mediaevents

An Invitation to Carlos Reygadas' film "Silent Light" at the Walker Art Center

You are invited to a rare opportunity at Walker this Friday.  The Walker Art Center is hosting celebrated Mexican director Carlos Reygadas who will introduce his amazing new film "Silent Light" followed by a Q & A with the director.  Since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival (where it took the Jury Prize) it has been featured in many international film festivals such as the Toronto Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival (Gold Hugo for Best Feature Film).  In March the film swept the 50th annual Ariel Awards, the Mexican equivalent of the Oscars, with prizes for
best film best director, best supporting actress, best cinematography and best original screenplay.

For this special event we can provide students with one free ticket per person.  The free tickets will be available starting at 6 pm on Friday and students will each need a valid student I.D. to claim their ticket.

Visionary director Carlos Reygadas' new film reveals a spiritual crisis unfolding in a strict Mennonite community near Chihuahua, Mexico. As in his earlier films, Battle of Heaven and Japón, Reygadas infuses Silent Light with neo-Biblical imagery to explore ways that passionate, error-prone people reconcile their physical desires with their deep religious convictions. Winner of the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. 2007, 35mm, in Plautdietsch with English subtitles, 144 minutes.

Support for filmmaker travel is provided by Casa Travel.

Friday, April 25 | Walker Art Center | 7:30pm

2008's Final Two Senior Comps Presentations

This week senior CAMS students Sarah Nienaber and Andy Lauer will present their final senior compositions.  Andy will begin his talk at 4:30 and Sarah will follow at 5PM on Wednesday.  Food will be provided at the presentations.  Below are descriptions of each of their projects.

Andy Lauer's project "Some Films Are Better Than Others: Lyman H. Howe, Cultural Capital and Bringing the World to Northfield, MN":

Through public opinion in Northfield regarding the movies had reached an all time low by 1916, when traveling exhibitor Lyman How came through the town presenting his popular travel pictures that Spring, as he did every year, his movies were not only heartily embraced but, in fact, held up as paragons of the merits of film exhibition.  Why was this? Drawing on original research and primary documents, Andy argues that Lyman Howe managed to package himself as a purveyor of "high-class" entertainment, a persona that appealed to bourgeois Northfield residents looking to reinforce notions of cultural hierachy in the heavily Protestant "arts community." This is the story of a small town confronting modernity and all that came with it- industrialization, imperialism, war- and how that experience was mediated through the films of Lyman Howe.

Sarah Nienaber's project "Project: Meaning":

Neither absolute cinema, nor literature, this avant-garde fiction piece is a self-contained space in which "abstract" words (pulled from the Carleton English Department's 2008 Reading List) and "realistic" images are in dialogue with and opposition to one another—an adventure in semiotics, "Project: Meaning" is in its wholeness a language of its own.

Wednesday 23 | Scoville 102 |4:30PM-5:30PM

Carleton Film "Disconnected" Gets Coverage in City Pages

In preparation for the screening of Carleton student's documentary "Disconnected" at St. Anthony Main this coming Sunday, City Pages offered Melody Gilbert and students in her Cinema and Media Studies class the following article.  Take a look by clicking here and scrolling down.

Demonstration of the Panasonic HVX200 HD Camera

Join us for a demonstration of the Panasonic HVX200 HD Camera today.

This camera will be available to use on campus for a few weeks to select candidates but students MUST have training before they are allowed to use it.  After the demonstration, the Panasonic Rep will meet with a handful of students for more one-on-one training.

The HVX200 is widely considered one of the most innovative designs in handheld HD cameras, taking a major leap in image quality and capabilities.  The HVX200 incorporates the benefits of P2, the state-of-the-art memory recording device, increasing capacity and quality.

Panasonic HVX200 HD Camera


Monday, April 21 | Scoville102 | 4:30PM

Two CAMS Majors Present Their Senior Compositions

Tom Schmidt and Alison Jarzyna, two Senior CAMS majors, will present their senior composition projects this week.  The presentations will last approximately half an hour each, Tom Schmidt beginning his presentation first and Alison Jarzyna presenting second.

Tom Schmidt will be speaking on "Revolutions in Radio".  His talk will focus on how redefining radio in light of technological advancements and a fast evolving society can help the medium retain its relevance and bring about new possibilities for radio as a whole.  People can view it online at www.revolutionsinradio.com

Alison Jarzyna will explain how film fan culture and film industry interact.  Below is a description of her presentation:

From the earliest days of the studio system, film fan culture worked as a dialogue between the film industry and the local audiences who attended the movies.  The mediating factor between these two was the film stars who sold the studio's product and conveyed the cultural ideas and values of the time.  Though film history focuses on studio histories and the biographies of stars whose work is still readily accessible, the local approach and what was typical of the era has been overlooked.  Case studies of three such “forgotten” film stars -- Marguerite Clark, Wallace Reid, and Sessue Hayakawa --will hope to provide a film history that negotiates the relationship between Hollywood’s Paramount-Lasky studios and film fans in Northfield.

 

Wednesday, April 16 | Scoville 102 | 4:30-5:30 PM

CAMS Summer Production Fellowship

Cinema & Media Studies at Carleton College invites students to apply for a paid summer production fellowship that includes a $2500 honorarium.  Pre-requisite: CAMS 111: Digital Foundations or equivalent and currently enrolled as a freshman, sophomore or junior at Carleton.

The CAMS Summer Fellow will be responsible for developing and producing two short videos for the Northfield Area Foundation, a philanthropic organization that provides grants to individuals and organizations benefiting the Northfield community.  The videos will be displayed on the Foundation’s website.

One video (4-6 minutes) will introduce viewers to the history of the Northfield Area Foundation and the nuts and bolts of what it does.  A second video, slightly longer, will take a “human interest” approach and feature the perspectives of grant recipients.

The CAMS Summer Fellow will commence work on June 15, 2008 and conclude on August 1, 2008, with both videos to be completed during this time.  The CAMS faculty will mentor and supervise the summer fellow, provide access to media production equipment, and be available for consultation and instruction on the use of the equipment. 

Please submit a cover letter describing your qualifications for the position, resume, and sample of your video work by May 1, 2008 to Paul Hager (phager@carleton.edu) or Carol Donelan (cdonelan@carleton.edu), Cinema & Media Studies, Carleton College, One North College Street, Northfield, MN 55057.

Campus screening of "Disconnected"

Melody Gilbert’s CAMS 274 students will present a rough cut screening of their class documentary  “DISCONNECTED” on Thursday, March 6th in Bolio @ 7:30 pm.  This is a film about three Carleton CAMS students who gave up computers for a month.  To see a trailer and read more about the project, which as received national press coverage already, go to:
www.disconnecteddocumentary.com. 

Thursday, March 6th | Boliou 104 |7:30pm

CAMS Students Watch Jennifer Fox’s Documentary "Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman"

Visiting instructor Melody Gilbert took 3 CAMS students to see Jennifer Fox's new documentary series, "Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman" at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis this February.

In this six-hour tour de force, master storyteller Jennifer Fox lays bare her own turbulent life to penetrate what it means to be a free woman today. As her drama of work and relationships unfolds over four years, our protagonist travels to over seventeen countries to understand how diverse women define their lives when there is no map. Employing an ingenious new camera technique, called "passing the camera", Fox creates a documentary language that mirrors the special way women communicate.

Professor Melody Gilbert arranged for the students, Caitlin Magnusson, Wain Yee, and Andrew Tatge, to have dinner with Jennifer after the screening.  The students had a chance to ask Jennifer questions about her work and she demonstrated the camera and the shooting techniques she used while filming of this project over four years.

To read more about "Flying:Confessions of a Free Woman" and to watch the trailer click below.

Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman

Past Episodes of the Carleton Show

You can now view past episodes of the Carleton Show online.  These shows are filmed and produced by students in CAMS 274 (Studio Production: Carleton Show). Click the link below to watch the shows.

Carleton Shows

Podcasts of the past Carleton Shows are also available online. Click below to access these podcasts.
Carleton Show podcasts

Also, online are short videos about the student's trip to New York City for IFP Filmmakers Conference.  Click below to watch.
Carleton at IFP Market Filmmaker's Conference

Winning DVD Fest Teams will win Prizes

The Cinema & Media Studies Department, in association with Panasonic, is offering a special prize to the three top winners of this year's DVD Fest. Winning teams will be given a personal workshop by a representative of Panasonic on their new true high definition camera, the HVX-200. Also, the three top teams will each be given several days use of the camera during spring term—time enough to complete a small project of their choice.  Members of the ten top teams will receive CAMS tee-shirts.