MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER 2023

A Season of Giving 

Tuesday November 28th, on Giving Tuesday, we kicked off a matching challenge to support Film at Mason’s expansion on campus. Our new Post-Production Suite and Seminar Classroom are being renovated and we are fundraising for a few essential items to furnish the rooms. 

Thanks to the generosity of Mason alum and Film Advisory Board member Clara Kelly (’12), the first 2 chairs and first $1,000 in donations of any amount will be matched, doubling the impact of your donation. 
Your donation helps to complete our new Seminar Room, to serve: 
  • Senior thesis classes; 
  • Auditions and table reads; 
  • Student production meetings 
And our new Post-Production Suite includes: 
  • Open lab space with 5 iMacs; 
  • Separate sound and color suites;
  • Archival and editing suite where artists can digitize VHS and other media.   
Consider making a donation in one of the following amounts to complete these spaces: 
  • $315 for 1 chair (need 24) 
  • $700 for a whiteboard or coffee table 
  • $915 for 1 lounge chair (need 4) 
  • $1200 for the instructor lectern 
  • $1500 for 1 classroom table (need 7) 

    Your gift of ANY amount makes a difference toward our goal! 
    The fundraiser is open until the end of December. 
LEARN MORE AND GIVE HERE

Registration for Spring 2024 

Registration for Spring 2024 started earlier this month. If you have not registered, be sure to check your time ticket on Patriot Web. If you have questions or concerns regarding your schedule or course offerings, reach out to your Academic Advisor, Maddie Portnoy, at mportnoy@gmu.edu. 

Spring 2024 Course Offering Spotlight 

We are offering new special topics courses in the Spring! See flyers below for more information. 
We still have open seats in the following courses.
FAVS 110 Reading and Making Media
Professor Justin Plakas | T 1:30-4:10 | Innovation Hall 233
This course provides the foundations for students to become critical, anti-racist consumers and savvy, ethical producers of digital, visual, and audio media. Students will learn to identify and analyze formal elements of films, television, commercials, and user-generated content (such as YouTube videos and gifs). At the same time, students will develop technical aspects of media production, including videography, sound recording, and video/sound editing.
FAVS 204 Ways of Seeing
Professor G. Chesler | Online Async
This course traces connections between film and other art forms, including dance, performance art and theater, painting, sculpture, sonic arts, and comic book illustration. It also introduces theories of audience, representation, and systems of signs and symbols. We'll consider film as a commercial product, accessibility in film, and film as a tool for social change, as well as feminist, queer, and antiracist filmmaking practices. 
FAVS 225 Introduction to World Cinema
Professor Lucy Gebre-Egzaibher | Multiple Sections
This course explores examples of many kinds of films from around the world, including documentary, fiction, and experimental. Students will learn to analyze film language and structures, with attention to cinema's many contexts, including economic institutions, historical events, political and social issues that shape and are shaped by movies. 
FAVS 280 Writing for the Moving Image
Multiple Instructors and Sections
This course is an introduction to writing for the moving image through lecture, discussion, and critiques of exercises and written works. By the end of the semester, each student will have produced a variety of analyses and/or blueprints for creative moving image projects, including short fiction, commercial advertisement, scripted television, collaborative fiction, short non-fiction reality programming. and other forms. 

DKA Jason Cortez Memorial Winter Formal 

All Film at Mason students and faculty are welcome to attend Delta Kappa Alpha's Jason Cortez Memorial Winter Formal on December 4th, at 6:30 pm in the Johnson Center Bistro. 
 
The event starts with a semester celebration program, alongside food and drinks, and a DJ and dance floor for all to enjoy. 

Register on Mason 360 while spots are available: https://cglink.me/2d7/r2242933.

Visiting Filmmakers Series Wrap Up

Thank you to everyone who came to support our Visiting Filmmakers Series screening of BAD PRESS with Rebecca Landsberry-Baker,  Joe Peeler, and Angel Ellis. 

Stay tuned over winter break as we announce upcoming filmmakers for Spring semester. 
Save the date for our latest Spring event scheduled for Thursday, March 21, 2024.
KENYATTA: DO NOT WAIT YOUR TURN with Director Timothy Harris
To register, visit https://cglink.me/2d7/r2260610.

2024 Winter Warm-Up and Production Fair 

Save the date for the Winter Warm-Up and Production Fair! We will host our annual event in Johnson Center’s Dewberry Hall from 11 am to 1 pm on Jan 26. Come listen to students pitching their advanced projects and sign up to work on student films. Meet new and returning students while enjoying free hot cocoa, tea, and coffee. 
REGISTER ON MASON 360

Mason Film Festival Poster Design Contest

Submit your design for the 2024 Mason Film Festival! 

Film at Mason is asking students to submit designs for our Mason Film Festival poster. The winning poster will be displayed across campus in both print and digital formats. The winner will receive a $100 award and will be honored in our newsletter, website, and social media platforms. 

Rules and Specifications: 
  • Poster design should relate to Film 
  • The final design should fit on an 11x17 poster 
  • Include dates and location of festival (April 22, 23, 24, and 27 in the Johnson Center Cinema) 
  • Leave space at the bottom for logos
  • Name file as follows: firstname_lastname_G#_mff2024
  • Submit your information and upload your design as a pdf file to sbeach2@gmu.edu
  • Entries are due by Friday, January 19, 202
  • Entries will be judged by Film at Mason faculty and staff
  • The winner will be notified by Friday, January 26, 2024 
  • The winner will be asked to submit the working design file for the Film at Mason department to upload logos and sponsors 
Submit entries to Samantha Sinagra at sbeach2@gmu.edu. 
Deadline: Friday, January 19, 2024. 
This opportunity is open to all CVPA students.  

Film at Mason Scholarships 

The academic scholarship application for the 2024-2025 school year is now open! Film at Mason wants eager, talented students to have the opportunity to hone their craft. Upcoming sophomores, juniors, seniors, and incoming transfers are welcome to apply.  

For eligibility and requirements, view our scholarship website. 
Deadline: Friday, March 1, 2024.  
SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION

Student Spotlight 

Film student Roberto Ferrara hosted the Here and Queer Film Festival in the Johnson Center Cinema on November 14th. Roberto first debuted the festival back in 2022 as a project in FAVS 399 Curating and Programming for the Moving Image taught by Professor KJ Mohr. The festival was such a success that Roberto pursued the second iteration of the festival this year.  

The Here and Queer Festival honors the vibrant voices and stories within the LGBTQIA+ community, providing a safe space where queer individuals of all backgrounds, orientations, and gender identities can come together to celebrate the richness and diversity of queer experiences. The festival creates an opportunity for filmmakers to share their compelling short films, whether narrative, documentary, experimental, or animation. Selected films included those by the Mason community as well as filmmakers across the globe. 
 
More about the festival can be found at these links: 
https://filmfreeway.com/HereandQueerFilmFestival 
https://www.instagram.com/hereandqueerfilmfest/ 

Alumni Achievement 

Jennifer Vu and Tiffany Vu ‘23 both won Captial Emmys for Best Directing in the Student Production Awards category.  

Jennifer’s We’re Only Strangers and Tiffany’s Surrender were also included in the Best of Film at Mason Showcase that traveled this Fall. Well done to both of these sisters! 

Faculty Accomplishments 

Professor G. Chesler has been selected as a fellow for the Producers Guild of America Create Program. Professor Chesler is one out of six documentary producers and producing teams selected for the program. They will have the opportunity to hone their project pitch for their documentary Intersex Justice as well as attend master classes with experienced producers. 

The film Intersex Justice follows an intersex activist who revisits personal traumas during their fight for intersex rights. While doing so, they learn more than strategies for changing laws and public opinions: they discover how to care for their heart in the process.  
Professor KJ Mohr has been appointed Director of the Maryland Film Festival (MdFF) for its 25th Anniversary. Professor Mohr has worked in various capacities at the festival since 2011. She hopes the festival will “pay homage to the extraordinary talent currently drawn to Baltimore and envision the future of MdFF as a thriving hub of creation and innovation.” Read more about the announcement here. 

The Maryland Film Festival is currently accepting film submissions for their festival. Deadline for submissions is December 15, 2023. For more information, visit FilmFreeway. 

In addition, Professor Mohr is working on various iterations of the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (TIGLFF). TIGLFF Tampa was held in early October, TIGLFF Queer in Color was in early November, and TIGLFF St Pete is the last weekend in January.  
Professor Susan Kehoe recently served as a judge for The Webby Awards and for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences High School Student Production Awards in the Talent, Public Service Announcement, Short Form Fiction and Commercial categories. 

Film Opportunities and Resources   

Festival Submissions:  

Grants
  • WAVE Grant awards seed money to emerging female and non-binary filmmakers of color for the production of their short film. Deadline: December 1, 2023.
  • Apply for the STARZ #TakeTheLead Writers' Intensive for underrepresented writers. Deadline: December 4, 2023. 
  • The University Film & Video Association (UFVA) sponsored Carole Fielding Student Grant supports production or research proposals. Deadline: December 15, 2023. 
  • DOCPITCH is an invitation for filmmakers to submit unfinished feature-length documentary projects in early to late stages of production. Deadline: December 15, 2023. 
  • The Transgender Film Center Trailblazer Grant provides funding for short films written, directed, or produced by transgender creators. Deadline: December 18, 2023. 
  • 19th Annual Baltimore Screenwriters Competition is accepting entries. Deadline: January 17, 2024. 
  • AT&T’s Untold Stories is accepting submissions to pitch your original feature scripted project during the Tribeca Film Festival. Deadline: February 6, 2024. 

Job and Internship Opportunities: 
  • Television Academy Foundation Paid Summer Internship offers an eight-week, paid summer internship program with hands-on experience, professional development, networking and more.  Deadline: January 17, 2024.
  • The Department of State's Bureau of African Affairs is looking for a talented Project Manager/Video Producer to help bring informative and educational content to young African leaders through the YALI Network. This is a full-time contractor position located in Washington, DC.  U.S. citizenship is required and candidates must be able to obtain a security clearance. Apply here.
  • The Global Public Affairs Office at the State Department is looking for a Technical Director with a speciality in live streaming and virtual interactive events. This is an open contractor slot in the SA-5 studios with a flexible work schedule. Apply here.
  • Honey Chile / The Create Daily is llooking for a part-time business + operations-minded coordinator. 
  • SeriesFest is looking for a Contract Festival Producer. Its upcoming festival in May 2024 will be the 10-year anniversary. 
Did you miss our last newsletter?
Check out the archives here.
Twitter Facebook Instagram

We want to hear from you! If you have news you would like to contribute, please send it to film@gmu.edu. We are looking for regional film events and updates from Film at Mason alumni. Keep up-to-date on all the current Film at Mason news at film.gmu.edu.

Film and Video Studies
College of Visual and Performing Arts
4400 University Dr. MSN 5D8
Fairfax, VA 22030
703-993-3287 | film@gmu.edu
Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.
4400 University Dr. MS 5D8
Fairfax, VA | 22030 US
This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.
Subscribe to our email list.