College of Film and the Moving Image

Major Mellon Grant Supports New College of Film

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Last week I received great news from the Andrew Mellon Foundation. The board just approved a major endowment grant to our new College of Film and the Moving Image. CFMI will receive a $2 million gift, if Wesleyan can raise another $4 million for the College over the next four years. This is similar to the very generous matching gift that Mellon made to our Center for the Humanities a couple of years ago. We completed that match in 2013, establishing an endowment for the Center for the Humanities for the first time in its 50-year history.

The CFMI is dedicated to advancing understandings of the moving image in all its forms—film, television, and digital media—through pedagogy, scholarship, community outreach, and historical preservation. The focus throughout is on the study and practice of visual storytelling, and the model of a close-knit, interactive college is well suited to the inherently collaborative nature of work in the world of film, television, and digital media. The CFMI—integrating our renowned Department of Film Studies, Cinema Archives, Center for Film Studies, and Film Series—will expand student access to the subject and increase learning opportunities for non-film majors.

I believe that this is the first major grant that Mellon has made to film studies in its long history of supporting liberal education. The foundation explained that Wesleyan’s liberal arts approach to film was “unique” in the field, and its leadership was delighted to help the university build a foundation for a program that had already achieved so much.

Congratulations to the film alumni, students and faculty! And now onward to raise this important endowment match!!

Wes Stars: Softball, Baseball, Filmmakers

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Wesleyan softball star Allee Beatty ’13 was named NESCAC player of the year, fitting recognition for this senior who has established new Wesleyan records for her offensive production. Allee was also named defensive player of the year by the conference for her standard of perfection out in the field. Pitching sensation Su Pardo ’16 was named NESCAC rookie of the year.

The baseball team had a tremendous season that led all the way to the conference championship game. This was our first trip to the final match-up, and we  got there the hard way, having dropped a nail-biter against Amherst College in extra innings on Saturday. Donnie Cimino ’15 was one of many stand-out performers over the weekend, capping off his stellar season. The young Cardinal team will be back in the mix for years to come!

The art of film making is certainly a team sport. Over the weekend I also had the opportunity to take in some of the senior productions made by this year’s film studies majors. Whether working in 16 millimeters or video…whether putting together animation, musicals, comedies or existential thrillers, the Wesleyan film auteurs (and their teams) display craft and ingenuity. If you didn’t see the screenings over the weekend, there’s usually another chance over Commencement/Reunion weekend.

Wesleyan Taking Over Hollywood (THIS IS WHY)

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I’m writing this from Los Angeles, where last night we gathered with more than 200 Wesleyans to celebrate film studies. Each year Rick Nicita ‘67 hosts this great party on President’s Day at the spectacular offices of the Creative Artists Agency. We had much to celebrate this year. I announced that Wesleyan was creating the College of Film and the Moving Image. The college integrates the Film Studies Department, the Cinema Archives, the Center for Film Studies, and the Wesleyan Film Series in ways that will allow Wesleyan to accelerate the success of an already dynamic, high-impact program.

Mike Fries ’85 was at the event to announce his gift to the endowment to honor his father, television producer Chuck Fries. These funds (with help from the National Endowment for the Humanities) have allowed us to hire Andrea McCarty for a new curatorial position at the Cinema Archives. Chuck and his wife Ava joined Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, founder and curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives, Jeanine Basinger, Rick, Mike and me in marking this occasion.

Rick Nicita, Prez Roth, Jeanine Basinger, Ava Fries, Chuck Fries, Mike Fries

Jeanine arrived at the events after a hard day of book signing.  Her I Do and I Don’t: A History of Marriage in the Movies is selling like hotcakes and receiving rave reviews. We met up with Joss Whedon, the 2013 commencement speaker, to take a THIS IS WHY photo.

This is Why: Joss and Jeanine

 

This year is particularly exciting for the Wes Film Empire, with Beasts of the Southern Wild nominated for the Best Picture Oscar (among others). At the reception I met up with some of the producers of the film, and we had a vigorous conversation about recent changes to our financial aid programs. (I also dropped to my knees to pay homage to their extraordinary movie.)

This is Why: Beasts of Southern Wild Producers

Hey, it’s Wesleyan. We aren’t supposed to agree on everything. But we did agree that raising more money for financial aid should be an institutional priority, and that’s what the fundraising campaign is all about.

Financial Aid Now More than Ever. THIS IS WHY.

Performance! Now!

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Yesterday afternoon I stopped by the opening of the new exhibition in Zilkha, Performance Now. What a wonderful show! The entire gallery space seems transformed, and there is so much to look at, listen to, laugh with, and be absorbed by.  The exhibition is a collaboration between Wesleyan, Independent Curators International, and Performa. Roselee Goldberg, who has long championed adventurous performance art, curated the exhibition, and was on hand yesterday to make some remarks. She’ll be back on November 17th to lecture. A group of alumni who are making performance based work (check out Liz Magic Laser ’03 in this show) will be speaking on campus October 20. Here’s a brief summary of the show from the website:

Performance Now is an exhibition that will debut at Wesleyan, and show how performance has come to be at the center of the discussion on the latest developments in contemporary art and culture. Bringing together some of the most significant artists working today, this exhibition surveys the most critical and experimental currents in performance over the last ten years from around the globe. Segments of the exhibition featuring video, film and photography, by artists including Marina Abramovic, William Kentridge, Clifford Owens and Laurie Simmons, will be showcased in Zilkha Gallery.

Throughout the semester there will be seminars, talks, and performances. And check out the very cool Film Series on Thursday in the Powell Cinema at the Center for Film Studies.

There is plenty of performance on campus every year, but there is a strange synergy brewing this term. The Center for the Humanities is focused on temporality this semester, and performance is certainly a time-based medium. I heard historian Lynn Hunt’s great talk on Monday night, and it got the series off to a strong start.  And, of course, the Music and Public Life program continues all year with great performances and reflections on them.

As I meet with folks on campus, it seems that scores of students are auditioning for plays, dances and musical groups in these first weeks of the semester.  Here’s to “call backs!”

A Jewel of an Archive

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One of the great resources on the campus is surely the Ogden and Mary Louise Reid Cinema Archives. Although the fame of our undergraduate film major is well known to the Wes family, only those with a really serious interest in cinema scholarship may know about the treasures right here on campus.

The Cinema Archives are the home for some stellar collections, and I can start by mentioning three major American directors. Frank Capra, Elia Kazan and Martin Scorsese have deposited archives here, and scholars from around the world come to Middletown to consult them. Head Archivist Joan Miller recently told me about some of the work going on in the Reid Archives.

This year marked the Centenary of the birth of Elia Kazan, and works by several researchers who came to the Archives will be published. Knopf will bring out a collection of Selected Letters, and James T. Fisher’s new interpretation of On the Waterfront will be published by Cornell University Press. Our own faculty member Lisa Dombrowski has edited a volume on Kazan that will be released by Wesleyan University Press in a few months.

Frank Capra’s Collection is a key part of Wesleyan’s archive. Recently, filmmaker Chip Hackler, another visitor to the Archives, put together a film about Capra’s anxious reaction to the success of his great comedy, It Happened One Night. Researchers interested in television in the 1950s have been working through the Omnibus Collection. Anna McCarthy’s new book on media and citizenship, which draws on this collection, will be published this year by the Free Press. Biographical studies of Scorsese have been started here in Middletown, as have reconsiderations of multi-talented director and artist John Waters.

bergman

Finally, I should mention the Ingrid Bergman/Roberto Rossellini collection, which has continued to inspire research (and more than a little awe). Filmmakers and biographers visit Wes to consult the extensive paper and photographic archive. If they are lucky, they may even get an opportunity to visit with Jeanine Basinger, who has carefully stewarded our donors and added another jewel to Wesleyan’s crown.

[tags]Ogden and Mary Louise Reid Cinema Archives, Frank Capra, Elia Kazan, Martin Scorsese, Lisa Dombrowski, On the Waterfront, It Happened One Night, Ingrid Bergman/Roberto Rossellini Collection[/tags]

The place is Wesleyan

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It’s always a pleasure when our alumni return to campus to visit with students. This weekend my classmate (and star!) Dana Delaney ’78 was here to talk about her film and TV career as well as her new project with Janet Grillo ’80. I myself was just getting back from the road, but I heard the event was a great success. The Wesleyan Film program continues to support current students by bringing back fascinating alumni who can reflect on their careers in interesting ways.

On Sunday I stopped by the Wesleyan wrestling team’s match against Williams College. Coach Black has put together a great roster of students who have had a truly impressive season. We didn’t beat Williams yesterday, but every match I saw was competitive. I have to admit that I don’t know much about wrestling, but even I could see how much these young men have worked at becoming stronger, more agile and more focused. Hats off especially to Greg Hurd ’10 who is ranked 8th nationally and who finished the season 16-0 in duals.

We all owe Coach Black a debt of gratitude for his effective actions in providing CPR to an alumnus who suffered a heart attack in the gym last week. Coach Black and student Jamal Ahmed ’09, who made good use of his defibrillator training, heroically saved a life! Our whole community is indebted to them.

Such is the excitement of the Wesleyan campus that I went directly from the tournament in the Freeman Athletic Center to a senior thesis presentation in the theater department that was wrestling with fundamental issues of gender, freedom, reality and illusion. Gedney Barclay ’09 presented a thoughtful, provocative and intense production of Fefu and Her Friends.  The demanding production made use of many spaces in the Malcom X House, and the audience moved into zones of believability, uncertainty and concern as we shifted from room to room. The entire cast (Ali San Roman ’11, Emily Levine ’11, Emily Caffery ’10, Kiara Williams-Jones ’12, Elissa Heller ’11, Sarah Wolfe ’12, Arielle Hixson ’12, Alli Rock ’10), was excellent, and I left with a feeling of having been transported to a very special place.

Of course, I had been transported. The place is Wesleyan!

[tags] Dana Delaney ’78, Janet Grillo ’80, Wesleyan Film program, wrestling, Williams College, Coach Black, Greg Hurd ’10, Jamal Ahmed ’09, Freeman Athletic Center, Gedney Barclay ’09, Fefu and Her Friends [/tags]

Wesleyan in Los Angeles

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I’m on my way back from California, where the Film Studies faculty and I attended the great annual party at the Creative Artist Agency. Rick Nicita ’67 is one of the directors of this talent agency, and each year he throws a cocktail party at which a couple of hundred Wes alums can compare notes on their screenplays, TV pilots, cinematography, and the crazy business world that is Hollywood. I didn’t know about the event until I was appointed to the presidency, and now I’m told regularly how Wesleyan “runs the entertainment world.” That’s a slight exaggeration, but it is true that from heads of major studios to composers and Oscar winning writers, producers and directors, our little university has had a BIG impact on what we watch on the screen.

How did it happen that a small liberal arts school has managed to do this? The story has to start with Jeanine Basinger, who has built the program from scratch and turned it into one of the premier films studies departments in the country. Jeanine’s devotion to her students is legendary, and while she has taught effectively and built the program, she has also published a group of important books contributing to the history of American cinema. The department’s ethos of creative teamwork has led to the development of a network of caring and effective alumni. They help each other out, and they have confidence in the broad-based liberal arts education of Wes grads. The result is that the “Wesleyan Mafia” is the gold standard in Hollywood.

I was particularly delighted to see the great wave of affection that greeted Prof. Rich Slotkin, who is stepping down this term after more than 40 years of teaching Film and American Studies at Wes. The young film scholars Lisa Dombrowski and Scott Higgins rounded out the Middletown contingent, and recent alumni joined with more senior classes to greet us and ask for news of Wesleyan today. The talent, energy and loyalty of the alumni were truly impressive.

I shouldn’t, though, give the impression that our LA alumni are only found in the entertainment industry. Some have leadership positions in research and education, museums and the symphony, science, medicine and the business world. Of course, there are many who started in one sector and wound up in a totally different one. They are Wesleyan alumni after all!

People often ask me how “practical” it is to study the liberal arts. I’ll write more about that another time, but I got a powerful sense in the last few days of how a great group of our students have gone out to develop productive and creative careers that draw on their broad-based Wesleyan education. Los Angeles may be a long way from Middletown, but the liberal arts seeds planted in central Connecticut are indeed blooming in southern California.

[tags] Los Angeles, Film Studies, Creative Artist Agency, Rick Nicita, Jeanine Basinger, Wesleyan Mafia, Richard Slotkin, Lisa Dombrowski, Scott Higgins, alumni [/tags]

Sounds of Early Semester

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It was great to be back in the classroom this week, although the word “classroom” hardly does justice to the state-of-the-art facility that is the Goldsmith Family Cinema. I have taught “The Past on Film” for many years, but never with the support of a projection and sound system that makes the viewing experience as compelling as possible. There were about 250 students in attendance, and the film we watched (Night and Fog) was as intense as I remember it being the first time I saw it 35 years ago. The sound system is extraordinary, bringing the viewers deep into the work. The students made great comments and asked good questions. I am looking forward to Tuesday mornings! (And remember: open office hours for students February 4, between 4:00 pm and 5:30 pm. I’ll be scheduling this every other week afterwards.)

The Film Studies Department is one of the jewels of the university. The new facility and the archive are an enormous resource for the exploration of the movies, and each week a student board has chosen a group of films that are open to the entire campus. The choices are thoughtful, eclectic, and fun. I only wish I could go more often.

For generations, Wesleyan was known as the “Singing College of New England.” Apparently, students would burst into song whenever Mrs. Butterfield (whose husband Vic was president from 1942-1967) would enter a room. The musicality of our school remains vibrant. Professor Mark Slobin recently sent me an article recounting the development of world music and ethnomusicology at Wesleyan over the last 40 years or so. This week we welcomed a few hundred Connecticut area alumni on campus, and after I asked them to support our financial aid initiatives, we all joined in singing the old college songs. May the singing increase generosity for scholarships! A cappella groups on campus (there are many), sing with spirit and precision on all kinds of celebratory occasions. This week we had a celebration of Martin Luther King. After listening to talks Dr. King gave at Wes, Bernice Reagon (of Sweet Honey in the Rock fame) delivered a singing and talking lecture that filled the chapel with joyful, hopeful sounds. A group of women faculty and staff known as the Roadies led the group in a rousing spiritual.

But for me, the most powerful music I’ve heard thus far were when the Wesleyan Spirits, a group of young men who usually sing with infectious, antic joy, brought their music to the memorial service for Chase Parr. Chase herself was a singer, and the Spirits paid her tribute with dignity and love. I will long remember how their voices captured our community’s sorrow and affection in song, and how they transformed that sadness into something else – a music we could share.

[tags] Goldsmith Family Cinema, Night and Fog, office hours, Film Studies Department, Mark Slobin, music, Martin Luther King, Bernice Reagon, Wesleyan Spirits, Chase Parr [/tags]