The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences recently announced the nominees for the 34th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards and several members of the SVA community are being recognized for contributions made to notable films. 
MFA Social Documentary Film Department Chair Maro Chermayeff, faculty member Donna Shepherd, department guest lecturer Jeff Dupre and alumnus Matthew Akers (BFA 1998 Fine Arts) share the honor of Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming and Outstanding Editing: Documentary and Long Form nominations for Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present. Aker’s film follows the Serbian performance artist as she prepares for her career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Akers and Dupre co-directed the film, Chermayeff served as a producer, and Shepherd served as an editor.
Assistant Director of Career Development, Patricia Romeu, along with The Loving Story production team received three Emmy nominations for Best Documentary, Outstanding Historical Programming – Long –form and Outstanding Editing. Romeu served as a Co-Producer on the HBO documentary and managed archival footage used for the final edits. The Loving Story is the timely account of Richard and Mildred Loving and their fight for marriage equality during the Civil Rights era as they confront exile from Virginia, anti-miscegenation laws and ultimately the Supreme Court in a landmark case that lifted bans against interracial marriage in 16 states across the U.S.
Producer Bryan Singer (1986 Film and Video) and the HBO documentary Vito received an Outstanding Historical Programming nomination for the chronicle of Vito Russo’s brief life and his fight for social justice in the gay-rights movement.
Michael Simmonds (BFA 2000 Film and Video) received recognition for his cinematography work on Project NIM, a documentary about a chimpanzee and the hardships he experiences while forced to live between two worlds. Project Nim received nominations for Best Documentary and Outstanding Science and Technology Programming.
The awards will be presented on October 11 at a ceremony at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City.