Fausto Barrionuevo’s “Weight” was selected for debut at 2017 RiverRun International Film Festival

His thesis film from the UNCG MFA in film entitled “Weight” was selected for its short film debut at the 2017 RiverRun International Film Film Festival in the NC Short category. It was also selected as part of the 2017 Carnegie Mellon International “Faces” Film Festival where it was selected as one of their top ten selected films for the festival.

Fausto Barrionuevo is a lecturer at University of North Carolina Greensboro where he earned two MFA’s in both film and creative writing. A native to Miami, Florida with over ten years experience as a video editor and story consultant, his most recent collaboration was on a feature-film documentary entitled Union Time: Fighting for Workers’ Rights. His creative work ranges from poems published in several journals, such as Off the Coast: Maine’s International Poetry Journal, and decomP magazine, where his poem “Ground” was nominated for a Pushcart prize in 2011, and his short film debut Weight, which was recently accepted to RiverRun International Film Film Festival NC Short category and part of the top ten selected films for Carnegie Mellon International “Faces” Film Festival. Currently, he is working on a short animation and a full length graphic novel.

Screening of Professor Barr’s “Union Time: Fighting for Workers’ Rights” Documentary at Bennett College

The UNCG Department of Media Studies is pleased to announce that the documentary “Union Time: Fighting for Workers’ Rights” will be screened at the 2017 Black History Media Festival, an event hosted by Bennett College. The theme this year is “The Spirit of Social Justice”.

“Union Time” was produced and directed by Matthew Barr, Professor in UNCG’s Media Studies Department. The film tells the story of one of the greatest union victories of the 21^st century—the fight to organize Smithfield Foods’ pork processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina. From 1993 to 2008, workers struggled against dangerous working conditions, intimidation, and low pay. They were organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, whose Justice@Smithfield campaign brought national attention to the struggle.  Also involved in the campaign were the North Carolina NAACP, led by Reverend William T. Barber, and the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro, with leadership from Reverend Nelson Johnson. The victory led to the formation of UFCW Local 1208 and fair working conditions for 5,000 workers.

“Union Time” premiered at UNCG on April 28, 2016, and has been screened at the DC Laborfest. In addition, the film is scheduled to be shown at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, the UCLA Labor Center, and the Oral History Association, among others.

Assistant Professor Tom Lipscomb of Bennett College’s Department of Journalism and Media Studies is the moderator of the event. (Prof. Lipscomb graduated in 2003 from UNCG’s MFA Program in Film and Video Production.)

DATE: Friday, February 24, 2017 at 7 PM at the Global Learning Center Lecture Hall, Bennett College. It is free and open to the public.

Bars, Blues and Booze: Stories form the Drink House

Emily Edwards’ recently published book, Bars, Blues and Booze: Stories from the Drink House, was featured on Frank Stasio’s WUNC broadcast, The State of Things. Go here to stream the program.

There will be a book tour this summer that begins in Greensboro at the Barnes and Noble on May 26th and returns to Greensboro at Scuppernong Books on September 17, 2016.

Dr. David Cook publishes “A History of Narrative Film”

Renowned film scholar Dr. David A. Cook recently published a fifth edition of his seminal work “A History of Narrative Film” (W. W. Norton & Company, 1981; 1990; 1996; 2004; 2016).

First published in 1981, this book is used at the Beijing Film Academy, the Free University of Brussels, and over 400 universities and colleges in North America, including many in the UNC system; it is also the only film history text currently available in digital form and is one of Norton’s longest-running publications.

For more, visit

https://digital.wwnorton.com/narrativefilm5

 

Jeffrey Adams publishes “The Cinema of the Coen Brothers”

Associate Professor Jeffrey Adams recently published a book “The Cinema of the Coen Brothers.”  This past Fall, USA Today – College, singled out Adams’ “Coen Brothers” course as one of special interest – read the article here.

Media Studies Professor Brett Ingram to screen film in Tokyo

Department of Media Studies Professor Brett Ingram’s Monster Road, a feature length documentary film about the life and work of Seattle animator Bruce Bickford, will screen in February at Georama 2016, an
international anime festival in Tokyo.

Since its initial release in 2004, Monster Road has won 16 awards, screening at more than 120 film festivals in fifteen countries, and airing five times on Sundance Channel.

Monster Road will be distributed in Japan by New Deer, a company founded by animation historian and curator Nobuaki Doi.

Georama 2016

Media Studies Professor Brett Ingram

Animator Bruce Bickford, the subject of Monster Road, in his studio

Dr. Frierson’s Videos Now on Woods Hole Research Center YouTube Channel

Dr. Michael Frierson attended the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its 20th annual Conference of the Parties (COP 20) in December in Lima, Peru.  Dr. Frierson shot and edited short videos with Justin Catanoso, director of Wake Forest’s journalism program, who is a freelance journalist covering environmental and climate change issues.

Check out one of these videos posted on the Woods Hole YouTube channel: ttps://www.youtube.com/user/WoodsHoleResearchCtr

Professor Emeritus, Anthony Fragola’s Documentary to Screen at Weatherspoon Art Museum

Professor Emeritus, Anthony Fragola will present his documentary, Another Corleone: Another Sicily on Sunday, March 15^th at 2pm at the Weatherspoon Art Gallery on the campus of UNCG. Professor Emeritus Fragola taught in the Media Studies department at UNCG for more than 30 years. This documentary is the culmination of a series of documentaries on the anti-mafia movement in Sicily. Former MFA students, Michael Blair and Inez Chambers edited the film.

For more information on the film, please see below:

“Witness the history and legacy of the anti-mafia movement in Sicily brought to light through the documentary film,Another Corleone: Another Sicily. In the eyes of many Americans and throughout most of the world Sicilians are viewed as mafiosi. Francis Coppola’s internationally acclaimed 1972 film, The Godfather, propelled this stereotypical view to mythic proportions and romanticized the mafia. Little is known of the heroic anti-mafia movement in Sicily that originated among the peasants.  Since the late 1800’s, agrarian leaders emerged. As they organized and grew in strength, pressing for reforms, the mafia murdered them, thereby halting progress for decades. Yet new leaders emerged, determined to carry on the fight, even at the cost of their own lives.

The legacy of these leaders is embodied in three farm cooperatives created from lands confiscated from the mafia in the area of Corleone.” To view the trailer for the film: Another Corleone: Another Sicily For more information, please contact Professor Emeritus Fragola at: 336-402-2009 or afragola@uncg.ed

MST Student Accepted to Cannes Student Film Program

MST student Tiffany Stephenson has been accepted to The American Pavilion Cannes Student Film Program. This prestigious program takes place over a 15-day period during the Cannes Film Festival. Tiffany will be paired with a film industry or faculty mentor who will help guide her Cannes experience. Students in the program are offered ticketing and festival credentials that allow them access to hard to get Festival and Market screenings.

Tiffany will be immersed in the world of film, surrounded by professionals from the industry. She is looking forward to learning from some of the world’s top filmmakers, “I’m very excited and honored to be a part of the festival. I think this will be a great way to start my post graduate career in film.”

Tiffany leaves for Cannes in May. Congratulations, Tiffany!

MFA alumn and current media studies student working on new documentary for the Greensboro Historical Museum.

MFA graduate Mariah Dunn Kramer and current Media Studies student, Siera Schubach (both pictured above) are hard at work on a new documentary for the Greensboro Historical Museum. The documentary, produced in collaboration with the Center for Asian American Media (CAMM) focuses on the lives of three Montagnard immigrant families.

 Following is more information about the film from ROAR, the Greensboro Historical Museum’s newsletter:

“The first Montagnard immigrants to the United States came as refugees in 1986, a small group of about 200 who had supported U.S. Special Forces during the Vietnam War. The majority of Montagnard Americans are more recent arrivals who have fled religious and political persecution. There are more Montagnards (French for “mountain people”) in North Carolina—30,000—than any place outside Southeast Asia. The four teens sharing their stories have arrived in the past decade, their families supported by the local immigrant community, volunteer sponsors and professionals, all helping with their transition. Filmmaker Mariah Dunn Kramer is struck by these youth. “They are wise beyond their years. They seem really mature and they think about life seriously, and have serious goals and aspirations. They also have a huge connection to family…they want to support their families and take care of their families into their older years.” Curator Dean MacLeod notes, “The documentary will have universal themes.” The two co-producers hope to show the families’ diverse experiences, for assimilation includes navigating daily life, school, job training and placement and bridging differences between generations. “They have a high ambition to succeed,” Dunn Kramer adds.”

The film is scheduled to be completed this spring with planned distribution to public television stations and educational institutions. Public screenings in Greensboro, Raleigh and Charlotte are forthcoming. Look for information on dates and times of screenings in upcoming blog entries!