MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 2023

Happy Holidays! 

Film at Mason wishes everyone a safe, relaxing, and happy holiday season. We look forward to welcoming you back in 2024! 

Winter Break Hours 

The Film at Mason Office and Equipment Cage will be closed for the University’s winter break, starting on December 16. We will reopen for the new year on January 4. Classes resume on January 16.  

Registration for Spring 2024 

Registration for Spring 2024 is still open. 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. 

Upcoming Spring 2024 Events
Friday, January 26, 2024: Winter Warm-Up and Production Fair 
11am-1pm, Johnson Center Dewberry Hall  

Come listen to students pitching their advanced projects and sign up to work on student films. Meet new and returning students and enjoy free refreshments. 
REGISTER ON MASON 360
Thursday, February 8, 2024: VFS Legends and Legacies: Chita Rivera co-hosted by Live Center 
6:30pm-7:30pm, Harris Theater 
Monday, February 26, 2024, VFS The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 
5:30pm-8:30pm, Johnson Center Cinema 

The film tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line, known as HeLa. Told primarily through the eyes of Lacks’ daughter Deborah (Oprah Winfrey) and journalist Rebecca Skloot (Rose Byrne), the film investigates how how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks’ cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, from cancer to polio to radiation to AIDS, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever. 
REGISTER ON MASON 360
Thursday, March 21, 2024: VFS Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn with filmmaker Tim Harris 
5:00pm-7:45pm, Johnson Center Cinema 

Join us for a free screening of the new film, Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn, followed by a live Q&A with the film's director and editor, Tim Harris. The documentary tells the story of Malcolm Kenyatta, a self-described "poor, gay, black man from North Philly," during his historic run for the United States Senate. This race is about more than taking on the political competition. It's about taking on an entire system. 
REGISTER ON MASON 360
April 22-24 and April 27, 2024 Mason Film Festival 
Johnson Center Cinema 
More information coming soon. 

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

Film Opportunities and Resources   

Festival Submissions:  

Grants:
Job and Internship Opportunities: 
  • Spring 2024 Fairfax City Video Production Internship - Come intern with Fairfax City and combine your passion for creating content with community service. As a video production intern (unpaid), you'll assist in all stages of film creation, from hands-on experience with cameras and audio recording to post-production.  Submit your resume, reel, or website to Matthew.Kaiser@fairfaxva.gov.   
  • 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.
  • MeanGreen Media Junior Editor/Post-Production Assistant – MeanGreen Media is seeking a Junior Editor & Post-Production Assistant to join their team for the 2024 political season. This seasonal position, starting in May 2024 and ending on November 5, 2024, involves actively contributing to the production of over 400 commercials and videos for Democratic candidates and issues in races around the country and at all levels of government. Submit cover letter and resume to recruting@meangreenmedia.com. Application deadline is March 15, 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.
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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
4400 University Dr. MSN 5D8
Fairfax, VA 22030
703-993-3287 | film@gmu.edu
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