Film and Media Studies Program

Welcome to Film and Media Studies, an interdisciplinary academic program in Georgetown College, Georgetown University, dedicated to the integration of film and media theory and history with creative practice, with the goal of exploring the relations between media, power, and social justice.

In spring 2011, we launched Film and Media Studies, welcoming our first cohort of students, a diverse group selected from a strong pool of applicants. In our initial semester, we pioneered a new curriculum, including FMST-100: Gateway to Film and Media Studies and ARTS-181: Filmmaking Studies (offered in partnership with the Department of Art and Art History). In the Gateway course, led by Dr. Robynn Stillwell, students explored theoretical and historical approaches to studying film and media and engaged in media-making projects. In ARTS-181, led by Professor Roberto Bocci, students conceived, shot, and edited documentary, experimental and narrative short work.

This summer, we continued curricular innovation, offering FMST-350: Film Festival Studies, built around experiential learning at the 2011 AFI-Discovery Silverdocs Film Festival, where our students received full access to all the films, panels, and events. The students produced a short documentary about the film festival as part of their academic work in the course (viewable under the Curriculum tab on this site). This fall, our seniors will begin their capstone work, proposing, designing, refining, and sharing original projects, integrating their learning in the Program with their own relationships to media and social justice.

Last year, to complement our new curriculum, we produced events and opportunities for learning about film and media. We began the year with a special screening of alumnus Jim Whitaker’s (C’90) powerful film Rebirth (2011), a feature documentary about grief and recovery after the catastrophe of September 11, 2001, and we held a symposium where undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff engaged in a critical conversation about the issues raised by the film. We concluded the year with a screening of Georgetown parent Jami Gertz’s A Better Life (2011), a deeply humane fictional film about the lived consequences of illegal immigration, and held a conversation with Jami immediately following the screening. Additionally, we held talks with Dr. Ellis Hanson (Cornell University) and Academy Award nominee Jill Godmillow, (University of Notre Dame).

This year, we look forward to producing dynamic events, including a new program – Silverdocs@Georgetown – that will bring cutting edge non-fiction film and video to campus. In addition, we will host screenings of Another Earth (2011) and Sound of My Voice (2011), and a panel discussion with alumni filmmakers Mike Cahill (C’01), Brit Marling (C’05), and Zal Batmanglij (C’01). These alumni distinguished themselves as student filmmakers while at Georgetown, and the launch of Film and Media Studies was inspired by the work they were able to accomplish as students.

I invite you to use this site to explore Film and Media Studies at Georgetown and to follow our continued development.

Bernie Cook, Ph.D.
Director, Film and Media Studies