A Memphis native and a four-time-Grammy-nominated chronicler of Southern music, art, and politics, Robert Gordon is the writer, producer or director of numerous documentaries, including “Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story” (2007) and “Johnny Cash’s America” (2008). His latest film, “Best of Enemies” (2015), a penetrating and entertaining look at the enmity between public intellectuals William F. Buckley, Jr., and Gore Vidal, as it played out on national television in 1968, premiered in competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and is currently in theatrical release from Magnolia Pictures.  

Co-sponsored by the Journalist in Residence Program. 

"Loss, destitution, and ignominy: the ageing star in contemporary French cinema" with Phil Powrie 

The “crisis of masculinity” has been commonplace in Film Studies since the 1990s and, more recently, on ageing stars in a range of national cinemas. This talk will explore specific representations of older masculinity in three male French film stars – Gérard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, and Johnny Hallyday— and consider the ways, in each case, the ageing male acts as the vehicle for a nostalgic celebration of loss. 

Sponsored by the Comparative Literature Program and The Dean's Office Centennial Fund. 

“Very Semi-Serious” is an offbeat meditation on humor, art and the genius of the single panel. The documentary film takes an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the New Yorker and introduces the cartooning legends and hopefuls who create the iconic cartoons that have inspired, baffled—and occasionally pissed off—all of us for decades. “Very Semi-Serious” premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival and aired on HBO. A screening of the film at 2 p.m. in Cornerstone is followed by a Q and A with Mankoff, the New Yorker’s cartoon editor and a major subject of the film. Later that evening, don’t miss Mankoff’s multi-media Journalist in Residence presentation, “Cartoon Hero,” at 7 pm in Gaylord Hall. 

Co-sponsored by the Journalist in Residence Program.  

The Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival is the longest running women’s film festival in North America. The celebration showcases approximately 45 films by and about women, as well as numerous discussion events providing interaction with festival filmmakers. Films are selected to screen based on artistic merit, excellence in storytelling, and diverse perspectives on global issues.

Co-sponsored by the Cultural Attractions Fund. Tickets for CC students, faculty, and staff are FREE – get vouchers at the Worner Desk and exchange them for day passes in Cornerstone Main Space Saturday/Sunday. Free tickets to Saturday night’s event are limited. All others members may buy tickets at http://rmwfilminstitute.org.  

“Soundtrack for a Revolution” (2009) with director Dan Sturman and producer Dylan Nelson 

“Soundtrack for a Revolution” tells the story of the American civil rights movement is told through its powerful music -- the freedom songs protesters sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, in police wagons, and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality. An inspiring mix of historical documentary and contemporary musical performance, the film features new recordings by artists including John Legend, Joss Stone, Wyclef Jean, and The Roots. It premiered at the Tribeca and Cannes film festivals, aired on PBS’s “American Experience,” and was short-listed for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. 

In this autobiographical artist talk, Miranda July discusses the making of books, shoes, friends, movies, performances, and personal protection devices – from her earliest work as a fledgling artist in Portland, OR to her current successes and tribulations as an award-winning filmmaker and best-selling author. With moments of interactive performances, video clips, and short readings, “Lost Child!” explores the inner world of one of today’s most original artists.

Part of Cornerstone Arts Week.

Sponsored by the Theatre and Dance Department, the Cultural Attractions Fund, and the NEH Professorship. 

This multilayered independent film, written by, directed by, and starring Miranda July, screened in competition at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and tied for the Camera d’Or at the Festival de Cannes. In July’s modern world, the mundane is transcendent and everyday people become radiant characters who seek togetherness and find redemption in small moments of connection. Post-film discussion led by Assistant Professor Dylan Nelson.

Part of Cornerstone Arts Week.

Sponsored by the Theatre and Dance Department, the Cultural Attractions Fund, and the NEH Professorship. 

Between 1933 and 1939, representations of the Nazis and the full meaning of Nazism came slowly to Hollywood, growing more ominous and distinct only as the decade wore on. Recapturing what ordinary Americans saw on the screen during the emerging Nazi threat, Thomas Doherty reclaims forgotten films, such as Hitler's Reign of Terror (1934) and others. Doherty also recounts how the disproportionately Jewish backgrounds of the executives of the studios and the workers on the payroll shaded reactions to what was never simply a business decision. Should Hollywood lie low, or stand tall and sound the alarm? 

A cultural historian with a special interest in Hollywood cinema, Thomas Doherty is a professor of American Studies and chair of the American Studies Program at Brandeis University. He is an associate editor for the film magazine Cineaste.

Co-Sponsored by the German Program, the French and Italian Department, and the Office of the Dean. 

“Better Living Through Criticism” is composed of six chapters and four dialogues. It opens with an imaginary (or perhaps not so imaginary) interviewer asking the critic: “What’s the point of criticism? What are critics good for?” And it says, just before it closes, that where criticism is concerned, “nobody has ever figured out where to begin, or what to conclude.” Does this mean we have gotten nowhere?  

A.O. Scott is a prolific American film and literary critic who serves as the chief film critic at The New York Times. He joined the Times as a film critic in January 2000; previously, he was a Sunday book reviewer for Newsday and a frequent contributor to Slate, The Nation, and many other publications. Scott was also a frequent guest host or host of the movie review television shows “Ebert & Roeper” and “At the Movies.”

Presented by the Academic Events Committee. Co-sponsored by the Sociology Department and the NEH Professorship. 

creenings of two short BYkids documentaries enable fresh perspectives on world issues through the personal stories and lived experience of young filmmakers. 12 year old Edelsin Linette Mendez documents the challenges climate change brings to her family on their small coffee farm in the highlands of Nicaragua. 16 year old María Ceballos Paz, one of millions of Colombians displaced due to fighting among national and guerrilla forces, shows us her family, friends and community as they rebuild their lives. 

Holly Carter is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and a documentary producer. She co-founded the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and is and founder and executive director of BYkids, a global movement that uses storytelling through film to inform, engage and inspire action. BYkids films recently aired as a new series, narrated by Ashley Judd, on PBS nationwide.

Co-sponsored by the Political Science Department, the Environmental Program, Innovation at CC, the Office of Sustainability, ENACT, and Films for Justice. 

"Editing Hitchcock:
Suture as Wound and Promise" with George Butte

George Butte’s most recent book, “Suture and Narrative: Deep Intersubjectivity in Fiction and Film,” was published this year by the Ohio State University Press. This lecture provides a brief introduction to suture in film narrative by way of some close readings of “Shadow of a Doubt,” Hitchcock’s 1943 masterpiece.

Co-sponsored by the Department of English.

"LA 92" with TJ Martin and Ryan Loeffler '12 

Twenty-five years after the verdict in the Rodney King trial sparked protests, violence, and looting in Los Angeles, “LA 92” immerses viewers in that tumultuous period through stunning, rarely seen footage. Co-director T.J. Martin, a director, cinematographer, and editor, is the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, for 2012’s “Undefeated.” Lead Assistant Editor Ryan Loeffler ’12 (English/ Film) worked hand in hand with him and the producers to create this spectacular all-archival documentary film, which brings a fresh perspective to a pivotal moment in American history. “LA 92” premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.

Co-sponsored by the Departments of English and History.

"World Spirit Falling Off Its Horse" with Slavoj Žižek

Slavoj Žižek is one of the globe’s most influential thinkers. A Slovenian psychoanalytic philosopher, cultural critic, and Hegelian Marxist, he is a senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana, Global Distinguished Professor of German at New York University, and international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities of the University of London. His work is located at the intersection of a range of subjects, including continental philosophy, political theory, cultural studies, and film criticism.

Part of the second biannual LACK conference, Psychoanalysis and Politics NOW.” Co-Sponsored by the Cultural Attractions Fund, the NEH Professorship, and the O’Donaghue Foundation.

"Mekko" with Sterlin Harjo

Sterlin Harjo is a writer-director of feature documentary and fiction films. A member of the Seminole Nation, Harjo has Mvskoke heritage and was raised in Holdenville, OK. His first four films, including the fiction features “Four Sheets to the Wind” (2007) and “Barking Water” (2008), and the documentary “This May Be the Last Time” (2014), all premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. “Mekko” (2015), a thriller set in Tulsa, paints the portrait of a homeless Native American parolee who seeks to save his chaotic yet beautiful community from the darkness that threatens it. It premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

Co-Sponsored by the NEH Professorship; the Office of the Dean; the Andrew Mellon Foundation; Films for Social Justice; the Race, Ethnicity and Migration Studies Program; and the Hulbert Center for Southwest Studies.

Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival

Strong women, strong films, strong community. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, the longestrunning women’s film festival in North America. The celebration showcases approximately 45 incredible films by and about women, with Q and A sessions and other events with festival filmmakers.

"The Defiant Ones" with Doug Pray '83

Doug Pray ’83 is best known as a director of feature documentary films about American subcultures and maverick individuals. “The Defiant Ones” (2017) is an HBO documentary series that tells the stories of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre’s improbable musical partnership – and their surprising roles in contemporary culture. Pray wrote and edited the series alongside fellow CC alum Lasse Jarvi ’03; Pray also served as executive producer. He received a BA in sociology and an honorary doctorate from Colorado College and an MFA from the UCLA School of Film and Television.

Co-Sponsored by the Department of Sociology.

“Critical Stupidity:
‘Jackass’ and Mimesis” with Scott Richmond

Scott Richmond’s research and teaching often mix considerations of high and low. His areas of interest include avant-garde and experimental cinema and digital media art, critical theory and phenomenology, and contemporary film and media theory. His first book, “Cinema’s Bodily Illusions: Flying, Floating, and Hallucinating,” was recently published by the University of Minnesota Press. He is Assistant Professor in the Cinema Studies Institute at the University of Toronto.

"In Concert with Nanook of the North" with Tanya Tagaq

“Nanook of the North” is considered the world’s first major work of non-fiction filmmaking, yet it is rife with contradictions in its portrayal of the lives of an Inuk family in Arctic Canada. In this special event, Polaris Music Prizeand Juno Award-winning vocalist Tanya Tagaq and a small ensemble perform a live accompaniment to the film’s silent images. Drawing on her childhood on Nunavut’s Victoria Island and on her mother’s memories of forced relocation from the film’s Northern Quebec location, Tagaq’s sense of the sound of the Arctic spaces shown in the film transforms the images, adding feeling and depth to what is a complex mix of beautiful representations and racially charged clichés.

Part of Cornerstone Arts Week, Jan. 29—Feb. 3.

"Colorado College Documentary Grants" with Travis Rummel '01, Nick Rosen '97, Aidan Haley '09

 Travis Rummel ’01 is a critically acclaimed environmental filmmaker whose projects include the feature documentary “DamNation,” which won Audience Choice Awards at both SXSW and Telluride Mountainfilm. Nick Rosen ’97 is co-creator of the Emmy-nominated National Geographic television series “First Ascent.” Aidan Haley ‘09 is an awardwinning editor. As alumni partners, they will show selections from their work to help celebrate the launch of the new Colorado College Documentary Exploration Grants, which will provide grants of up to $10,000 to CC filmmakers for character-driven documentary projects.

"Spa Night" with Andrew Ahn

Andrew Ahn is a Korean-American filmmaker born and raised in Los Angeles. In his debut feature film, “Spa Night,” a young Korean-American works to reconcile his obligations to his struggling immigrant family with his burgeoning sexual desires in the underground world of gay hookups at Korean spas in Los Angeles. Ahn won the John Cassavetes Award at the 2017 Independent Spirit Awards for the project, which he developed with the assistance of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab, and the Film Independent Directing Lab. “Spa Night” premiered in the US Dramatic Competition of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and its lead actor, Joe Seo, won a Special Jury Prize for Breakthrough Performance.

In addition to being the most gifted American composer of his time, Leonard Bernstein was a fierce champion of human rights. Through film and music, we explore the relationship between music, art, human rights, Bernstein’s legacy, and the Holocaust. The evening features a screening of the Oscarnominated short documentary “Joe’s Violin” (dir. Kahane Cooperman), with a talk by human rights scholar Fran Pilch and special performances by Colorado Springs Philharmonic concertmaster Michael Hanson and principal pianist Kelly Zuercher.

Co-sponsored by the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Institute; part of the 2017-18 Leonard Bernstein at 100 Festival.

"Survivors" with Arthur Pratt and Lansana Mansaray

Arthur Pratt and Lansana Mansaray are Sierra Leonean filmmakers based in Freetown. “Survivors” presents an emotional portrait of Sierra Leone during the Ebola outbreak, exposing the complexity of the epidemic and the socio-political turmoil that lies in its wake. Pratt’s unique access, narrative voice, and observational footage becomes a prism for understanding the health catastrophe, revealing deep misunderstandings between international aid organizations and the communities they serve, as well as unresolved political tensions after a decade-long civil war. “Survivors” will premiere on the prestigious PBS series “POV” September 24, 2018.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science.

"Work in Progress Fiction Film" with Bob Byington and Kaley Wheless '15

Bob Byington is an independent fiction filmmaker based in Austin, Texas. His films frequently premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival and include “Harmony and Me” (2009), “Somebody Up There Likes Me” (2012), “Seven Chinese Brothers” (2015), and “Infinity Baby” (2017). This latest film stars Kaley Wheless ’15, a familiar face from CC student films 2013-15, who was a student in Byington’s 2014 directing class at Colorado College. She is an actress in Austin.

Since 1979, Mountainfilm has celebrated the indomitable spirit of humanity, using the power of film, art, and ideas to inspire audiences to create a better world. MovieMaker magazine calls Mountainfilm “one of the 25 coolest film festivals in the world.” This evening of award-winning films, hosted by Mountainfilm’s Jacob Reuter ’08, focuses on immigration and migration issues in addition to Mountainfilm’s traditional emphasis on outdoor adventure.

Co-sponsored by Outdoor Education and the Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Studies Program.

Kevin Willmott is a director and screenwriter whose films include “Ninth Street” (1999), “C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America” (2004), “Bunker Hill” (2008), and “The Only Good Indian” (2009). He adapted Ron Stallworth’s 2014 memoir “Black Klansman” into the 2018 Spike Lee film “BlacKkKlansman,” set in Colorado Springs and at Colorado College. “BlacKkKlansman” won the Grand Prix at the 2018 Festival de Cannes and is currently in wide theatrical release.

Co-sponsored by The Butler Center; Residential Life & Campus Activities; the Feminist and Gender Studies Program; the Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Studies Program; and the Cultural Attractions Fund.

James Balog (“Chasing Ice”) is a photographer and mountaineer dedicated to capturing the impact of climate change in the natural environment. “The Human Element” uses Balog’s work to document how the earth’s four elements – water, air, fire, and earth – have been impacted by a fifth element, homo sapiens. Daniel Wright ’13 co-produced the film; he has worked on high-profile documentaries including “Merchants of Doubt” (Telluride 2014), “Racing Extinction” (Sundance 2015), and “Maurizio Cattelan: Be Right Back” (Tribeca 2016). “The Human Element” premiered at the 2018 San Francisco International Film Festival.

Co-sponsored by the Environmental Program and the Department of Anthropology.

"1 Angry Black Man" with Menelek Lumumba '02

Menelek Lumumba ’02 was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, and studied English and film at CC and cinema at Howard University’s Master of Arts program. “1 Angry Black Man” is a conceptual feature film inspired loosely by the Hollywood drama “12 Angry Men” – but set within a black studies classroom at a liberal arts college. “1 Angry Black Man” provides a view of the difficult conversations young people have as they navigate society, drawing from the intellect of master writers such as James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, August Wilson, and Ta-Nehisi Coates. The film premiered at Philadelphia’s BlackStar Film Festival.

Co-sponsored by the Dean of Students and the Department of English.

Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival

The Female Lens. This year marks the 31st year of the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival, the longestrunning women’s film festival in North America. The celebration showcases approximately 45 incredible films by and about women, with Q and A sessions and other events with festival filmmakers.

"Holding Blackness in Suspension: The Films of Kahlil Joseph" with Alessandra Raengo

Alessandra Raengo’s research focuses on blackness in the visual and aesthetic fields with a particular focus on the critical concept of “liquid blackness.” Her scholarship is moved by the conviction that blackness, as both a visual and racial fact, is the most productive and important starting point to theorize the ontology of images and, similarly, that the “color line” offers the most sophisticated and urgent approach to the conjunction of aesthetics and politics. She is associate professor of Film, Media, and Theatre at Georgia State University.

Co-sponsored by the Feminist and Gender Studies Program and the Race, Ethnicity, and Migration Studies Program.

"Socrates's Mistake: Lacan on Love" with Mari Ruti

CANCELLED

Mari Ruti is distinguished professor of critical theory and of gender and sexuality studies at the University of Toronto. She is an interdisciplinary scholar within the theoretical humanities working at the intersection of contemporary theory, continental philosophy, psychoanalytic theory, cultural studies, trauma theory, posthumanist ethics, and gender and sexuality studies. Ruti’s scholarship addresses questions of subjectivity, relationality, psychic life, desire, affect, power, agency, autonomy, creativity, oppression, social change, and contemporary ethics.

Co-sponsored by the Riker/Dobson Fund for Psychoanalysis, Creativity, and the Self and the Department of Philosophy.

Tuesday, Jan 22, 6:30 pm

Cornerstone Screening Room

“Blindspotting” (2018) with Geoffrey Quan

Directed by Carlos López Estrada and starring Daveed Diggs, “Blindspotting” is a timely and wildly entertaining story about the intersection of race and class, set against the backdrop of a rapidly gentrifying Oakland. It received rave reviews and sparked a bidding war at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Lionsgate won, releasing the film theatrically summer 2018. Geoffrey Quan is an award-winning independent filmmaker and producer who has produced eight features and production managed three more. His films have shown at over 100 festivals, including Sundance, SXSW, Cannes, and Rotterdam, and been supported by IFP, Film Independent, HBO Films, and the Film Arts Foundation.

Wednesday, Feb 20, 3:30 pm

Cornerstone Screening Room

“Risk, Exploration, and Adventure in Documentary Filmmaking” with Mike Shum ’07 and Travil Rummel ‘01

Mike Shum ’07 is a Chinese-American filmmaker who specializes in documentary directing and cinematography and has covered stories ranging from Eastern Congo’s (DRC) M23 rebels to the rise of ISIS in Northern Iraq.

Travis Rummel ’01 is a critically-acclaimed environmental filmmaker and co-founder of Felt Soul Media. His films include the feature documentary “DamNation,” which won Audience Choice Awards at both SXSW and Telluride Mountainfilm.

These two artists will discuss and show selections from their work as part of the launch of the 2019 Colorado College Documentary Exploration Grants, which, for the second year, will provide grants of up to $10,000 to CC student filmmakers for character-driven documentary projects.

Friday, Feb 22, 3:30 pm

Cornerstone Screening Room

 “The Substance of the Seen and the Unseen: Perspectives on Film, Race, and Visual Culture” with Michele Prettyman Beverly

Dr. Michele Prettyman is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Mercer University. Michele Prettyman Beverly is an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at Mercer University and a scholar of African American cinema and visual culture. A central theme in her work is the exploration what we might learn about the intersection of race, visual culture and consciousness.  She will discuss aspects of her teaching, research and how she applies practices from the 'creative' domain to her study of a range of film and visual culture.

Monday, Mar 4, 12:45 pm

Cornerstone Screening Room

“Mr. Gay Syria” (2017) with Ayse Toprak and Baran Germen

“Mr. Gay Syria,” which had its world premiere at the Sheffield Doc/Fest and has won numerous awards, follows two gay Syrian refugees who are trying to rebuild their lives. Husein is a barber in Istanbul living a double life between his conservative family and his gay identity. Mahmoud is the founder of Syria’s LGBTI movement and is a refugee in Berlin. What brings them together is a dream: to participate in an international beauty contest as an escape from their trapped lives and an answer to their invisibility.

Ayse Toprak is a native of Turkey who studied at New York University and worked around the world for 15 years before returning to her homeland. In addition to many other honors, she has been a Berlinale Talent Fellow.

Baran Germen is Visiting Assistant Professor in Film and Media Studies.

Wednesday, Mar 27, 7:30 pm

Cornerstone Screening Room

“Mankiller” (2017) with Valerie Red-Horse Mohl

“Mankiller” is the story of the formidable Wilma Mankiller, who overcame rampant sexism and personal challenges to emerge as the Cherokee Nation’s first woman Principal Chief in 1985. This is the story an American hero, someone who humbly defied the odds to fight injustice and give a voice to the voiceless – and yet few people know her name.

Valerie Red-Horse Mohl is of Cherokee ancestry and the owner/founder of Red-Horse Native Productions, Inc. Red-Horse Mohl’s body of work spans over two decades of film and television content creation and production; she and her company are preeminent collaborators with American Indian tribal nations, bringing important Native stories accurately and respectfully to the screen.

Co-sponsored by the NEH Professorship.

Monday, Apr 8, 6:30 pm

Cornerstone Screening Room

“Play the Devil” (2016) with Maria Govan

Set against the backdrop of Trinidad and Tobago’s mystical Carnival, “Play the Devil” premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June 2016. A gifted and struggling young man becomes the object of intrigue for an older, well-meaning businessman until their worlds collide.

Maria Govan is a writer and director whose films include both documentary and fiction work. Her first fiction feature, “Rain” (2008), premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. She most recently directed an episode of the Ava Duvernay-created television series “Queen Sugar.” Of Greek, Bahamian and Scottish descent, Maria was raised on the small island of New Providence in the Bahamas.

Thursday, Apr 11, 3:30 pm

Cornerstone Screening Room

“The Schizogenic Art of Rosemarie Trockel” with Katherine Guiness

In this talk, Guinness will discuss her forthcoming book Schizogenesis: The Art of Rosemarie Trockel (Minnesota, 2019). The book explores Trockel’s work as a particular feminist practice that interrogates the limits and potentialities of women’s art without essentializing the feminine as a quasi-biological expression of sexual difference. Its title, Schizogenesis, refers to Trockel’s atypical method of creation and offers up a feminist alternative to psychoanalytic theories of schizophrenia.

Katherine Guinness is a theorist and historian of contemporary art. She is Assistant Professor and Director of Art History in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Her first book Schizogenesis: The Art of Rosemarie Trockel is forthcoming in Fall 2019 from the University of Minnesota Press.

Monday, Apr 15, 6:30 pm

Cornerstone Screening Room

“Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary” (1997) with Scott Krzych, Scott Levy, and Dylan Nelson

Hands on a Hard Body: The Documentary is a 1997 film directed by S. R. Bindler documenting an endurance competition that took place in Longview, Texas. Whoever endures the longest without leaning on the truck or squatting wins the truck. The documentary follows the 1995 competition which lasted for seventy-seven continuous hours. The film garnered the audience award for best documentary at the 1997 Los Angeles Film Festival.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Colorado College Film and Media Studies professors Scott Krzych and Dylan Nelson, and the Fine Arts Center (FAC) producing artistic director, Scott Levy.

The FAC is showing a theatrical adaptation inspired by this documentary from March 28 - April 14, 2019. See their website for more details. 

Thursday, Apr 25, 3:30 pm

Cornerstone Screening Room

“Superimpositions of Movement: The Figure of the Migrant and the Kinopolitics of Christian Petzold’s Transit” with Luka Arsenjuk

The talk will develop some ideas concerning the figure of the migrant and the contemporary politics of movement (kinopolitics) by focusing on Transit (2018), the most recent film by the German director Christian Petzold. Taking the concept of superimposition beyond mere reference to film technique, the talk will attempt to suggest the political and film-theoretical consequences of such a dialectical conception of movement.

Luka Arsenjuk is associate professor of film studies at University of Maryland, College Park. He received his BA in Cultural Studies from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (2002) and his PhD from the Program in Literature at Duke University (2010). He works at the intersection of critical theory and film and media studies.

Monday, Sep 9, 3:30 pm

“Vibrancy of Silence” (2017) with Frieda Ekotto and Marthe Djilo Kamga

In "Vibrancy of Silence: A Discussion with My Sisters," director Marthe Djilo Kamga explores themes of cultural heritage, historical memory and how images shape personal and collective memories. "Vibrancy of Silence" is the first installment of Frieda EkottoÕs visual research project "Vibrancy of Silence: Archiving the Images and Cultural Production of Sub-Saharan African Women," which showcases African women as the unsung heroines of artistic and cultural production.

Freida Ekotto (producer) is a Francophone African woman novelist and literary critic. She is Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Michigan. Marthe Djilo Kamga (director) is founder of the Massimadi Festival, an Afro LBGTQIA+ arts and film festival in Montreal; her professional and personal paths have revolved around her interests in questions of vulnerability, identity, and equal opportunity.

Co-sponsored by the Race, Ethnicity and Migration Studies Program and the Office of the Dean.

Wednesday, Sep 11, 7 pm

Kathryn Mohrman Theatre

Mountainfilm on Tour

Since 1997, Mountainfilm has celebrated the indomitable spirit of humanity, using the power of film, art and ideas to inspire audiences to create a better world. This evening of award-winning films focuses on equity – a concept that reaches beyond equality, as equality often fails to consider the systemic issues that prevent marginalized peoples’ from accessing the same resources and rights as those in positions of power. This year’s lineup will enable a deeper discussion about how we define fairness and accessibility regarding gender, race, social justice, health, the outdoors, economics, and the environment.

Co-sponsored by the Race, Ethnicity and Migration Studies Program.

Tuesday, Sep 24, 3:30 pm

“The Art of Short Film Storytelling” with Andrew Ahn

Writer, director, and producer Andrew Ahn presents and discusses a selection of his short film projects, including “Andy” (Slamdance 2010), “Dol/First Birthday” (Sundance 2011), and an episode of the Sundance Channel series “This Close” (2018).

Andrew Ahn is a queer Korean-American filmmaker born and raised in Los Angeles. His films are the recipient of many awards, including a Sundance Special Jury Prize, the John Cassavetes Independent Spirit Award, and the Producers Guild of America George Sunga Media Access Award. He is Film Artist in Residence at Colorado College 2019-20.

Friday, Oct 11, 2 pm

Cornerstone Studio C

“Casting for Film and Television” with Charlene Lee ‘09

“Good directing is good writing and good casting,” Robert Zemeckis said. How does casting affect a film, and by extension, our culture? Charlene Lee ‘09 will discuss and answer questions about the current climate of casting, including the vital role of casting can play in expanding industry diversity. She will also take us through the nuts-and-bolts of casting processes and procedures.

Charlene Lee ‘09 got her first job offer while doing a casting project in the On Location: Hollywood class her senior year.  In the decade since, she has cast dozens of shows and movies, including “Get Shorty” (Epix), “Escape at Dannemora” (Showtime), “Patriot” (Amazon), “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (Fox), “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (HBO), and three seasons of “Fargo” (FX), which won an Emmy for outstanding casting. 

Monday, Nov 4, 3:30 pm

“Dangerous Freedom: Fanon, Fact of Blackness, and the Death Drive” with Gautam Basu Thakur

The Martiniquan decolonial thinker Franz Fanon is enjoying a revival today. With the collapse of the dream of post-racial societies and multiculturalism under siege from ethno-nationalist forces, scholars are returning to Fanon’s writings to better understand racial conflicts in the global world. In his talk, Basu Thakur will engage with Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks (1952) and the Wretched of the Earth (1961) to discuss Fanon’s thinking about race, identity, and Blackness.

Through a contrapuntal reading or short-circuiting of Fanon with Lacan, Basu Thakur will highlight Fanon’s theorization of Blackness, its relation to race relations within colonial society, and the connection between Blackness, ontology, and decolonial revolutionary violence. Fanon’s identification of Blackness as nonbeing or nes pas (death drive) and therefore in terms of ontology, Basu Thakur will argue, offers a provocative understanding of the social as inherently non-relational thereby helping push contemporary discussions of racial inequality and/or racism from the domain of moral symbolic politics (“racism is bad”) toward that of ethics (what is connection between racism, desire, and subjectivity) and a politics of the impossible or Real. 

Monday, Nov 11, 3:30 pm

“Social Media: The Right Concept for the Wrong Reason” with Matthew Flisfeder

Much has been written about the more deleterious dimensions of social media websites, platforms, and apps, from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to Instagram and Snapchat, dating apps like Tinder, and more recent apps like TikTok. We are all more than familiar with critiques of social media corporate and government surveillance, the commodification, expropriation and exploitation of user-provided data, the tailoring and curation of content, and of course recent dilemmas focused on “fake news” tying our use of social media to international cyberwarfare. Given all of these potential problems, why don’t we just give up and abandon our attachment  to social media? How might we grapple with the exploitative and anti-democratic  aspects of social media set against the kinds of enjoyment that it procures? 

Despite some of these problems, Matthew Flisfeder argues that social media helps us to grasp the co-ordinates, not merely of our trouble with machines and new media, but with the larger  totality of twenty-first century capitalism. Conceiving social media as a central metaphor for our historical present, Flisfeder proposes extending the concept to its fullest potentials. Instead of abandoning the concept, Flisfeder argues that the term “social media” helps us to render what is problematic about contemporary neoliberal capitalism, proposing that it is only by pursuing and failing to achieve a truly authentic social media as our goal that we are best positioned to understand the real contradictions of our time, as well as dominant forms of subjectivity, consciousness, and enjoyment. 

Matthew Flisfeder is an Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Communications at The University of Winnipeg (Canada). He is the author of Postmodern Theory and Blade Runner (2017), The Symbolic, The Sublime, and Slavoj Žižek’s Theory of Film (2012), and co-editor of Žižek and Media Studies: A Reader (2014). His forthcoming book, Algorithmic Desire: Towards a New Structuralist Theory of Social Media is forthcoming and explores the ideology of social media as a central metaphor for interpreting the dominant forms of subjectivity and enjoyment in contemporary neoliberal capitalism. 

Friday, Feb 19, 3:30 pm

“Minding the Gap” (2018) with Bing Liu and Diane Quon

Co-sponsored by the Cornerstone Arts Week

Monday, Mar 2, 3:30 pm

Gaylord Hall

“Beyond Rape: Thinking Violence Against Women in Contemporary Indian Cinema” with Sangita Gopal

CANCELLED

Social movements for the rights of women in India are often galvanized around rape and sexual assault. This focus obscures the everyday structures of violence - ordered by class and caste - that shape the lives of women (and men) in India. This presentation examines some recent Bollywood films that analyze these more quotidian forms of gendered violence and the social formations that aggravate them.

Sangita Gopal is an Associate Professor of English and Cinema Studies at the University of Oregon, USA. She has researched and published in the fields of postcolonial studies, film studies and feminist theory. Her publications include an edited volume of essays, Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Film Music (2008) and Conjugations: Family and Film Form in New Bollywood Cinema (2011).

Tuesday, Mar 31, 3:30 pm

“The Prop and Its Properties” with John David Rhodes

CANCELLED

What is the prop in cinema? How does cinema’s engagement with the prop—'any portable object (now usually other than an article of costume) used in a play, film, etc., as required by the action'—give us evidence of cinema’s broader engagement, and instrumentalisation of the world? By close reading classical film theory and films, this paper will explore how the apparently benign appearance of the prop in film points us towards a recognation of cinema’s appropriative and extractive capacities.

Thursday, Apr 2, 3:30 pm

"East of the River" and "Champ (WIP)" with Hannah Peterson

CANCELLED

"East of the River" is a short narrative film created in collaboration with local high schoolers in Washington, DC. It follows Teonna when she is unexpectedly suspended from school and forced to spend the day on the streets of DC. Champ is a work in progress short film that won the production grant from the Tribeca CHANEL Through Her Lens Program 2019, I will be showing raw footage and an early cut as it will just have been shot!

Thursday, Apr 9, 4 pm

Gaylord Hall

"Time and Eternity:  The Strange Temporalities of William Blake" with Andrew Burkett

CANCELLED

Co-sponsored by the Department of English

Thursday, Sep 3, 3:30 pm

Remote

A Conversation with Cynthia Lowen

Wednesday, Oct 7, 4 pm

Remote

"The Glorias" Conversation

A discussion about the new film and the role of theatre in education and activism.

What are the intersections of theatre, education, and activism-both over time and in this present moment? How might we view these intersections through the lens of feminist, journalist, and social political activist Gloria Steinem?

This virtual conversation coincides with the release of the new biographical film on the life and career of Gloria Steinem: The Glorias (2020). Join Director Julie Taymor, Colorado College Professor Monica Sanchez (playing Dolores Huerta in the film), UC Riverside Professor Kimberly Guerrero (playing Wilma Mankiller in the film), and moderator Professor Micha Espinosa (Arizona State University) for a conversation about the new film.

Organized by the Fine Arts Center at Colorado College and co-sponsored by UC Riverside and the Film and Media Studies program at Colorado College.

Monday, Oct 26, 11 am and 3:30 pm

Q&A on independent filmmaking

A Conversation with Hannah Peterson

Hannah Peterson is an LA based writer and director. She is a graduate of the MFA program in Film Directing at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and has worked closely with filmmakers Sean Baker and Chloé Zhao. Filmmaker Magazine named Hannah as one of 25 new faces of independent film in 2018. Her film, East of the River, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and Slamdance Film Festival 2019 where it won a jury honorable mention and Hannah was awarded the Russo brothers fellowship. Her debut feature film was a participant in the Sundance Creative Producing Lab 2019, and was featured at IFP week Project Forum. Hannah directed the Emmy nominated original series Shook for Disney Channel, executive produced by the Duplass Brothers. Most recently, Hannah was awarded the 2019 Tribeca CHANEL Through Her Lens program grant.

Created in collaboration with local high schoolers, East of the River is an unflinching portrait of the education and lived experience of teenagers finding their way through an overburdened public school system. East of the River premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and Slamdance Film Festival 2019 where it won jury honorable mention and Hannah was awarded the Russo Brothers fellowship.

Wednesday, Oct 28, 2 pm

Remote

A Conversation with Rachel Lears

Rachel Lears (director, producer, DP) is a documentary director, producer and cinematographer based in Brooklyn, NY.

Rachel's most recent feature documentary, Knock Down the House (Netflix), follows four women who ran insurgent congressional campaigns in 2018, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cori Bush. The film won the US Documentary Audience Award and the Festival Favorite award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, was shortlisted for an Oscar and nominated for an Emmy in 2020.

Her last feature, The Hand That Feeds (co-directed with Robin Blotnick; PBS), won numerous festival awards and was nominated for an Emmy in 2017. Rachel received the IDA Emerging Filmmaker Award in 2019, and also holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from NYU.

Thursday, Oct 29 - 31

Remote

Mountainfilm on Tour

In lieu of an in-person gathering, Colorado College is hosting a virtual screening of Mountainfilm on Tour with a selection of culturally rich, adventure-packed, and incredibly inspiring documentary films curated from the annual Mountainfilm Festival.

The online event will start at 9 a.m. MST on Thursday, October 29 and run until 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 31. Films will explore the themes connected to Mountainfilm's mission: using the power of film, art, and ideas to inspire audiences to create a better world.

Again, tickets are FREE with your CC email and BUT MUST BE RESERVED. You can reserve your tickets at this link: Mountainfilm On Tour - Colorado Springs TICKETS 2020
You can check out the trailer for this year's line up here: Mountainfilm On Tour Trailer 2020

Nov 13 - 21, 2020

Remote

Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival

The 33rd Annual Rocky Mountain Women's Film Festival is ON - virtually!

Tuesday, Mar 11, 1:30 pm

Watch the recording

Q&A with Peter Mortimer '96, "The Dawn Wall"

In January, 2015, American rock climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson captivated the world with their effort to climb The Dawn Wall, a seemingly impossible 3,000 foot rock face in Yosemite National Park, California.

The pair lived on the sheer vertical cliff for weeks, igniting a frenzy of global media attention.

But for Tommy Caldwell, The Dawn Wall was much more than just a climb. It was the culmination of a lifetime defined by overcoming obstacles. At the age of 22, the climbing prodigy was taken hostage by rebels in Kyrgyzstan. Shortly after, he lost his index finger in an accident, but resolved to come back stronger. When his marriage fell apart, he escaped the pain by fixating on the extraordinary goal of free climbing The Dawn Wall.

Blurring the line between dedication and obsession, Caldwell and his partner Jorgeson spend six years meticulously plotting and practicing their route. On the final attempt, with the world watching, Caldwell is faced with a moment of truth. Should he abandon his partner to fulfill his ultimate dream, or risk his own success for the sake of their friendship?

Peter Mortimer '96 is the founder of US-based production company Sender Films. Since earning his MFA in film from University of Southern California, Peter has made documentaries, TV series and commercials in the adventure and climbing space, including the Emmy-winning King Lines (2007), The First Ascent Series (2010) and Valley Uprising (2014). Peter is a lifelong rock climber and a fan of the sport’s history and characters. With The Dawn Wall, he brings one of the greatest climbing tales of a generation to an audiences across the world, and shines a light on Tommy Caldwell’s exceptional life journey and tenacious drive.

Tuesday, Mar 16, 1:30 pm

Watch the recording

Q&A with Faraz Shariat, "No Hard Feelings"

Monday, Apr 4, 3 pm

Watch the recording

Q&A with Eliza Hittman, "Never Really Sometimes Always"

Written and directed by Eliza Hittman, "Never Rarely Sometimes Always" is an intimate portrayal of two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) embark across state lines to New York City on a fraught journey of friendship, bravery and compassion.Eliza Hittman is an award-winning filmmaker based in New York City. Her most recent feature Beach Rats won the 2017 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award for U.S. Dramatic Feature. In 2011, Hittman was listed as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” and nominated as the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director and for the John Cassavetes Spirit Award. She has also recently been guest director on HBO’s High Maintenance.

Friday, Apr 9, 3 pm

Watch the recording

Q&A with Aaron Cook, "Festival Ins and Outs"

A virtual conversation exploring film festival strategies and careers with Aaron Cook, Special Projects Manager of the Slamdance Film Festival. Hear how to craft a career in the festival world, how Slamdance operates and programs its films and what you should know when submitting your film to festivals.

Aaron Cook is a queer filmmaker from the mountains of North Carolina. He received his MFA in film directing from California Institute of the Arts and has served as the Special Projects Manager of the Slamdance Film Festival since 2019. His latest short film, Hoosier premiered at NewFest in New York City and has played at several festivals around the country. He is currently based in Los Angeles brewing his next project.

Wednesday, Apr 14, 1:30 pm

Watch the recording

Book Launch with Scott Krzych, "Beyond Bias: Conservative Media, Documentary Form, and the Politics of Hysteria"

“Bias” is a term that circulates frequently in the contemporary landscape of political media, a term intended to diagnose a failure when media outlets fail to maintain journalistic objectivity. Krzych interrogates what would seem, at first glance, to be examples of utterly biased political media—contemporary conservative media--that the author identifies as a mode of hysterical discourse. Drawing from psychoanalytic theories of hysteria and aesthetic politics, and likewise by placing conservative documentaries in the context of many concerns central to Documentary Studies (participation, observation, representation, the archive, etc.), Beyond Bias views conservative documentary, and conservative media and politics more generally, not as the biased excesses of the contemporary political landscape but rather as texts central to understanding the implicit, though sometimes affectively traumatic, antagonisms inevitable in democracy and constitutive of democratic debate.

Scott Krzych is Associate Professor and Chair of the Film and Media Studies Program at Colorado College. His teaching and research focuses on theoretical approaches to media and culture, with an emphasis on the relation between technology and ideology.

Wednesday, Apr 21, 7:30 pm RESCHEDULED

Sunday, Apr 25, 7:30 pm

Tava Quad

Outdoor Screening of "Sorry to Bother You"

The Film and Media Studies Program and the Mobile Arts Project, sponsored by the Cultural Attractions Fund, is hosting the first of an outdoor screening series this year with a screening of “Sorry to Bother You”. No preregistration or tickets required, just show up with a comfortable blanket and don’t forget to wear your mask!

Sorry to Bother You is a 2018 American dark comedy film written and directed by Boots Riley, in his directorial debut. The film follows a young black telemarketer Cassius Green, who discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a universe of greed. Swept into a corporate conspiracy, he must choose between profit and joining his activist friends to organize labor.

Monday, May 10, 6 pm MT

Remote

Q&A with Yoon Ga Eun, "World of Us"

"The World of Us" is the story of Sun, an elementary school girl and social outcast who befriends a transfer student named Jia during a summer vacation. When the new semester begins, their new friendship is put to test as Sun and Jia are subject to bullying and internal problems. Will they be able to get past their boundaries?

Released in 2016, "The World of Us" is writer and director Yoon Ga-eun's feature-length directorial debut and has won multiple film awards in South Korea, Germany, Japan, India, China, the Czech Republic, and the US. 

Thursday, May 13, 3:30 pm

Watch the recording

Lecture by Daren Fowler, "To Be Made Myth: Animacy, contingency, and the Trans Archival"

Transmasculine performance artist and bodybuilder Cassils frames their piece “Becoming an Image” within the claim that “The Qs and Ts have been lost to history.” This is not a call for the archive to collect and consume the queer and the trans, but an acknowledgement of a purposeful and meaningful absence.

Proposed instead is a consideration of how queer and trans people negotiate being re-membered intracommunally without the violence and threat of being marked and surveilled by the outside. Using Cassils’ multi-part performance series (“Becoming an Image,” “Resistance of the 20%,” and “Monument Push”), this talk will consider the ambiguous, contingent, and diffracting acts of trans survival and communal joy to argue for a trans archival practice that rejects the call of the visible to embrace the illegible and mythical.

Daren Fowler is a Doctoral Candidate in the School of Film, Media & Theatre at Georgia State University. Their research examines the aesthetic politics of queer media, art, and activism, with particular focus on the material practices and desires of AIDS activists, both historical and contemporary. Their work has appeared in The Routledge Companion to Media and Risk, liquid blackness journal, and In Media Res.