The Film Review Sets Formal Debut for September 27, 2007
The Film Review Sets Formal Debut for September 27, 2007
The first film studies journal produced and edited by students from New York Universitys Tisch School of the Arts (TSOA) made its unofficial debut in July when 2,000 copies of the slim volume arrived on campus. Entitled The Film Review (TFR), the bi-annual publication-fall and spring-will make its formal debut at an event to be held at the National Arts Club in New York City on September 27, 2007. The student editors want the new journal to serve as an important forum for discussion for students and faculty alike, as well as for others outside NYU who are interested in film theory and film production.
The Tisch School of the Arts, considered one of this countrys premier training grounds for intensive professional education in filmmaking and film studies, attracts some of the brightest and most talented students from around the world. Over the years many of our graduates have gone on to become outstanding leaders in academia, said Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts. We expect a lot from our graduates so it comes as no surprise that our students have created an active voice for themselves in the discourse in film studies. We applaud The Film Reviews editors and contributing writers for their energy, enthusiasm, and dedication to this exciting new publication.
Zachary Wigon, a senior in the Kanbar Institutes undergraduate division of film & television, is editor in chief of TFR. We hope The Film Review will not only energize the student body at Tisch and NYU, but also give students, faculty, and alumni another medium to engage in the study and production of film, said Wigon. We believe that the more language one possesses regarding cinema, the more power one has in terms of making or understanding it. Language defines the limits of our knowledge, and to expand the language of cinema is to expand the ability to produce and critique it. TFR will take principles that are found in contemporary film theory and apply them to cinema in a way that is accessible to students who might not have an academic or theoretical vocabulary in film.
TFR, entirely produced by students and editorially independent of NYU and TSOA, will be distributed free of charge on campus. While aimed at all students at NYU as well as faculty and alumni who have an interest in film, it will be geared specifically to students in TSOAs Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & Television and the Skirball Center for New Media. Nick Pandolfi, a senior in economics in the College of Arts and Sciences, is publisher of TFR. We also hope it will serve as an important reference to members of the filmmaking community outside NYU who wish to understand the education of the next generation of filmmakers, he explained.
The premier issue of TFR features: interviews with screenwriter Joseph Stefano and NYU alumnus and filmmaker Jacqueline Castel; a screen play written by Tisch graduates Matthew Kliegman and Daniel Kitrosser; an essay on the various departments at the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television; and contributions from Richard Allen, chair of the Department of Cinema Studies, Antonio Monda, TSOA associate professor of film, Karl Bardosh, TSOA associate arts professor, Zachary Wigon, and Vadim Rizov, a senior in the Kanbar Institutes undergraduate division of film & television; among others.
The Film Review was made possible, in part, with the support of Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell, the Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & Television, the Department of Cinema Studies, TSOA Vice Dean Pari Shirazi, TSOA Associate Dean Sheril Antonio, ProFunds, and the Tisch Undergraduate Student Council. The Spring 2008 issue of The Film Review will focus on The Cinema of Politics/The Politics of Cinema.
To obtain a copy of the premier issue of TFR or to submit writing for future issues, please contact Zachary Wigon at TFRpublicity@gmail.com.
The Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts provides an intensive and professional education in filmmaking. The program shared first place in recent U.S. News and World Report rankings of the nations film programs; since 1992, fifteen Student Academy Award gold medals have been presented to NYU student filmmakers by the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences. At the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, Kanbar Institute students and alumni walked away with an unprecedented seven awards in virtually every top-prize category. And at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival Kanbar Institute graduates and faculty won nine out of the 19 awards. Approximately 150 graduate and 1,050 undergraduate film students pursue degrees in film and television production, photography, cinema studies, dramatic writing, and interactive telecommunications. Distinguished alumni of the Kanbar Institute include Joel Coen, Chris Columbus, Billy Crystal, Martha Coolidge, Ernest Dickerson, Amy Heckerling, Jim Jarmusch, Ang Lee, Spike Lee, Brett Ratner, Nancy Savoca, Martin Scorsese, Susan Seidelman, and Oliver Stone, among many others.