• Portraits and Landscapes in Digital Media

• Marsha Kinder and The Labyrinth Project

• Must See TV

A frame still from Film & Video student Rob Ufer’sdigital film Way Out Mapping Our Way

into the Digital Age

Film & Video hasseen another greatyear. In Winter 2004,we welcomed anexternal review teamto campus to evaluateour program andreport to the College.Their findings con-firmed that, as theyput it, we have ”one

of the outstanding programs of its kind inthe country.’‘ They were particularlyimpressed with our blending of studies andproduction and our experiments in linkingcourses between these two areas. We areextremely pleased that they found so muchto like about Film & Video. Their assess-ment makes us confident about our future,which we hope will soon include depart-mental status and a full-fledged graduatePh.D. program. This can only add to ourgrowing national reputation.

There is also good news to report about ourfaculty. Three junior faculty–CatherineBenamou, Johannes Von Moltke andEdward Dimendberg–came up for tenurein 2003-04, and all were promoted andreceived tenure. This gives us a sense ofbuoyancy, not only because of the mile-stone passed by these three young scholars,but also pride in how our discipline hasbecome institutionally integrated into theintellectual life of the University. All threeof these faculty members engage in cross-departmental teaching, collaboration orinterdisciplinary studies through theirjointly held appointments between Film &Video and other units within LS&A.

At the same time, there have been chal-lenges. As you know, the University ofMichigan budget has shrunk within recentyears, and we have experienced cutbacks inseveral areas of funding. However, our hopeis to take some of what benefited thestudents the most and integrate those goalsinto the fabric of our curriculum. This isalready occurring in team-taught classes,like Practicum for the Screenwriter(FV423), which brings together facultywith expertise in acting, screenwriting, andfilmmaking. The productivity of our facultyand staff, and their commitment toimproving student experience within themajor remains strong, and we are confidentthat institutional challenges and changeswill not hamper our ability to providestudents with the kind of outstandingopportunities in learning that so impressedthe external review team of nationallyprominent educators in our field.

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S CHAIRThere’s good news to report also about theFrieze building. The President of theUniversity, Mary Sue Coleman, hasannounced that the building will bedemolished in 2006 and be replaced, asquickly as possible, with a facility that willcombine student residential housing withacademic space. This unusual blend offunctions holds the promise of placingFilm & Video at the center of an innovativeexperience in education.

With a great deal of nostalgia, I announcethat this is my last newsletter message asdirector of Film & Video. My ten-year termas director will be over at the end of August2005. I am grateful for the opportunity thatI have had to serve Film & Video over thelast nine years. Although we do not know,as yet, who will assume the position ofdirector, I am confident that through thistransition period, Film & Video will continueto move forward in reaching its long-termgoals.

Thank you Gaylynfor ten successful years

as Director of Film & Video Studies

(Clockwise from above)Photo one: (left to right) Donald Hall, Terry Lawson, Jim Burnstein;2001 Hopwood screenplay winners Gabe Burnstein, Josh Herman,Oliver Thornton, and Erin Podolsky; Gaylyn Studlar andRobert Shaye.Photo two: Robert Shaye, CEO New Line Cinema, Gaylyn Studlar, andEva Shaye.Photo three: Jim Pyke, LS&A film projectionist as Ultra ManHalloween ’01, and Gaylyn Studlar.Photo four: Gaylyn Studlar, Academy Award-winning screenwriterKurt Luedtke, and Jim Burnstein, screenwriting coordinator.

The commitment of our faculty and studentsdemonstrates every day to me that progressand vitality in an academic unit are notdependent on one person, but exist asbroadly held virtues that will hold Film &Video in good stead over the coming years.We have come a long, long way over thelast few years. National recognition of ourprogram is beginning to catch up withthe reality of our accomplishments. I hopethat, in reading the following pages, youwill also reflect on all that Film & Videohas accomplished, and that you knowthat as part of that community, yourinterest, your support, and your friend-ship are most valued.

Gaylyn Studlar, Director

1

Film & Video Studies is committed to dig-ital media production and studies.“Mapping the digital” into our curriculum,Production Lecturer Chris McNamara andAssistant Professor Sheila Murphy haveemphasized the analysis of digital media intheir respective production and studiescourses. McNamara teaches two levels ofcomputer animation and an interdisciplinarycollaboration course in new media withProfessor Andrew Kirschner of the Schoolof Music. Murphy teaches introduction todigital media studies, cultural courses on vir-tuality and digital identity, and a coursedevoted to video games. In Fall 2004,McNamara and Murphy are collaborating ontwo linked courses (FV367/FV404) that allowFilm & Video Studies students to integrate theproduction and study of digital media.

With the introduction and widespread useof moving image production software thatallows filmmakers to digitally manipulateimages and sounds, digital technologiesare profoundly changing the productionof moving images. At the same time,moviegoers can now watch digitally pro-jected “films” in some theaters, enjoyexpanded versions of films on DVD playersat home, and manipulate their receptionof television using digital video recordersand “on demand” digital cable deliverysystems. While digital media technologiesare changing our relationship to film, theyare also introducing new forms of representa-tion—from online flash animations tovideo games to real-time virtual reality envi-ronments. The networked communities ofthe Internet have also changed how filmsare made, reviewed and watched (bothlegally and illegally).

This team-taught course, Portraits andLandscapes in Digital Media, borrows termsfrom the study and production of art(portrait, landscape) and applies them tocontemporary digital media. Studentsexplore through their creative work and cul-tural inquiry how portraiture and landscapefunction as categories of representation.These important categories are so common-place in our experience that we are apt tounderestimate their historical and contem-porary aesthetic and social importance:Billboards, LED signs, escalators and masstransit systems are all contemporarymarkers of landscape, while homepages,online journals, web blogs, and cameraphones are producing new modes of por-traiture. Students in the course reevaluatehow they negotiate space via digitalmedia. Another focus of the class is toexamine how identity is represented andconstructed in relation to locations andtechnologies, such as urban streets, subur-ban housing developments, airports, andother public zones. The linked coursequestions what these two spaces mean inthe contemporary media “landscape.”Production projects and analytic writingassignments for this course have beendesigned to complement one another.

Portraits and Landscapes in Digital Media inte-grates the study and production of digitalmedia. As digital technologies continueto develop, so does the need to historicallysituate these “new media” forms withinthe history of cinema and television as well aswithin other forms of visual culture. Courseslike Portraits and Landscapes in Digital Mediaallow our students to understand digitalmedia through the unique combination ofstudy with practice.

by Sheila Murphy

A frame still from Intersection (Barcelona) by Christopher McNamara.

A frame still from Rob Ufer’s Way Out.

A frame still from Rob Ufer’s Way Out.

A frame still from Graham Mason’s Man and His Bird.

2

MARSHA KINDER, INFLUENTIAL FILM SCHOLARAND CULTURAL THEORIST, SPENDS A WEEK AT U-Mby Lucia Saks

hile in residence as a visiting fellow at the Institute for the Humanities in

January ‘04, Professor Marsha Kinder metwith both faculty and students of Film & VideoStudies on a number of different occasions.The result was a fascinating exposure to thediverse work of one of the most prolific andinfluential film scholars and cultural theorists,whose specializations are narrative theory,interactive digital media, children’s media cul-ture, and Spanish cinema. Given Kinder’simmense interest in new media and its rel-evance for narrative cinema, she was theperfect person to lead a discussion/collo-quium on what constitutes the field of FilmStudies today.

Sponsored by Film & Video, the lunch-timeevent offered faculty members, studentsand other interested constituencies aforum in which to discuss the profound inthe field both in terms of pedagogy andscholarship. As might be expected, Kinderargued that a purist notion of medium specificitywas not and indeed, had never been, valid.Earlier narrative forms from other mediawere often used by artists to extend thepossibilities of their own medium. HenryFielding, one of Kinder’s early interests,drew on narrative strategies from the the-ater in the newly emerging genre of thenovel. Similarly, Sergei Eisenstein spokeof how the technical limits of the stageled to his theory of montage, which he

“ A labyrinth is a multicursalmaze representing alternativepaths to the source of being.”

—Marsha Kinder

developed more fully once he turned tothe cinema. “As Eisenstein continued todialogize cinema with many other formsbesides theater (including the novels ofCharles Dickens and James Joyce, WaltWhitman’s poetry, Japan’s scroll painting,Kabuki theater, haiku poetry and Disneycartoons), his theory of montage and filmexperimentation grew more complex,” shestated.

Also under the auspices of Film & Video,Kinder gave a public lecture on Spanish direc-tor Pedro Almodóvar entitled, “Reinventingthe Mother: Pedro Almodóvar’s Brain DeadTrilogy.“ A Saturday screening of his film, Talkto Her, and a question and answer periodfollowed.

Kinder’s work, as suggested by the quote,has moved beyond the older technologyof books to the digital maze. Since 1997,she has directed The Labyrinth Project,an art collective and research initiative oninteractive cinema and database narrativeat University of Southern California’sAnnenberg Center for Communication.Exploring ways to combine the visual languageof narrative cinema with the interactivepotential of new media such as CD-ROMs,DVDs, and DVD-ROMs, the initiativeworks at the point at which theory andpractice conjoin. The results are what shecalls “database narratives,” that is narrativeswhose structure exposes the dual processesof selection and combination that lie at theheart of all stories and are crucial to language.One selects particular narrative elements(characters, images, sounds, events andsettings) from a series of databases andcombines them to generate specific tales.

This is very unlike the classical Hollywoodcinema since it has no clear-cut beginning,no narrative closure, no three-act structure,and no coherent chain of causality. Despite

this, they offer the user/spectator a richnarrative filed full of story elements thatare capable of arousing their curiosity andsatisfying their desire. In short, the pleasuresof narrative cinema can be found in thisconvergence between it and new digitalmedia.

These pleasures, encoded on DVD-ROMsin a series of electronic fictions, have beenexhibited to much acclaim at both museumsand film festivals. The Danube Exodus: TheRippling Currents of the River, created in collabo-ration with Hungarian media artist PeterForgacs, premiered in August 2002 at theGetty Center in Los Angeles, where it brokeattendance records. Another project, TheDawn at My Back: Memoir of a Black TexasUpbringing based on the autobiography ofAfrican American photographer CarrollParrott Blue, won the jury award in the“New Forms” category at Sundance this year.

Both of these projects, together with otherdatabase documentaries, were on display atthe James and Anne Duderstadt Center atNorth Campus during Kinder’s stay andstudents from Terry Sarris’ production classhad a chance to interact with them firsthand.

W

Kinder, who began her career as a scholar of 18thcentury literature at Occidental College, joined theDivision of Critical Studies at the University ofSouthern California School of Cinema-Televisionwhere she has been a professor since 1980 andwhere she received the prestigious AssociatesAward for Creativity in Research in 1995. Author ofover one hundred published essays and ten books,her most recent works include: Playing with Powerin Movies, Television and Video Games (California,1991), Blood Cinema: The Reconstruction ofNational Identity in Spain (California, 1993),Refiguring Spain: Cinema, Media, Representation(Duke, 1997), Luis Bunuel’s The Discreet Charm ofthe Bourgeoisie (Cambridge, 1999), and Kids’Media Culture (Duke, 1999).

MARSHA KINDER

Phot

o by

Pet

er S

mith

3

The success of Film & Video’s integrated TVstudies and TV production course (FV366/FV402) grew to new heights in Winter Term2004. Taught by Senior Lecturer Terri Sarrisand Professor Bambi Haggins, this 6-creditcourse combines writing, producing, direct-ing, and editing an original situational com-edy pilot. The basic TV elements are allguided within the historical context of TVcomedy throughout the course.

Winter 2004 saw three pilots producedinstead of the four done previously. This

change enabled each student group to havemore time between shows for criticalreflection and critique. Also, pre-planningtook place in the Fall term. The Professorsmet with students planning to take theWinter course and had them begin writingpilot outlines and the first five pages. Afterthe holiday break between Fall and Winterterms, the students “hit the ground running.”

TV writer David Pollock (M*A*S*H , Frasier)and a frequent visitor in TV comedy writingfor Film & Video, returned to assist thestudents in their rewrite process. Mr. Pollockspent a week with the class reading and giving

Integrated TV Studies and TV ProductionProduce Three Original Situation Comedies

invaluable comments and suggestions to thethree creative teams. Pollock’s insights intothe situational comedy format helped thestudents to make a more informed choice fortheir scripts.

Finally, the TV pilots were screened at theLS&A TV Garrison Studio. Audience seatingwas uniquely designed for this premiere.The Garrison studio was transformed into fouraudience viewing areas. A large drive-in likescreen was centered on one wall with theatre

type seating in front of thehuge screen. Behind the larg-er theatre seating area, threeliving rooms were createdeach with a TV monitor torepresent one’s home. As eachpilot was screened, the audi-ence-packed TV studio lit upin all four areas. A fabulousreception followed thescreenings. The three pilotsproduced were:

ONE TOUGH CROWDCreated and Directed by Emily RoseAssistant Directed by Liz Bradford and JessicaSandovalProduced by Michelle BagliebterWritten by Christina Kuo, Emily Rose, MichelleBagliebter, Liz Bradford, and Jessica SandovalOne Tough Crowd takes viewers behind thescenes of a late-night, stand-up comedy talkshow. In danger of cancellation, AndreaMcPatrick, a hot young industry producer, isbrought in to help give the show an edgy,more modern attitude. The only problem?She isn’t all that funny. Unwilling to endan-ger their careers, the four resident comicsmust struggle to align themselves with theirnew boss and her dry determination.

BROWNIES AND THE BLADECreated and Directed by Phil RantaAssistant Directed by Amanda SardoneProduced by Chelsea MatrosWritten by Shania Katzoff-Sugar and Armen TerjimanianThe Brownie family told the adoptionagency they wanted any unfortunate boy tolove and teach the ways of Jesus. Instead theygot Jackie “The Blade” Lupenzo, a 16 year-old Italian gangster from the East coast whochose living in the midwest rather thanprison. Will the Brownies save his soul, orwill Jackie steal theirs? In the pilot episode,Jackie cheats in a father-son three-leggedrace, gives fashion tips to impressionableyoung Sarah Brownie, introduces their nextdoor neighbor to his .45 calibur gun, andteaches the church community about aningredient to make “special” brownies.

NORMAL LIFECreated and Directed by Matt GeorgeAssistant Directed by Sultan SharriefProduced by Joyce LeuWritten by Metta Smeed, Matt George, and SultanSharriefA brother and sister make their attempt at livinga normal life just like any other. The onlyproblem is that they are anything but normal.Fathered by a 70s superhero, CaptainAmazing, they have inherited a few of hispowers. Nicole, a clean cut, anal retentiveyoung girl has the ability to control people’sthoughts and actions, while her brother,Mark, turns invisible. Everything would befine except the two cannot control theirpowers, resulting in hilarious situations.Their neighbor, Cliff, helps them to come toterms with their powers/burdens while alsogetting them into sticky situations.

Sharrief, George, and Professor Haggins in Argus control room taping Normal Life.

Set of Normal Life.

4

ARE THE STARS!The James Gindin Visiting Artists Series and the Donald HallCollection are made possible through funding from the FourFriends Foundation and Robert Shaye, CEO of New Line Cinema.

WHERE SCREENWRITERS

left to right: Jordan Bohy, Carolyn Schilling, and Andrew Genzer

Front: Andrew Genzer, Erica Beeney, Graham MasonBack: Todd Weiser, Dax Monta, Jim Burnstein

At the beginning and ending of each Fall term, Academy Award-winner KurtLuedtke (Out of Africa) returns to Film & Video and works one-on-one or with asmall group of advanced screenwriters. He comments on treatments inSeptember, then analyzes completed drafts at term’s end. Pictured is Luedtkeworking one-on-one with senior screenwriter Elizabeth Lamping.

John Sloss, U-M alumnus, founder of Sloss Law Office, and executive producer on over 40 films;Jim Burnstein, screenwriter and Film & Video screenwriting coordinator. Sloss spent a day inFilm & Video where he shared his film producing knowledge and experience with advancedscreenwriters over lunch at Zingerman’s and in the Practicum for the Screenwriter classroom,an interdisciplinary course for screenwriters, film production students, and Theatre departmentactors. The day ended with a screening of Super Size Me at the Michigan Theater.

John Sloss, executive producer on Super Size Me, a docu-mentary on the fast food industry, conducted a Q&A aftera preview screening of the film at the Michigan Theater.

Drama/Screenplay Undergraduate Hopwood Award:Carolyn Schilling, $6,500Jordan Bohy, $5,500

Naomi Saferstein Literary Award in Screenwriting:Carolyn Schilling, $1,000

Leonard & Eileen Newman Prize for Dramatic Writing:Andrew Genzer, $1,000

United Talent Agency Scholarship for Screenwriting & Television WritingTyler Lieberman, $2,500Lauren Wagner, $2,500

Hopwood and Related Writing Awards toFilm & Video Students, 2004

5

TEACH!The James Gindin Visiting Artists Seriesfeatures the industry’s best working

screenwriters and filmmakers

...AND WHERE STAR SCREENWRITERS

“Our amazing list of visiting Gindin Artistshas certainly gotten the attention ofHollywood. Every meeting I go to now in LosAngeles for my own projects, the first questionI’m asked is: “Who is Michigan getting tocome in this year?” Often the producers andstudio executives will make suggestions as towho would make a great Gindin. Thisawareness of our program is very good newsfor all of our students who move to LosAngeles after they graduate. The people in theindustry know that it means something tocome from the University of MichiganScreenwriting Program.”

–Jim Burnstein

Before Cannes and the Palme d’Or, Michael Moore screened his controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 in Film & Video Studies

In April 2004, Michael Moore broughtFahrenheit 9/11 to U-M Film & VideoStudies for a private, preview screeningbefore he and one of his editors, KurtEngfehr (a fellow Michigander and U-MDearborn alumnus), locked the final cut.With film students from both the Ann Arborand Dearborn campuses, Moore askedquestions of the the young film students.Did anything change? Only the students in theprivate screening know for sure.

Robert ShayeVariety’s

2004 Showman of the Year!Congratulations Mr. Shaye!

Your friends in the University of Michigan’s

Program in Film & Video Studiesthank you for making Michigan the place

Where Screenwriters are the Stars!

Erica Beeney shared her HBO Project Greenlight journeywith the Film & Video screenwriting students. Beeney’sunique screenwriting voyage resulted in the production ofher first screenplay, The Battle of Shaker Heights.

Erica Beeney provided insightful analysis on advanced screenwriters’ scenes.

6

Film & Video Studies hosts Guest Artistsfrom around the world and the film industry!

Catherine Benamou (second from right) with guestartist, Cecilla Cornejo (third from right) and students.

Josh Shader

left to right: Professor Richard Abel, MatthewBernstein, and F/V graduate students Ellen Scottand Ilka Rasch.

Zach Arnold

Film Censorship in America

In April 2004 and in connection withProfesor Studlar’s Censorship and ClassicalHollywood course, Matthew Bernstein, asso-ciate professor in the Film Studies Programat Emory University and editor of ControllingHollywood: Censorship and Regulation in the StudioEra, presented a lecture entitled “TheSociety Matron and the Social Activist:Atlanta’s Two City Censors, 1925-1962” oncensorship, the power and influence ofregional film censors. Bernstein’s lecturesited Atlanta’s two city censors from 1925-1962, and how their influence determinedwhat films were shown during that timeperiod.

Documentary Remembers 9/11

In March 2004, Chilean documentaryfilmmaker Cecilia Cornejo presented herfilm I Wonder What You Will Remember ofSeptember on September 11th, along with otherrecent Chilean documentaries, as part ofMarkus Nornes’ Documentary Film course(FV320) and The Global Screen course(AC498/FV485), co-taught by ProfessorCatherine Benamou and Professor LuciaSaks.

Terra Firma Films

Josh Shader is a producing partner withAdam Herz (Film & Video alumnus andScreenwriter of the American Pie films) inTerra Firma Films. Shader made a special visitto Film & Video to meet with screenwritersand observe the Film & Video program.

Film & Video Internships

When recent Film & Video alumnus ZachEvans (‘03), director of development atCastle Creek Productions, needed an internfor summer 2004, Film & Video sent off ahandful of qualified student resumes.Senior Film & Video major Phil Ranta wasawarded the summer internship at CastleCreek. An internship is a very important partof a Film & Video student’s education. Film& Video would like to thank the manyalumni that make internships available to ourstudents. If your company is interested in aFilm & Video student as an intern, pleasecontact Mary Lou Chlipala, program andinternship coordinator for Film & VideoStudies at (734) 763-4087 or email:mlouisa@umich.edu.

Film & Video alumnus Zach Arnold (‘03) is afull time editor and graphic designer for KOCreative, and also runs his own freelanceproduction company called Fix It In PostProductions. Arnold’s trailers include ThePassion of the Christ, Monster, and The Woodsman,which won the Northfork Golden TrailerAward. Arnold spent a weekend conductingediting workshops for the Film & Video pro-duction students.

Zach Evans and Phil Ranta

German Film’s U.S. Debut at U-M

In February 2004, German filmmaker AndresVeiel spent a full four days in Ann Arborscreening two films, visiting a class, andholding a public colloquium. Organized byFilm & Video and German departmentProfessor Johannes von Moltke, Veielscreened his most recent film, Die Spielwütigen(Addicted to Acting), which won the 2004audience award in the Panorama Sectionof the Berlin Film Festival. The U-M presen-tation of Die Spielwütigen was the internationalpremiere. The following night, Black BoxBRD was screened and followed by a Q&A.Veiel’s visit to an undergraduate class on doc-umentary film was among the highlights.His articulate responses to students’ ques-tions, as well as detailed analysis of selectedscenes from the films screened provided rareinsight into the decisions that go into themaking of a film and the ethics and aesthet-ics of documentary filmmaking. The collo-quium, geared more to political/historicalquestions than towards issues of aestheticsand method, was similarly productive. Thedebate focused on the history of Germanterrorism and its various forms of representa-tion. In addition to these formal engage-ments, Veiel participated in a number ofinformal discussions over lunch and dinnerwith rotating groups of people. Veiel’s visitwas an ideal encounter for both sides—theuniversity community that benefited fromthe breadth of Veiel’s knowledge and fromhis open and gracious demeanor, and the vis-itor himself, who expressed genuine fascina-tion with the shape of intellectual inquiry atMichigan. Film & Video was one of seven co-sponsors of Veiel’s visit to U-M.

Edits With A Passion

Richard Abel, Robert Altman Collegiate Professor ofCinema Studies, completed four articles: “The ‘ImaginedCommunity’ of the Western, 1910-1913,” in AmericanCinema’s Transitional Era:Audiences, Institutions, Practices;“People, 1890-1930,” in The French Cinema Book; “Goingto the Movies in the USA: Pathé and the Trade Press,” in LaFirme Pathé, 1896-1914; “Finding the French on AmericanScreens, 1910-1914,” in Screen Culture: History andTextuality. Abel did two invited lectures: “Fan Discourse inthe Heartland: The Early 1910s,” the inaugural RobertAltman Collegiate Professorship Lecture at U-M in April2004; and “Patchwork: Mapping Weekly Movie-Going,1911-1913” given at the Chicago Film Seminar inDecember 2003. Finally, Abel gave two conference presen-tations: “The ‘Backbone’ of the Business: Scanning Signs ofU.S. Film Distribution in the Newspapers, 1911-1914” atthe Eighth International Domitor Conference, Utrecht, inJune 2004; and “Getting the Habit: Picture Fans,Newspapers, and Other Print Sources, 1911-1913” at theFilm Panel, MLA Convention in San Diego, December 2003.

Catherine Benamou, associate professor, presented find-ings from her Spanish-language television research projectat the Global Fusion international conference in Austin, TX(October, 2003), and at the Society for Cinema and MediaStudies Conference in Atlanta, GA (March, 2004). In June,2003, she was interviewed by NPR for The Connection ontelenovelas, and in June, 2004, she presented “IndigenousWomen Make Waves: Film and Video Productions from theLatin American 80s” at the 49th meeting of SALALM (LatinAmerican Librarian Association), in Ann Arbor. An article,“Circumatlantic Media Migrations,” co-authored with Filmand Video colleague Lucia Saks, was published in MovieMutations: The Changing Face of World Cinephilia. Anotherpiece, “Rogério Sganzerla: Iconoclast and Preservationist”is being published in Brazil on the occasion of a retrospec-tive of Sganzerla’s films at the SESC cultural center in SãoPaulo.

Stashu Kybartas, Lecturer III, directed the Office ofInternational Program’s London Summer Program this pastsummer. Among his other duties he taught a class in Britishdocumentary film at University College London and theBritish Film Institute. The program he administered includedtwo other classes—Contemporary British Theater andPost-War British Culture. He will be directing the programagain next summer.Also this year, Kybartas has been work-ing with Yoni Goldstein on the final stages of editing his lat-est production, a video essay on his experiences inLithuania. Completion of the project is expected by January2005.

NEW BOOKS BY F/V FACULTY

7

FACULTY UPDATE

Christopher McNamara, Lecturer III, has produced anumber of works in a various media that deal with living onthe edge of the city of Detroit. His long term collaborationswith Dermot Wilson (collectively known as machyderm)have resulted in numerous projects and exhibitionsthroughout Canada and the U.S. and, most recently, inZurich, Switzerland. McNamara’s works explore experi-mental narratives and examine the nature of the movingimage and its relationship to sound. He has spoken onpanels dealing with art in the digital age, including a proj-ect at Cranbrook Museum of Art in Birmingham, Michigan,as well as at the Ann Arbor Film Festival. He is foundingmember of Media City, a prominent international festival ofexperimental film and video. For the past two years, he hasalso been involved in a new media/electronic music col-lective known as Thinkbox. In June 2004, he presentedwith his Thinkbox colleagues a new audio/visual perform-ance at the MUTEK festival in Montréal, Quebec. InSeptember 2004, Christopher traveled to Berlin to be pres-ent for the opening of “Shrinking Cities”, a group exhibitionhe was featured in.

Sheila Murphy, assistant professor, had an essay pub-lished in the August 2004 issue of the Journal of VisualCulture entitled “Live in Your World, Play in Ours; TheSpaces of Video Game Identity.” Professor Murphy is alsoworking on a book project that combines her research onthe visuality of the Internet with her new work on the his-tory and theory of video games.

Markus Nornes, associate professor, is currently on sab-batical in Japan, writing about the relationship of transla-tion and cinema.

Terri Sarris, senior lecturer and associate director of Film& Video, is currently collaborating with U-M School of Artand Design and Dance Department faculty on a media/per-formance adaptation of the new book Slave Moth, byThylias Moss. A version of the project premiered in Marchat the Michigan Theater as part of the Ann Arbor FilmFestival’s “super cinematic” events. In 2004, Terri receiveda CRLT Lecturers’ Professional Development grant toattend the Robert Flaherty seminar at Vassar College in lateJune and to participate in a film hand-processing work-shop at Squeaky Wheel Media Collective in July. In August,she edited a short tribute documentary for the PeterSparling Dance Company’s tenth anniversary performanceand was invited to kick-off “Home Movie Day” at theDetroit Film Center.

Lucia Saks, assistant professor, stated ten years havepassed since Nelson Mandela became South Africa’sPresident in the first multi-racial democratic elections everheld in that country. This occasioned a series of celebra-tions and reflections in a variety of forms on South Africa’sdecade of “freedom” and democratic rule. In April this year,Lucia Saks was an invited speaker at the Ten Years ofFreedom: Films from the New South Africa festival in NewYork. Her talk, entitled “A New Cinema Style for a NewDemocracy” was part of the ICAS symposium that accom-panied the festival. The Africa Studies Workshop at theUniversity of Chicago interrogated the role of the State inpost-apartheid South Africa. Professor Saks was invited toparticipate in the day conference and spoke on the role ofthe State in constructing a cinema under the sign of thenation.

The Cinema of ItalyEdited by Giorgio BertelliniPublished by Wallflower Press, 2004(U.S. distributor: Columbia University Press)

The Cinema of Italy examines recurring historical, the-matic and stylistic features of 24 of the most importantItalian sound films.Viewing Italian cinemaat the intersection ofhistory, politics, art andpopular culture, the 24concise essays of thisanthology contextualizeeach film within bothItalian and Western filmculture. Matching eachfilm with a top scholar,Bertellini’s anthologyoffers an innovativeand highly accessible introduction to the richness ofItalian cinema.

Film Noir and the Spaces of ModernityBy Edward DimendbergPublished by Harvard University Press, 2004

Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity is a bold inter-vention in cultural studies and a major contribution to film his-

tory. Edward Dimendbergcompellingly demonstrateshow film noir is preoccupiedwith modernity—particular-ly with the urban land-scapes. Exploring the classicexamples of film noir suchas The Asphalt Jungle,Double Indemnity, Kiss MeDeadly, and The Naked Cityalongside many lesser-known films, Dimendbergmasterfully interweaves filmhistory with urban history

while perceptively analyzing works by RaymondChandler, Edward Hopper, Siegfried Kracauer, HenriLefebvre.

SOON-TO-BE PUBLISHED BOOKS

It’s All True: Orsen Welles in Pan-AmericaBy Catherine BenamouUniversity of California Press, forthcoming 2005

Catherine Benamou uses primary documents as well asinterviews conducted with participants in Mexico, Brazil,and the U.S. to reconstruct the history of Orson Welles’unfinished documentary, It’s All True, and its place withinWelles’ film oeuvre as well as inter-American cinema underthe “Good Neighbor” policy during World War II. In theprocess, Welles’ dedication to altering racial and ethnicrepresentation on the screen, as well as his lasting influ-ence on filmmaking in Latin America are brought to light.Up to date information on the current status of, andprospects for preserving the nitrate footage to this film isalso provided.

No Place Like Home: Location of Heimatin German CinemaBy Johannes von MoltkeUniversity of California Press, forthcoming 2005

No Place Like Home is the first comprehensive accountof Germany’s most enduring cinematic genre, theHeimatfilm. Informed by film studies, cultural history, andsocial theory, the book emphasizes the genre’s concern withthe social construction of space and place. It traces thisconcern through the history of the Heimatfilm, from itslate-19th century origins to the present. The book isessential reading for anyone interested in German cinema aswell as in the history of popular national cinemas and genresoutside Hollywood.

8

Beth Serlin is returning as Peter and Barbara Benedek Artist-in-Residence. She was the Benedek Artist-in-Residence inFall 2003. She lives in Los Angeles but works predomi-nantly in Europe as a screenwriter and educator. After grad-uating from the University of Michigan, her career began as‘gofer’ extraordinaire in New York’s tony world of no-budgetproduction. There she collaborated with several indie direc-tors including Tom DiCillo, Edward Burns, and Darnell Martin.Having survived the trials of guerrilla filmmaking, she head-ed west for a MFA in screenwriting at the University ofSouthern California. In 1997, the German film, Jenseits derStille (co-writer credit), was nominated for the Best ForeignLanguage Academy Award and won Best Screenplay at theTokyo Film Festival. Since then she has worked for Pro-7,ZDF, Sat1 and ARD. Her latest project, Kinderraub, will filmthis fall in Germany and Austria. Serlin has also worked as astory analyst for New Line Cinema, CAA, Spring CreekProductions and the Sundance Institute. As a tutor she hasled development seminars for the Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the Maurits Binger Film Instituut in Amsterdam,North By Northwest, Screen Training Ireland and the OaxacaScreenwriter’s Lab. Currently, she is adjunct faculty at theUniversity of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television.

The Peter and Barbara BenedekArtist-in-Residence

NEW FACULTY

NEW STAFF

Amy Gibson, academic services secretary, is a newpart-time staff member. Amy started in Film & VideoStudies in July 2004. Amy has been with the University ofMichigan since 1981 and has worked in various secre-tarial and administrative positions within the medicalcenter. Amy finds her new Film & Video responsibilitiesboth challenging and rewarding.

Giorgio Bertellini, assistant professor, was a PostdoctoralFellow at the Michigan Society of Fellows and a visitingprofessor in Film & Video for the last three years. Bertellinicontinues his research on the racial fabric of earlyAmerican cinema for his book-length project on SouthernItalians’ film representation and experience in Italy and inNew York City at the turn of the 20th century. He hascompleted two essays on urban film culture in the U.S.titled “Divo/Duce: Displaced Rhetorics of Masculinity,Racial Identity, and Politics Among Italian Americans in1920’s New York City” and “Black Hand/White Hearts:Italian Immigrants as Urban Racial Types in Early 20thCentury American Cinema,” which will appear respective-ly in The Journal of Urban History and Urban History—thelatter will also be reprinted in a forthcoming anthologytitled Mob Culture: Hidden Histories of the AmericanGangster Film. Bertellini spent the summer of 2003 inBuenos Aires, investigating Southern Italians’ contributionto, and experience of, silent cinema in Argentina. In Fall2004, he is teaching a newly designed seminar, NewItalian Media, dedicated to Italy’s contemporary medias-phere and in particular to the politically-charged con-vergence of film, television, communication and digitalmedia industries.

Rob King was one of three scholars selected out of 300nominations for this two-year fellowship. Nominated byFilm & Video Studies Director Gaylyn Studlar, Rob is anassistant professor teaching American film comedy, filmtheory, and other courses. He recently received his doctoraldegree from UCLA, where he completed a dissertation on theKeystone Film Company.His published work includes an arti-cle on Jackie Coogan—a child actor from the silent era—and a forthcoming study of the Triangle Film Corporation.Research interests include early film comedy, popular cul-ture and social change, Marxist historiography, and envi-ronmental history.

Andrew W. Mellon PostdoctoralFellowship Recipient

Jennifer Hardacker, lecturer III, has taught film andvideo production as a visiting lecturer for the last twoyears. Hardacker’s video project, For Summers To Come,was shown this year at the United States Super 8mm andDigital Video Festival at Rutgers University, at the BlackMariah Film and Video Festival,The Ann Arbor Film Festival,The Anti-matter Film and Video Festival in Vancouver,Canada, and it was screened at the University Film andVideo Association Conference.

Mark Kligerman, visiting professor, is teaching in Film &Video for the academic year 2004-2005. He has taughtinternational cinema classes in Ohio University’s graduateprogram in World Cinema, as well as courses in non-Western cinema at Illinois State University. Most recently,Mark has lectured in film studies at NorthwesternUniversity, where he is completing his dissertation on theintersection of American road movies of the ‘70s and thegothic imagination. His research interests are broad, andinclude theories of taste and excess, the history ofexploitation films, and Russian cinema of the fantastic.Currently, he is writing an article about contemporary WestAfrican road movies and their narrative and visual re-map-ping of colonial cartographies.

Victor Fanucchi, visiting lecturer, made short films thathave played on PBS and FxM (Fox movie channel), and havescreened at the American Cinematheque (Los Angeles),Film Arts Festival (San Francisco), SXSW (Austin), Mill ValleyFilm Festival (CA), Raindance Film Festival (UK), DublinInternational Film Festival, and about 20 other festivals,winning twelve festival awards. Most recently he’s con-tributed to Los Angeles’ guerilla filmmaking co-op, Alpha60. Victor’s feature-length script Now Dig This was a final-ist for the Sundance Screenwriting Lab. Victor edited the-atrical trailers for such films as Lars Von Trier’s The Idiots,Eric Rohmer’s Autumn Tale, the documentary AmericanMovie, and the Sundance Award winner Three Seasons, forwhich he won the industry’s Golden Trailer Award. Victorhas written for Filmmaker Magazine and programmed forthe Los Angeles County Museum of Art Film Department.

VISITING FACULTY

Send to:

Program in Film & Video Studies

2512 Frieze Building

105 S. State St.

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1285

Champion Film & Video Studies and Give a Gift Today!Film & Video Studies provides an exceptional education to its students. However, the support of U-M alumni, parents, friends, andthe business community is vital to sustaining our progress. Your contributions are more important than ever. We ask that youconsider giving a gift to Film & Video Studies, and join our team effort in excellence!

Film & Video Studies Gift FormEnclosed is my gift of $______________

For #363429, AGMLS47

Name (s) ______________________________

Address _______________________________

_____________________________________

Phone ________________________________

E-Mail ________________________________

■■ I have enclosed my (or my spouse’s) employer matching gift form.

■■ My check is made payable to the University of Michigan.

Charge my gift to ■■ Mastercard ■■ Visa ■■ AMEX ■■ Discover

Account number ________________________________

Signature _____________________________________

Expiration Date ______________

■■ $500-$999

■■ $1,000 & above

■■ $1-$99

■■ $100-$499

University of Michigan Entertainment Coalition(UMEC) brings together Michigan alumni workingin all aspects of the entertainment industry,including fields as diverse as Film & TV, Theatre,New Media, Dance, Music, Publishing, andSports. For more information about UMEC andits events, please visit www.uofmentertainmentcoalition.org. To contactthe Los Angeles Chapter, e-mail Dominic Ciancioloat lapresident@uofmentertainmentcoalition.org. Tocontact the New York Chapter,e-mail Candace Tenbrinkat nypresident@uofmentertainmentcoalition.org.

Film & Video Studies

Amanda Sardone and Andrew Laurich. Their filmFrame Rate was in the first annual UMEC Film Festival.

The Film & Video StudentAssociation

The Film & Video Student Association provides anopportunity for Film & Video students to networkwith their peers and present film events and guestspeakers to the campus community. The studentassociation has an ambitious list of events. Theyorganize sneak previews of commercial movies likeFriday Night Lights, independent film events likeMadCat Women’s International Festival of Films,and weekly movie nights for U-M students; theyco-sponsor workshops with guest visitors incinematography, lighting, and editing; they recruitvolunteers for the Ann Arbor Film Festival; they dopeer counseling and share internship information;they take the Film & Video Association memberson a field trip to Detroit Institute of Arts; and theyhave fun events like an Academy Awards partyand game night, and the Film Trivia Competition.

The Film & Video Student Association’s mostimportant event each term is organizing “TheLightworks Festival” that showcases Film &Video student production course films. It is atwo-day all day event opened to the public andusually held in the Natural Science Auditorium.Also, the Film & Video Student Association presentstwo other yearly film festivals that includes studentworks outside of Film & Video: the “DigitalFestivus” and “Edible Rex: A Film Festival for theStarving Artist, a pageant of food and film.”

Alumni NewsZach Arnold is currently free lance editing his firstfeature film.Arnold works at KO Creative as a fulltime editor and graphic designer.Gabe Burnstein and David Anderson were hiredto write a screenplay called Alien Kids forNickelodeon and Paramount.Matt Cassatta, Joel Slabaugh, and JoelSmiedendorf. Their film Now You’re PlayingWith Power was one of two Film & Video studentfilms selected for UMEC’s first annual short filmfestival in Los Angeles. Nine films were select-ed for UMEC’s June 2004 film festival.Eric Champnella and Keith Mitchell wrote thescreenplay for Mr. 3000 starring Bernie Mac.Zach Evans is director of development at CastleCreek Productions in Los Angeles.Danielle Franco’s first documentary, Crazy LegsConti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating, wasscreened at the Tribeca film festival and the LosAngeles film festival.Andrea George and David Turner were married onOctober 16, 2004.Matt Johnson is working with DreamWorksAnimation and working on a movie called FlushedAway.Anika Kohon is executive assistant to ProducerJonathan Glickman, president of SpyglassEntertainment.Nikhil Mavinkurve took a job with Marc PlattProductions in LA. In September 2004, Nik was inAnn Arbor and gave a talk on producing to the Film& Video Student Association.

V. Prasad has been hired to write the screenplay foran independent feature called Ocean of Pearls.Kyle Wilamowski is in the Graduate Film School atColumbia University.

The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding non-discrimination and affirmative action, including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The University of Michigan is committed to a policy of non-discrimination and equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation,disability, or Vietnam-era veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the Senior Director for Institutional Equity and Title IX/ Section 504 Coordinator, Office for Institutional Equity, 2072 Administrative Services Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1432, (734) 763-0235, TTY (734) 647-1388.For other University of Michigan information call: (734) 764-1817.

Regents of the University of Michigan:

David A. Brandon, Ann Arbor; Laurence B. Deitch, Bingham

Farms; Olivia P. Maynard, Goodrich; Rebecca McGowan, Ann

Arbor; Andrea Fischer Newman, Ann Arbor; Andrew C. Richner,

Grosse Pointe Park; S. Martin Taylor, Grosse Pointe Farms;

Katherine E. White, Ann Arbor; Mary Sue Coleman, ex officio

First ClassU.S. PostagePAIDAnn Arbor, MIPermit No. 144

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTEDUniversity of Michigan Program in Film & Video Studies2512 Frieze Bldg105 S State StreetAnn Arbor, MI 48109-1285

FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKSSIX SEASONS TO REMEMBER!

In six seasons, the Festival of NewWorks developed thirty-five newscripts by writers from around the U.S.and Canada. A large part of theFestival’s writer development missionwas directed towards U-M studentscreenwriters and playwrights. TheFestival gave the student writer aunique opportunity at the U-M towork with a director, a cast of professionaland student actors, and a live audiencereacting to his/her script in performance.

The U-M Festival made its uniquemark in the country by fully stagingscreenplays. A directorial method,originated in the first season by LosAngeles-based director Daniel T.Green for the Festival, evolved. Thismethod used an ensemble of versatileactors who perform multiple roles andnarrative commentary in the screenplay.The result was a choreographed,“live”sweeping sense of film.

Hungry by Craig Silverstein

End of the Universe by Kerry Russell

The Festival’s sixth season staged ascreenplay by U-M Film & Videoalumnus, TV and film scriptwriterCraig Silverstein, called Hungry, a storyof a man’s journey to find his stolenstomach. Hungry was directed byJames Meade. Meade acted anddirected in five out six Festival seasons.

Two new plays were featured in thesixth season, both plays directed byJohn Neville-Andrews, U-M Theatreprofessor and Festival artistic producer.The lyricist and book writer of themusical Urinetown, Greg Kotis, devel-oped his new play Pig Farm, a satiricaland absurdist comedy on pig farming.U-M alumnae, playwright /screenwriterKerry Russell, delved into herprovocative script that looks into aUniversity Physics professor’s obsessionwith his student called End of the Universe.

Pig Farm by Greg Kotis