April 2008 Archives

Check out the list of new film studies books and dvds acquired at Temple Libraries in March.

Some highlights:

The Paley reference collection is now home to Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews. This 15 volume set reprints the film reviews and some editorials originally published by P.S. Harrison in Harrison's reports, 1919-1962, with some corrections. Harrison's reports was a weekly sent out to independent exhibitors. The reviews and editorials were directed toward independent theater owners to assist them with booking. Articles in Harrison's take positions on a variety of the concerns of cinema distributors and exhibitors ranging from topics such as censorship to the advent of 3D.

A large number of scripts now appear in the library catalog now that we've uploaded records for the scripts that are available in the full text online database American Film Scripts Online. There are currently 823 scripts in the database, ranging from 1903 to 2006.

On Friday, 25 April 2008 join Temple University's Suzanne Gauch and Jessica Winegar for a discussion on "Cultural Politics, Women’s Rights, and Recent Tunisian Film."

The event will be held at the Temple University Center City Campus (TUCC), Room 420, from 5:30-7:00pm

Often highlighting women’s issues, internationally-distributed Tunisian films contribute integrally to Tunisia’s cultural politics both at home and abroad. This talk explores the transnational discourses that enable many recent Tunisian films to promote the post-independence Tunisian government’s exemplary women’s rights record while simultaneously offering a critique of Tunisian society. It further focuses on two recent films, VHS Kahloucha and Bedwin Hacker, that begin to move beyond entrenched cultural politics to broader criticisms of social, political, and economic policies while simultaneously addressing the lingering Orientalisms that make these same cultural politics possible—and necessary—in the international arena.
Suzanne Gauch is assistant professor of English at Temple University, where she teaches postcolonial and gender studies. She has recently authored Liberating Shahrazad: Feminism, Postcolonialism, and Islam (University of Minnesota Press, 2007) as well as a number of articles on African and Caribbean postcolonial literature, film, and theory.

Jessica Winegar is assistant professor of Anthropology at Temple University, where she focuses on visual and material culture, the culture industries, nationalism, neoliberalism, social class, gender, value, and the Middle East. Professor Winegar has authored Creative Reckonings: The Politics of Art and Culture in Contemporary Egypt (Stanford, 2006) and a number of articles.

Welcoming

• Sangita Gopal, University of Oregon
• Sujata Moorti, Middlebury College
• Sumita Chakravarty, New School University
• Pallabi Chakravorty, Swarthmore College

in a a discussion of Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti (eds.) forthcoming publication Global Bollywood: Transnational Travels of the Song-Dance Sequence (2008). This interdisciplinary collection of essays describes the many roots and routes of the Bollywood song-and-dance spectacle around the world.

Thurs., April 17, 11:40 a.m - 1pm
CHAT Room, 10th floor of Gladfelter Hall
For further information.

Temple's own Oliver Gaycken will speak on
"A Modern Cabinet of Curiosities: George Kleine and the Educational Film" at University of Pennsylvania's Department of History and Sociology of Science.


Spring 2008 Workshop

Monday, April 7, 3:30 p.m.
Oliver Gaycken, Assistant Professor of English and Cinema Studies at Temple University, will speak on cinema, science, and their meeting in the educational film.
The workshop is on Monday from 3:30 pm until 5:15pm in 337 Logan Hall, with refreshments to follow.
All are welcome!

The University Film & Video Association will award a short documentary by a student or faculty member that follows best practices for fair use.

Deadline is one month away! See details here.