Olivia DrakeFilm studies major Zachary Valenti '12 understands how cancer can devastate a family. The disease claimed two grandparents – his father's mother and mother's father – as well as a stepfather. As an adolescent, Valenti was already aware of the risks of male breast cancer. He suffered from gynocomastia, the abnormal development of breast tissue in men. For the past three months, Valenti has combined his life experiences and film studies skills for a project that raises breast cancer awareness in the local community. Valenti is creating a documentary featuring eight female breast cancer survivors for the Middlesex Hospital Comprehensive Breast…
Lisa Dombrowski, associate professor of film studies, is the editor of the book, Kazan Revisited, published by Wesleyan University Press in March 2011. According to WUP: A groundbreaking filmmaker dogged by controversy in both his personal life and career, Elia Kazan was one of the most important directors of postwar American cinema. In landmark motion pictures such as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront, East of Eden, and Splendor in the Grass, Kazan crafted an emotionally raw form of psychological realism. Arriving in the wake of his centenary, Kazan Revisited engages and moves beyond existing debates regarding Kazan’s contributions…
David LowThis issue we ask "5 Questions" of Steve Collins '91. Collins is an assistant professor of film studies. He recently completed a new feature film, You Hurt My Feelings. His first feature, Gretchen, won the $50,000 Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Los Angeles Film Festival and has been shown on the Sundance Channel. Q: What courses do you teach at Wesleyan, and what have you learned from working on films that you share with your students? A: I teach an intro to 16mm film production class called "Sight and Sound" where we focus on how to…
Scott Higgins, associate professor of film studies, edited the book, Arnheim for Film and Media Studies, published by Taylor & Francis, 2010. Rudolf Arnheim (1904-2007) was a pioneering figure in film studies, best known for his landmark book on silent cinema Film as Art. He ultimately became more famous as a scholar in the fields of art and art history, largely abandoning his theoretical work on cinema. However, his later aesthetic theories on form, perception and emotion should play an important role in contemporary film and media studies. In this new volume, edited by Higgins, an international group of leading…
Manju Hingorani, associate professor of molecular biology and biochemistry, and Jacob Bricca, adjunct assistant professor of film studies, explained their experimental cross-disciplinary course on science documentary filmmaking at Wesleyan in a December 2010 article published in American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Today. In the article, Hingorani and Bricca wrote about their course, "Making the Science Documentary," which they co-taught together, starting in 2007. The course was designed to introduce undergraduate students to the life sciences and to documentary filmmaking (more…)
Jeanine Basinger, the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies and chair of the Film Studies Department, was a member of the American Film Institute motion picture jury for 2010. Basinger and the other 11 jury members released their annual list of the 10 best movies of the year on Dec. 12. The 10 films are: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, 127 Hours, The Social Network, The Town, Toy Story 3, True Grit and Winter's Bone. The AFI will honor the creative ensembles for each of the films and TV shows at a luncheon sponsored by Hewlett-Packard on…
Jeanine Basinger, chair and the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, curator of the Cinema Archives, received a $7,500 grant from the Academy Foundation to support the AMPAS 2010-2011 Speaker Series. The grant will be awarded Nov. 4 through Jan. 31, 2011.
David PesciEvery Tuesday night this July is a Cary Grant night at Wesleyan, though he'll be joined by some very attractive company. “Cary Grant and his Leading Ladies” is the title and theme of this year's installment of Wesleyan University's annual Wesleyan Summer Film Series. The free series held at the Goldsmith Family Cinema will feature a classic, fully-restored Cary Grant film each Tuesday night in July, with an introductory talk beginning at 7:30 p.m. The screenings star on Tuesday, July 6, with “To Catch a Thief” featuring Grant and Grace Kelly. On Tuesday, July 13, Connecticut’s own Katherine Hepburn and…
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The Wesleyan Film Studies Department and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are hosting the 2010 Independent Filmmaker Series through April 29. The series features a different film and guest speaker every week. The program consists of a diverse array of films and speakers which showcase the very best in contemporary independent cinema. All shows in the series begin at 8 p.m. in the Center for Film Studies' Goldsmith Family Cinema. They are free of charge and open to the public. April 8: Writer/director Courtney Hunt will speak after a viewing of her film, Frozen River. April 15:…
When college students Chris and Robby woke up outside after their 21st birthday bash, they assumed their night included dancing, girls and a fist fight. But a friend later confirms the intoxicated duo spent the entire party outside lying on top of their cars. "What were we even doing out there, man," Chris asks a hung-over Robby. The characters "Chris" and "Robby," played by Christopher Correa '10 and Robby Hardesty '11 are two of four main characters in the new FutureHouse Pictures Enrolled web series. To date, the FutureHouse Pictures staff has created two episodes, screened exclusively through YouTube. Correa…