Author Archives: jcronin

FMA class shows off installation during Diamond Screen

By jcronin | Published: May 11, 2012

At the end of the Spring 2012 semester, students from the Media Arts Theory and Practice class displayed their exhibits in Annenberg’s Studio 2. Here, Paul Hinson displays “How to Build a Bee Box to Attract Solitary Bees.” The interactive exhibit asked viewers to remove screens from a box and place them on a framework to reveal hidden videos.

photos by Ryan S. Brandenberg/Temple University … Read more »

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FMA announces winners of Diamond Screen, departmental awards

By jcronin | Published: May 11, 2012

The 2012 Diamond Screen Film Festival results were announced May 7 at the closing night ceremony at the International House in Philadelphia.

For more information please visit: http://diamondscreen.org/

Diamond Screen Film Festival Awards

Best Long Form Screenplay (Juried by Scott Currie)
Magic Ghetto by Matthew Flocco

Best Short Form Screenplay (Juried by Ian Markiewicz)
Praise and Blame by Shane Book

Web Interactive Design (Jury Award) (Juried by Andrew Nicholas)
Between Leaving & Arriving by Joseph Kraemer

Web Interactive Design (viewer’s favorite) (Online poll winner)
Jake Rasmussen’s Site by Jake Rasmussen

Best Cinematography Film (Juried by Dave Lamm)
Mehul the Music Man by Cameron S. Mitchell

… Read more »

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Moving Camera Olympics test cinematography skills

By jcronin | Published: May 9, 2012

photos by Ryan S. Brandenberg/Temple University

Medals gleaming from their necks, the proud champions celebrated their victories as John Williams’ “Olympic Fanfare” filled Annenberg Hall’s Studio 2.

The events didn’t involve javelins, running shoes or volleyballs. Instead, each competitor was strapped into a Steadicam Pilot. Their goal was to beat their fellow Film and Media Arts students in a series of competitions designed to show off their cinematographic skills.

The “Moving Camera Olympics” were part of the week-long Diamond Screen Film Festival. Over the past semester, the students have honed their skills with this piece of equipment that allows the … Read more »

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Augmenting reality

By jcronin | Published: April 11, 2012

Film and Media Arts Associate Professor Sarah Drury has been researching a technology-based art form called augmented reality, in which artists add virtual images to real landscapes that can be viewed through a mobile phone.

Watch Professor Drury discuss her research, an augmented reality exhibit that she curated and her take on the artists who work in this medium.

Video by Ryan Geffert … Read more »

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FMA professor’s Top Secret Rosies wins Fargo Film Festival honor

By jcronin | Published: March 5, 2012

A film by Associate Professor LeAnn Erickson, FMA, was awarded the Ruth Landfield Award at the 2012 Fargo Film Festival.

The award honors films that profile women of courage, conviction and compassion.

Erickson’s film, Top Secret Rosies, shares the little-known story of a group of female mathematicians who did secret ballistics research for the U.S. Army during WWII.

A letter to Erickson from festival organizer Emily Beck says, “Ruth Landfield was a tremendous advocate and supporter of women in the arts in the Fargo-Moorhead community. The first time I screened your film, I was moved and inspired. … Read more »

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A weekend with Oscar

By jcronin | Published: March 1, 2012

After a weekend at the Academy Awards, it’s been back to reality for Film and Media Arts MFA candidate Fiona Otway.

While no one affiliated with the nominated documentary Hell and Back Again (which Otway edited) left the Kodak Theater with a little gold man Feb. 26, it remains an experience that few get to live.

The film, directed by Danfung Dennis, follows an American marine who is shot by the Taliban in Afghanistan on his journey toward a normal life back at home.

Otway had already been to the Oscars twice as an editor of nominated documentaries, so it … Read more »

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FMA alumna’s film to show at Anthology Film Archives

By jcronin | Published: March 1, 2012

A new documentary by Kimi Takesue, FMA ’00, opens March 2 at the Anthology Film Archives in New York. An MFA graduate, her film, Where Are You Taking Me?, documents life in post-war Uganda – a nation trying to rediscover itself in peace.

According to the film’s synopsis, “Eschewing a journalistic discussion of wartime atrocities and losses, Takesue allows such contextual information to quietly enter the frame, as her roving camera quietly observes the negotiations, rhythms and cycles of daily life in a new Uganda.”

Critic Jay Weissberg of Variety said, “Beautifully meditative…an uplifting observational documentary that plays on … Read more »

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FMA alumnus to premiere short at SXSW festival

By jcronin | Published: March 1, 2012

Minka Farthing-Kohl, FMA ’09, will premiere his new short, Cheap Extermination, at the increasingly important South By Southwest Film Festival, which runs March 9-17, 2012.

Watch the film’s trailer here: … Read more »

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Associate Professor Tajiri to discuss social justice documentary at Smith College

By jcronin | Published: February 22, 2012

Associate Professor Rea Tajiri, FMA, will participate in a two-day symposium, “Women, Social Justice, Documentary,” March 31 and April 1 at Smith College in Northampton, Mass.

She will be part of a panel discussion entitled “Experimental Documentary: What Does Social Justice Look Like?” with fellow film and video artists Su Friedrich of Princeton University and Barbara Hammer.

The keynote address will feature documentary filmmaker Lourdes Portillo, Las Madres: The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, Senorita Extraviada.

CLICK HERE for more information. … Read more »

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FMA professor reveals his Oscar picks

By jcronin | Published: February 14, 2012

“And the Oscar goes to…”

Like millions of people around the world, Film and Media Arts Assistant Professor Mark Rosenthal will be awaiting to hear the end of that sentence Feb. 26 during the Academy Awards broadcast. But unlike a majority of the viewers, he’ll know which nominees have received at least one vote in each category.

He voted for them.

Rosenthal, the only member of the Academy at the School of Communications and Theater, is a screenwriter, with films such as Mona Lisa Smile, Superman IV, Star Trek VI and Planet of the Apes (2001) on his … Read more »

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