia, animations, and myths play into current understanding of new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

The other eight fellows included:
Sidney Beeman (University of North Carolina, Charlotte)
Jena Burchick (Towson University)
Samuel Contreas (California State University, Fresno)
Shani Heckman (University of California Santa Cruz)
Padmini Narumanchi (Independent Producer WGA-East / PGA-East)
Shahriar Shafiani (Howard University)
Devon "Vonnie" Smith (Southern Methodist University)
Nicoletta Vangelisti (University of California, San Diego)