PHILADELPHIA – When The Bridge Cinema De Lux opens to the public Nov. 8, the animated works of several University of Pennsylvania film students will be among the shorts screened in the media immersion room.

Located just inside the lobby, the media immersion room is reminiscent of a modern art gallery, but with a twist. Instead of paintings, it features six Panasonic® plasma screens on walls surrounding a central seating area, where theater-goers and restaurant patrons can watch short subjects, movie trailers and behind-the-scenes footage from popular films as well as the student animations and videos.

While the concept of creative video usage premiered at The Bridge Cinema De Lux in Los Angeles, the use of student works is exclusive to the media immersion room in Philadelphia, according to Bridge officials.

Twenty-one student projects have been selected for screening in the room and will rotate in groups of eight per month. Created during the past two years, the animations were the only student works archived in a format that is compatible with the media-immersion-room technology, said Joshua Mosley, assistant professor of fine arts at Penn.

"Our future exhibiting at the bridge will feature a good mix of both animation and video," Mosley said.

The student artists include Alex Chen, Mary Kim, Matt Russak, Erinn Hagerty, Jody Sweitzer, Arida Sirapong, Warren Longmire, Craig Modzelesky, Rick Bolkey and Kate Stewart.