The Program
in Film and Media Studies will showcase some of its
faculty members' new work, old
work and works in progress at a special screening at 7 p.m.
on Thursday, April 16, in Hodson Hall
Auditorium on the Homewood campus.
The filmmakers — John Mann, Matt Porterfield,
Doug Sadler and Karen Yasinsky — will discuss
their creative processes and take questions from the
audience, with a reception to follow. The event is
one of several on tap this spring from the program, which
is enjoying a surge in interest from
students, according to Linda DeLibero, associate director
and undergraduate adviser.
"I realized we were experiencing a growth spurt when
I saw that my advisee list this year,
which had been hovering around 30 most years, was now at
nearly 40 students," DeLibero said. "That
doesn't sound like much, but for a small undergraduate
program, it's huge."
The program is offering 12 courses this semester, one
of which originates in the Humanities
Center and two that are collaborative courses with
MICA. Including independent study and internship
opportunities, and senior project courses, there are 19
offerings this spring, she said.
"When I started in 2001, I was the only full-time
instructor," she said. "Now we have three."
While DeLibero is encouraged by the interest in the
program, she is also content to keep the
program at a manageable size.
"We really don't want to grow beyond where we are
right now," DeLibero said. "Our students
have the benefit of small classes and a lot of individual
attention from instructors, and we want to
keep it that way."
Thursday's lineup highlights the diverse interests of
the program's instructors.
Mann, a documentary and experimental filmmaker, will
show Running to Keep from Falling (2003)
and clips from his other documentaries, and will discuss
the evolution of his work.
Porterfield, writer-director of the feature film
Hamilton (2006), will share black-and-white
test footage of actors and locations for his film in
development, Metal Gods, the story of "two
damaged teenagers living in a Baltimore suburb [who] form
an unlikely bond when their lives are
thrown together by a sudden act of violence."
Sadler, an alumnus of both the Sundance and Maryland
film festivals, will screen clips of his
feature films Riders (2001) and Swimmers
(2005) and will discuss creative and practical
challenges, his early film influences and the necessity of
risk.
Yasinsky will show two animated shorts, I Choose
Darkness and Enough to Drive You Mad, both
part of her current solo exhibit at the gallery Mireille
Mosler Ltd. in New York.
Other upcoming events are a screening of student films
at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, in 111
Mergenthaler; and screenings of Johns Hopkins and MICA
students' collaborative short film projects
on Tuesday, May 12, at Homewood and on Wednesday, May 13,
at MICA (times and locations TBA). A
handful of student films are available online at:
sites.jhu.edu/film_media/studfilms.html.
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