MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
JUNE 2024

Enjoy Your Summer!



Film at Mason wishes you all a wonderful and relaxing summer. We look forward to seeing you again in the Fall.  

Fall 2024 Registration Reminder


Registration for Fall 2024 courses is still open! If you have questions or concerns regarding your schedule or course offerings, reach out to your Academic Advisor, Maddie Portnoy, at mportnoy@gmu.edu

Summer Course Spotlight 

FAVS 280 Writing for the Moving Image
Summer Session C | Online Async
Professor Amanda Kraus
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. 
FAVS 250 Business of Film and TV
Summer Session F | Online Async
Professor Lisa Thrasher
This course provides an overview of the film & television industry from a business perspective. Students learn basic filmed entertainment business practices and protocol, including film financing, copyright & trademark, anti-trust, trademark, IP licensing, Agents & Managers, Entertainment Unions & Guilds, film distribution, and marketing techniques. 

Fall Course Spotlight 

Please click here to see more courses available in Fall 2024.
FAVS 366 Video Production for Social Change
Monday, 1:30-4:10pm | AB 1007
Professor Rebekah Wingert-Jabi

This video production course emulates a professional production environment where student teams, under the instructor’s supervision, produce effective pieces for local community-based non-profit organizations. Students will assess clients’ goals, develop a creative concept and strategy, and a statement of work. Developing professionalism and collaboration, students will see their work reach beyond the classroom, speaking to broad and also specific audiences.
FAVS 399 Elections, Issues, and Films
Thursday, 1:30-4:10 | Planet 224
Professor Samirah Alkassim
In this class, students explore fiction and non-fiction films that reflect major concerns during an American presidential election year. These concerns connect to the foundational mythology of American democracy and are reflected in issues such as health care, lobbies, immigration reform, climate change, surveillance, and civil and human rights. Films include James DeMonaco’s The Purge: Election Year, Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro, Laura Poitras’ Citizen Four, Ava DuVernay’s 13th, and Jose Antonio Vargas’ Documented.
FAVS 399 Documentary Film Editing
Monday, 1:30-4:10pm | IN 233
Professor Maura Ugarte
This three-credit course focuses on the art and craft of editing a documentary film. We will study editing theory, current trends in documentary, ethical considerations, how to shape documentary stories, and how to approach different modes of documentary storytelling. We will also discuss technical considerations such as workflow, incorporating archival material, and using sound and visual effects. The course primarily uses Adobe software.

Save the Date

We look forward to seeing you at Film at Mason’s Curriculum Town Hall on September 6, 2024 from 11-1pm in the JC Cinema. Directly following will be the Film at Mason Ice Cream Social & Production Fair from 1-3pm in Dewberry Hall. Stay tuned for more information to come.

New Equipment Cage Email Address 


The Equipment Cage has a new email address: filmcage@gmu.edu. Over the next few months, we will phase out gmufavs@gmail.com. All emails sent to the old address will be forwarded to the new one, and responses will come from there. 
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Andrew Jorgensen: ajorgen3@gmu.edu. 

Film at Mason Office Hours

Over the summer, Film at Mason’s in-office hours will be from 1-4pm, Monday-Thursday.  We can also be reached at film@gmu.edu. 
The Film Equipment Cage and Film at Mason labs are closed for the summer and open by appointment only. Contact filmcage@gmu.edu to schedule an appointment. (Please note the change in our email.)  
Click here for more information or contact William Meaux at willy.meaux@longthrow.com

Virginia Film Festival

The Call for Entries for the 2024 Virginia Film Festival is open!  The deadline to submit is July 9, 2024. 
 
Current Virginia Residents are eligible to submit projects with entry fees waived. Current students are eligible for discounted entry fees. For more information on how to obtain a discount or waiver code, please visit virginiafilmfestival.org/submit-a-film. 
Click here to submit.

Faculty Achievement 


Professor Robert Farr delivered a talk at MarxFest 2024 on Coney Island, NY. The gathering was a celebration of Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo Marx and an opportunity to share deep dives into the brothers' lives and careers. Rob's topic was how Marx Brothers' films were reviewed by small town audiences in the pages of the exhibitors' trade papers. 

The following weekend, Rob attended The Nitrate Picture Show at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, NY. The Eastman House is one of the few venues in the world approved to show flammable silver nitrate prints, which haven't been produced since 1950. The attraction of these surviving films, struck from the original negatives, is a visual beauty not replicated in modern safety or digital prints.
Der blaue Engel (Josef von Sternberg 1930), with Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings 
Professor Nikyatu Jusu was invited to judge the Best New Narrative Director category at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival.
2024 Jurors: https://tribecafilm.com/festival/jurors2024
Professor Tommy Britt presented a new paper, "Beyond Failure in After Last Season" in Cannes at the event Colloque international : Failure / l'échec dans la culture visuelle anglophone, which took place from June 6-7 at the Université Côte d'Azur - Campus Georges Méliès; a brand-new campus that opened in May 2021 which is entirely dedicated to filmmaking.
Université Côte d'Azur - Campus Georges Méliès

Film Opportunities and Resources   

Festival Submissions:  
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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
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Fairfax, VA 22030
703-993-3287 | film@gmu.edu
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