F.I.L.M. Series

Professor Zhuoyi Wang presents Yishu Yang and her new film A Land Behind (2024) “The story revolves around Mr. Tang and his assistant Xiao Yu, who are struggling to run an organic farm on a small island in the Yangtze River, facing many real-world challenges and an uncertain future. As an independent art film, A Land Behind adopts a restrained narrative style: its pace is slow and deep, its cinematography quiet and understated, eschewing sentimental music and commercial dramatic tropes. Nonetheless…the film maintains a kind of narrative tension, completely immersing the audience.  One v...

Honors student Aderyn Grace presents Video-Essayist, Isabel Custodio. Isabel (Izzy) Custodio is the writer, editor, and narrator of the YouTube channel Be Kind Rewind which uses the careers of movie actresses as a lens for exploring American cinema. She’ll talk about her work and what it’s like to be a full-time video essayist. F.I.L.M. events are free and open to the public. Support is provided by the Dean of Faculty Office, the Kirkland Endowment, and the Cinema and Media Studies major. Events are curated and organized by Professor of Cinema ...

Professors Kyoko Omori and Joel Neville Anderson present Japanese filmmaker Hara Kazuo’s 1972 documentary Sayonara CP Hara: “Until the end of the sixties, it was almost unheard of, in Japan, for handicapped people to leave their homes. There was no opportunity for handicapped people to take part in society. If they weren’t confined in their homes, they stayed in larger facilities designed for the disabled…. Their life, in every sense was confined. I felt I wanted to change this situation somehow.” F.I.L.M. events are free and open to the public...

Professors Martine Guyot-Bender, Kyoko Omori, and Pavitra Sundar, will present their video essays. One of the most exciting on-line developments of recent years has been the maturation of the video essay, or “videographic criticism” forms of media scholarship that use cinema to explore itself. F.I.L.M. events are free and open to the public. Support for F.I.L.M. events is provided by the Dean of Faculty Office, the Kirkland Endowment, and the Cinema and Media Studies major. Events are curated and organized by Professor of Cinema and Media Studies, ...