
Andrea McCarty is the new Charles W. Fries Curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives. (Photo by Cynthia Rockwell)
Andrea McCarty, the new Charles W. Fries Curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives, joined Wesleyan’s Film Studies Department this summer, coming from Santa Monica where she was Director of Archives at HBO. Curating her first exhibit for the Wesleyan’s Rick Nicita [ ’67] gallery for the fall semester, McCarty received an unforgettable lesson in the workings of the “Wesleyan Film Mafia.”
“When I started in August,” she recalls, “we immediately needed to start thinking about a show for the gallery, to get it up in time for the start of the semester.”
Located in the Center for Film Studies, the Rick Nicita Gallery highlights current topics or productions related to the department. It hosts new exhibitions each spring and fall semesters.
This fall, an exhibit based on Beasts of the Southern Wild was the popular—and logical—choice. Prizewinner at both Sundance and Cannes, the indie film was directed by Benh Zeitlin ’04, produced by Dan Janvey ’06, and Michael Gottwold ’06, and featured a host of Wesleyan alumni in its credits—33, to be precise—from the director and producers to camera crew and animal trainer. Furthermore, the film was to be shown as part of the Wesleyan Film Series and Zeitlin, along with the producers, planned to speak on campus.