Newsletter 2009

FILM STUDIES PROGRAM                                                              EDWIN WEIHE

REPORT, FALL 2009 

Courses and Enrollments

  •  The Great Directors: Woody Allen course (Bill Taylor) has twenty-seven enrollments and several of its students have chosen to major or minor in Film Studies. Half the students in the x-listed course, Global African Film, registered under FILM.
  • Genre: Westerns, Art of Film, and the x-listed Film & History are scheduled for winter. And Chinese Cinema, which three programs will x-list with, has been added to our Film Adaptations and History of Film offerings in spring.

 Events:           

  • Sean McDowell now directs the Film Arts and Lecture Series, featuring lectures and panel discussions by filmmakers, film scholars, and our own film faculty.
  • In November, Jim Forsher lectured on “Nasty Cinema” and the origins of film censorship in Hollywood. Later this year we will co-sponsor a lecture by a Philosophy of Film scholar, and, in the spring, an Environmental Studies Film Festival on our campus. 

Majors and Minors 

  • Currently Film has eight majors, including students who are double-majoring in Psychology and CW and five minors, who are majoring in Business, Philosophy, English, and Creative Writing (2).
  • Film Studies has appeared in several press releases, and three Spectator 

Marketing: 

  • The Director of Film made a presentation on Film Studies to the Leadership Council in October.
  • Dr Weihe made a presentation to MEET (Media Education Excellence Team) is an organization chaired by Matt Lawrence at Ballard High, of high school media and film faculty in our region. MEET organizes an important Northwest High School Film Festival, which will be held this year in May at the Cinerama Theater. “Film Studies at Seattle University” will be a sponsor of this festival.           

Outreaches: 

  • NFFTY is an amazing organization, directed by twenty-three year old Jesse Harris, that organizes each year an international festival of films made by youths 22 and under. It is held in late April at Cinerama Theater. Last year it showcased 113 films, with awards, to an audience of over 4000. Film will be an official sponsor of this festival. Jesse is very interested in a “best of festival” event, with the young filmmakers, on our campus.
  • Dr Edwin Weihe was recently elected to the Board of Directors of Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). Richie Meyer, who teaches Chinese Cinema, is also on that board. In addition, Dr Weihe is now on the Advisory of Washington State Film Works, the organization which promotes film production in our state.  Bob Cumbow, who teaches Westerns and, next year Horror, is on the Board of Northwest Film Forum.           

Other News:  

  • Joanne Dillman-Clark, a Columbia film school MFA (now finishing her PhD in cultural studies, visual culture emphasis) will teach the History of Film course this spring and again next fall.