Fabrizio Cilento is Professor of Film and Digital Media in Central PA. He is the author of An Investigative Cinema: Politics and Modernization in Italian, French, and American Film (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), which explores the intersection between politics, recent history, and the aesthetics of moving images. His articles appeared on numerous peer reviewed journals, anthologies, and edited volumes. Dr. Cilento is the Chair of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Translation/Publication Committee; Chair of the Film Studies Area of the Popular Culture Association; and is currently serving on the Advisory Board of Film Matters (Intellect).
Find me on: Instagram @cilentofabrizio Linkedin
MAJOR FIELDS OF SCHOLARLY OR PROFESSIONAL INTEREST
Film Studies
Digital Media
Transmedia Adaptations
Multimedia Storytelling
Architecture & Urban Studies
Teaching with Technologies
Film & Religion
Stars and Stardom Studies
Television Studies
Memory Studies
Historiography
Italian & French Studies
American Studies
Latin American Studies
Cultural Studies
Performing Arts
Globalization
Poetry & Literature
Creative Writing
PUBLICATIONS
FORTHCOMING
Everything Documented, All Arbitrary: 21st Century Reinvented Nonfictions (book manuscript; Introduction, Chapter I; Chapter II; and Chapter VII completed).
“Too Strange to Believe: Magical Realism and Cold War Politics in Narcos.” Studies in Spanish and Latin American Cinemas (2022). Eds Ana M. López and Dolores Tierney.
“Always Historicize: Voyage at the End of Memory in Italian Cinema,” in Colleoni, Federica and Chiara De Santi, eds. Past and Present in Italian Cinema. Rome: Vecchiarelli Editore, 2022.
Guest editor of Film Matters Magazine. The Romanian New Wave at Twenty Dossier. Issue 12.3., 2022.
BOOKS
An Investigative Cinema: Politics and Modernization in Italian, French, and American Film. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
L’altrove: Poemi Visivi (Somewhere: Visual Poems). Milan, Italy: Edizioni della Rosa, 2001.
BOOK CHAPTERS
“Visual Transitions in Ettore Scola’s Comedies” in The Cinema of Ettore Scola. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2020, pp. 44-66. In Lanzoni, Rémi and Edward Bowen; eds.
“The Moro Affair in the Movies of Gian Maria Volonté” in The Moro Affair: Memories and Narrations. Massa: Transeuropa, 2016, pp. 163-180. Eds. Ugo Perolino and Leonardo Casalino.
“The Interview as Self-Criticism: On Pasolini’s Metatelevisual and Extracinematographic Performativity” in Pier Paolo Pasolini: American Perspectives. Pesaro: Metauro, 2015, pp. 192-210. Eds. Federico Pacchioni and Fulvio Orsitto.
“One Hundred Steps: Radio Interference on the Neorealist Heritage” in The Cinema of Marco Tullio Giordana. Rome: Vecchiarelli Editore, 2015, pp. 79-98. Eds. Federica Colleoni and Elena della Torre.
PEER REWIED ARTICLES
“Shifting the Present: Francesco Rosi’s Salvatore Giuliano.” Chronica Mundi 11.1 (2016), Special Issue on “Bandits and Banditism.” Ed. Sara Delmedico.
“The Aesthetics of the Procedural in Post-9/11 Cinema.” Cinema Journal 56.1 (2016). Section “In Focus: Media Studies Fifteen Years after 9/11.” Ed. Anna Froula. University of Texas Press.
“What Julian Smith Hates (and Loves) about Facebook: Social Media Parody as Self-Promotion.” Comedy Studies, 6.2 (2015): 154-166. Special Issue of on “Laughter in the Digital Age.” Ed. Peter C. Kunze. Routledge: Taylor & Francis.
“Pablo Larraín’s No and the Aesthetics of Television.” Seismopolite: Journal of Art and Politics 10 (2015). Special Issueon “The Politics of Art and Art Scenes in Latin America.” Ed. Paal Andreas Bøe.
“The Missed Encounter with the Actor-Poet: Carmelo Bene and Vittorio Bodini According to Ruggero Jacobbi.” California Italian Studies Journal 4 (2014). Special Issue on “Italian Sound.” Eds. Rossella Carbotti, Deanna Shamek and Arielle Saiber.
“The Ontology of Replay: The Zapruder Video and American Conspiracy Films.” Teorija in praksa 50 (2013). Special Issue on “JFK Assassination: The Rise and Fall of Camelot.” Ed. Karmen Šterk.
“Even the Rain: A Confluence of Cinematic and Historical Temporalities.” Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies16 (2012): 245-258. Special Issue on “Temporalities in Latin American Cinema.” Eds. Ignacio Sanchez Prado and Joanna Page.
“Saviano, Garrone, Gomorrah: Neorealism and Noir in the Land of the Camorra.” Fast Capitalism 8.1 (2011). Special Issue on “Global Noir.” Ed. Gray Kochhar-Lindgren.
“The Vision at Last: Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Not I, and That Time.” Re: Viste sulla letteratura e le arti 1 (2005): 62-69. Special Issue “Oltre lo zero.” Eds. Tommaso Lisa and Alessandro Raveggi.
“Riccardo III: Demone nell’Inferno della Tragedia.” L’apostrofo 3.2 (2002): 60-88. Eds. Tommaso Lisa and Riccardo Donati.
SELECTED BOOK REVIEWS & ONLINE PUBBLICATIONS
“Antonio Iannotta. Il cinema audiotattile. Suono e immagine nell’esperienza filmica. Milano: Mimesis, 2017. Pp. 210.” In Annali d’Italianistica: Urban Space and the Body. Vol. 37, 2019. Edited by Andrea Polegato (California State University).
“The Aesthetics of the Procedural in Post-9/11 Cinema.” In Media Res: A Media Commons Project. Videographic essay. December 2016. Ed. Ethan Tussey.
“Twenty-something Years Later: Gen-X at the Oscars.” The Conversation. February 2015.
“A Conversation with Albert Maysles.” Nazione Indiana. Associazione Culturale Mauta, 13 April 2010. Ed. Francesca Matteoni.
SELECTED POEMS
Adagio Domestico in Nodo Sottile 3. Milan: Crocetti Edizioni, 2003, pp. 21-28. Eds. Vittorio Biagini and Andrea Sirotti.
1720 in Beat, beat…hurrà. Florence: City Lights Italia, 2003, pp. 19-20.
“Inclusum Labor Illustrat” in Rotte Metropolitane: Poesia, teatro, arti visive. Florence: Grafiche la Stamperia, 2003, p. 32.
“La lista” in L’Apparecchio di Junior. Arezzo: Zona, 2003, p.17. Ed. Alessandro Raveggi.
Il corpo del reato in Sagarana: Rivista letteraria trimestrale 7.4 (2002). Ed. Julio Monteiro Martins.
Opplà in Nodo Sottile 2. Milan: Crocetti Edizioni, 2002, pp. 33-40. Eds. Vittorio Biagini and Andrea Sirotti.
“Fragile” in La Nazione, December 4, 2001.
EDITORSHIP
2011 – Present: Founder and Editor-in-chief and Academic Coordinator of the digital collaborative project Cinemablography.
2020 – Present: Chair of the Translation / Publication Committee. The Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, the peer-reviewed publication of the Society of Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS). University of Texas Press.
2020 – Present: Advisory Board Member of Film Matters. Published by Intellect, with the support from University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Guest editor of Film Matters Magazine. Based on Actual Events Dossier. Issue 10.3., 2020; pp. 119-166.
Guest editor of Film Matters Magazine. Contemporary Science Fiction Dossier II. Issue 9.1., 2018; pp. 101-40.
Guest editor of Film Matters Magazine. Contemporary Science Fiction Dossier I. Issue 8.3., 2017; pp. 29-54.
2005 – 2008: Editor of the journal Re: Viste sulla letteratura e le arti. Arezzo: Zona Editrice.
2001 – 2003: Editor of the poetry journal L’apostrofo. Florence, Italy: Pietro Chegai Editore.
INVITED TALKS
“An Investigative Cinema: Politics and Modernization in Italian, French, and American Film.” December 6, 2018. Book presentation sponsored by the Heyman Center for the Humanities. Columbia University, New York. Respondents: Elizabeth Leake (Professor of Italian at Columbia), Giancarlo Lombardi (Professor of Comparative Literature at the College of Staten Island/Graduate Center), and Richard Peña (Professor of Film at Columbia and former director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York).
“Arte Povera and High Modernist Cinema.” April 5, 2018. Gordon College, Orvieto (Italy). Sponsored by the Gordon in Orvieto Study Abroad Program.
“We All Loved Each Other So Much and the Evolution of the Comedy Italian Style.” International Symposium: The Cinema of Ettore Scola. October 22-23, 2016. Casa Artom. Venice, Italy. Sponsored by Wake Forest University.
“Just Imagine: Genre and the Logic of Movie Posters.” In conjunction with the exhibition Now Showing: An American Century at the Movies, 1917-2017. September 29, 2016. Zimmerman Recital Hall. Sponsored by the Suzanne H. Arnold Gallery. Lebanon Valley College (PA).
“Investigation on an Actor Above Suspicion: The Movies of Gian Maria Volonté.” December 15, 2015. Sponsored by the G. D’Annunzio University. Pescara, Italy.
RESEARCH CONFERENCE PAPERS & DIGITAL PROJECT PRESENTATIONS
“Joshua Oppenheimer’s Cold War Between Thought and Expression.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Meeting. March 31-April 3, 2022. Chicago. Panel on “New Global Perspectives on the Cold War and Political Violence.” Fabrizio Cilento (Messiah University); Chair & Organizer. Massimiliano Delfino (Northwestern University); Co-Chair.
—-. Film Area Session. Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Meeting. April 13-16, 2022. Organizers: Fabrizio Cilento (Messiah University) and Anna Weinstein (Kennesaw University).
“Spaces of Television in The Paper Will Be Blue and 12:08 East of Bucharest.” Eastern European Studies Session. Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Meeting. June 2-5, 2021. Organizers: David and Olga Silverman (Kansas Wesleyan University).
—–. Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Meeting. March 17-21, 2021. Virtual Conference. Panel on “Revisiting the New Wave.” Chair: Leah Vonderheide, Oberlin College.
“The Age of the Self: Social Media and the 21st Century Schizoid Gaze.” Seminar: Making Sense of Digitality.”American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting. April 8-11, 2021. Virtual Conference. Organizers: Jacqueline Chia (York University, Toronto) and Priscilla Charrat Nelson (Bradley University).
“Too Strange to Believe: Pablo Escobar and Latin American Cinema’s War on Drugs.”
Seminar: Magical Realism in Global Literary and Cinematic Trauma Narratives. American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting. March 8-11. Georgetown University, Washington DC. Organizer: Eugene Arva (University of Miami).
—. Latin American Film & Media Session. Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Meeting. April 17-20, 2019. Washington DC. Presiding: Melissa A. Fitch (University of Arizona).
“Pablo Larraín’s No and the Aesthetics of Television.” 6th Interdisciplinary Conference on Critical Theory: Fictions of History. May 5th-6th, 2017. Organized by the Critical Theory Program of the City University of New York in conjunction with the Center for the Humanities and the New York Public Library.
—-. Latin American Film & Media Session. Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Meeting. April 1-4, 2014. New Orleans, Louisiana. Presiding: Melissa A. Fitch (University of Arizona).
“In and Out of the Jungle: The Politics of Gael García Bernal.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies. March 22-26, 2016. Chicago, Illinois. Chair, panel on “Politics and Paradoxes of Modern Celebrities.”
“Evening Rituals: Marco Ferreri’s Dillinger is Dead.” Intersections: Crossing Italian Borders in Music, Art, Literature, Theater, and Cinema. June 2-5, 2016. Kent State University, Gonzaga University, and California State University Programs. Florence, Italy. Organizer: Fulvio Orsitto (California State University).
“The Aesthetic of the Procedural in Post-9/11 Cinema” Session: War on Terror Cinema. Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference. March 30-April 3, 2016. Atlanta, Georgia. Presiding: Shakti Jaising (Drew University).
“Network Narrative in Diaz. Don’t Clean Up This Blood.” Seminar: Film and Cultural Memory. American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachussets. March 17-20, 2016. Presiding: Inez Hedges (Northeastern University).
—-. Italian Cinema in the Present Tense: New Narrative Practices from Adaptation to Transmedia and Transnational Cinema. Franklin & Marshall College. Nov. 13-14, 2015. Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Presiding: Millicent Marcus (Yale University).
“Cinemablography.” #BUDSC15: Collaborating Digitally: Engaging Students in Public Scholarship. Bucknell University, Nov. 6-8, 2015. Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
—-. Keystone Digital Humanities Conference. University of Pennsylvania, July 22-25, 2015. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
—-. Re: Humanities 2013. An Undergraduate Symposium on Digital Media. Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore Colleges. Pennsylvania. April 4-5, 2013.
“Rock Me Amadeus: The Mozart-Salieri Conflict in Drama and Film.” Bridges Across Cultures: An International Conference on Arts and Humanities. Washington & Jefferson College. July 2, 2015 – July 5, 2015. Palazzo Rucellai, Florence, Italy. Presiding: Helena Talaya-Manso (Boston College).
“A Certain Absence in French Cinema” Session: The Nouvelle Vague at 60: A Reassessment. Northeast Modern Language Association. April 30-May 3, 2015. Toronto, Canada. Presiding: Jackie Cameron.
“Race, Genetics and Ethnicity: Comparing Categorical and Ancestral Identities.” With Dr. Joseph Huffman (History), Dr. Michael Shin (Biology). School of the Humanities Symposium on Race in America. February 24-27, 2015, Messiah University, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
“Love and Supermodernity in Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies.” The Supernatural in Literature, Film, and Popular Culture. Pennsylvania College English Association Conference. October 3-4, 2014. State College, Pennsylvania.
“Investigation of an Actor Above Suspicion: The Moro Affair in the Movies of Gian Maria Volonté.” The Moro Affair in Narrative and Cinema (1978-2008) Session. Northeast Modern Language Association. April 3-6 2014. Harrisburg, Pennsylania. Presiding: Daniele Fioretti (Miami University).
“One Hundred Steps: Radio Interference on the Neorealist Heritage.” “New Trends in Modern and Contemporary Italian Cinema.” 5th Annual Conference. University of Bloomington, Indiana. April 23-26, 2014.
—-. Italian Cinema Session at the 2013 Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association conference. November 1-3, 2013. San Diego, California. Presiding: Fulvio Orsitto (California State University).
“What Julian Smith Hates (and Loves) About Facebook: Social Media Parody as Self-Promotion.” With a video essay by Alex White. Humor in the Digital Age Session at South Atlantic Modern Language Association. Presiding: Pete Kunze. November 8-10, 2013. Atlanta, Georgia.
“Junkspace.” Poetry reading on non-places and supermodernity for the event ”Luce Prigioniera.” Le Murate, Florence, Italy. December 19 2012. Organizers: Vittorio Biagini and Andrea Sirotti.
“Even the Rain: A Confluence of Cinematic and Historical Temporalities.” Film Panel at the Convention of the Midwest Modern Language Association. Presiding: Juliet Lynd (Illinois State University). November 8-11, 2012. Cincinnati, Ohio.
—-. The Ethics of Water: Everything Flows from Here.” Precarious Alliance Symposium. October 11-12, 2012. Delaware Valley College, Pennsylvania.
“Recovering Identity: Gastón Biraben’s Cautiva.” Humanities Symposium. February 24, 2011. Messiah University, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
“Saviano, Garrone, Gomorrah.” Modern Language Association Conference. Session “Italian Cinema Now: Politics, Gender, and Ethnicity.” Program arranged by the Division on Twentieth-Century Italian Literature. Presiding: Francesca G. Parmeggiani (Fordham University). December 29, 2009. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“Pasolini on TV.” European Film Conference. Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. September 8-10, 2008. University of Texas at San Antonio.
“Neorealism and the Double Stain.” Graduate Symposium “Italian Cinema for the New Millennium: Cinema as Witness.” Department of Italian Language and Literature, in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of New York and the Whitney Humanities Center. April 19-22, 2007. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.
“Reconstructing Reality: Logic of Ellipsis and Shifting Present in Salvatore Giuliano.” Graduate Student Conference for Interdisciplinary Studies “Faith, Knowledge and the Interface of Epistemologies.” May 4, 2006. University of Washington.
“Objectively False: Aesthetic of Image and Fictionalized Documentary in The Battle of Algiers.” Department of French and Italian. “Politics and Persuasion: Investigating the (Ab)use of Language.” April 8, 2006. University of Bloomington, Indiana.
“The Vision at Last: Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Not I, and That Time.” Department of Comparative Literature. “Heroic Rhetoric.” April 22, 2005. University of Washington, Seattle. Presiding: Travis C. Landry (Kenyon College).
FELLOWSHIPS AND GRANTS
Messiah University Scholarship Chair Grant (a six-load credit reduction for two consecutive years from 2019 to 2021 and up to a total of $3,000 for direct expenses) to complete the Introduction and two chapters of the book Everything Documented, All Arbitrary: 21st Century Reinvented (Non)Fictions.
Messiah University Internal Grant Workload Reallocation (one course reduction per year from 2018 to 2022).
2017-2018: Sabbatical Leave to complete the book An Investigative Cinema: Politics and Modernization in Italian, French, and American Film.
2016 – Humanties Fellowship. Messiah University Center for Public Humanities. Project: “Race, Genetics and Ethnicity: Comparing Categorical and Ancestral Identities.” In collaboration with Michael Shin (Biology), Bernardo Michael (Diversity Affairs), Joseph P. Huffman (History).
Messiah University Internal Grant Workload Reallocation (one course reduction per year from 2013 to 2017).
University of Washington Arts and Humanities Graduate School Dissertation
Fellowship. 2008.
Simpson Center for the Humanities Residency Dissertation Fellowship. 2007.
Nominated for 2003 – 2004 and 2004 – 2005 University of Washington Excellence in Teaching Award.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
ASSISTANT & ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, MESSIAH UNIVERSITY
Departments of Communication (COMM), English (ENGL) and General Education (IDFY, IDNW, and IDCC):
COMM 328 Methods and Issues in Film Studies. Spring 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2020.
COMM 382 History and Theory of Digital Media, Spring 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019.
COMM 327/IDNW 200 Latin American Cinema. Spring 2011 – 2016, 2019, 2020.
COMM 282 21st Century New Media Literacy. Spring 2012, 2014, 2016.
COMM 282 Science Fiction Cinema. Fall 2012, 2014.
COMM 252 Film History II: 1960 – Present. Spring 2014, 2016, 2020.
COMM 251 Film History I: 1895 – 1960. Fall 2013, 2015, 2019.
COMM 252 American Cinema II: 1960 – Present. Fall 2012.
COMM 251 American Cinema I: 1895 -1960. Fall 2011.
COMM 217 Introduction to Film. Fall 2010 – 2016, 2018, 2020.
IDCC 260: Italian Cityscapes and the Flow of Life. May Term 2012 – 2016, 2019.
ENGL 160 World Literature. Spring 2011.
IDFY 101 From Borges to HTML. Fall 2010 – 2016, 2018, 2020.
SELECTED COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Methods and Issues in Film Studies: The evolution of cinema art has been the subject of much speculative comment, with numerous scholars debating in favor or against film theory. Rather than attempting to summarize both sides of the debate, this course investigates why theory itself has become a contested concept within the academy. This is approached through a rediscovery of the value of classical film theory in the digital age, and uses the contemporary situation as a reason to revise what we thought we knew about that tradition. Designed around a series of key concepts that structure discussions of film’s relationship to modernism and modernity, the persistence of genres, the nature of film authorship, the implications of the gaze, and the ideological ramifications of the culture industry, the course provides a conceptual compass and a navigational instrument for a constantly shifting visual culture. Readings range from the seminal work of classic theorists and critical thinkers such as André Bazin, Edward Said, Laura Mulvey, Fredric Jameson, to the most updated developments in the field.
Film History I: This course explores the history of silent film, the early sound era of the late 1920s and 1930s, and the Golden Age of Hollywood. We will focus on technological changes such as the passage from silent to sound cinema, from black and white to color, and the advent of television; genre (the musical, historical and biblical epics, film noir); and international art cinema trends. Readings will include classic essays and book excerpts introducing the films covered in the course and its methodology, including the close analysis of particular films, studies of national film industries, auteurist approaches, important documents that altered film history, and genre studies. We will also overview the most recent scholarly and critical responses to these classic movies, situating individual films and artists in their social, cultural, political contexts.
Film History II: This course will provide an introduction to several important tendencies in world cinema from the late 1950s to the last days of celluloid. The course will address the following topics: the rise of “art cinema” in the post-WWII era, the international new waves of the 1960s and after, third cinema and “imperfect cinema,” the decline of the Hollywood studio system, American independent cinema of the 1970s, the blockbuster, stars and stardom, and the post-1989 environment. We will conclude with some considerations on recent filmmaking, transnational trends, the role of international film festivals and the conscious revision of cinematic traditions.
History & Theory of Digital Media: This course explores how digital media imitate, advance or withdraw from the accomplishments of older devices, how artifacts of specific media become desirable outcomes in others, and how these past processes impact the design and innovation of new tools. The course defines what is digital media and discusses the various applications of new technologies in contemporary culture (filmmaking, YouTube and social networks, e-books, blogs, and mediated spaces). The theoretical perspectives on digital media are framed by several documentaries and by groundbreaking texts in the field by Doug Englebart, Alan Turing, Marshall McLuhan, Jean Baudrillard, Henry Jenkins, D.N. Rodowick, and Lev Manovich.
Introduction to Film: This course is intended to provide an introduction to cinema as an artistic medium, as a source of entertainment, as the inspiration for influential cultural and philosophical writing, and as a group of social institutions with significant political and economic power. The course will be structured around three major topics: first, the basic elements of film production and reception, or the devices and strategies used by the filmmakers and the formal features of the text we eventually experience; second, crucial theoretical approaches to cinematic representation; and, third, film history, which establishes the various contexts in which these formal and conceptual developments take place.
Latin American Cinema: The course examines the evolution of Latin American cinema over the past thirty years including examples from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, and Chile, whose production representational strategies are both global and local. Issues explored include recent histories of military dictatorship, and current struggles for economic development, democratization, and human rights. After successfully completing the course, students should be able to become open to diverse and international voices outside the Western tradition; reimagine the ways in which communication and collaboration happen across cultural and political borders; examine the differences between outsider and insider perspectives on culture, gender, and race and the way they emerge on screen; explore how film contributes to nation building and how its narrative structure challenges stereotypes, traditional plot and characters via innovative stylistic choices; and engage with the question of historical (in)accuracy, scholarly vs. commercial understandings of the recent past, and the relationship between contemporary political events and film.
From Borges to HTML: In the 20th century, poets and short story authors contemplated the idea of the expansion of the self through writing; exploring the strange turns of ordinary life and the odd corners within the familiar. They created imaginary and symbolic worlds in which roads fork, corridors lead to other corridors, and so on in a series of vertiginous symmetries. In doing so, they anticipated key ideas that were then developed by modern computing and network technology (e.g.; the web, human-machine interactions, digital special effects video game narratives). Texts include works by Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Franz Kafka, Ernest Hemingway, Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Raymond Carver, Philip K. Dick, Donald Barthelme, Harvey Pekar, David Foster Wallace, Rick Moody, Amy Bloom and Wisława Szymborska.
INSTRUCTOR, GORDON COLLEGE IN ORVIETO (ITALY)
ORV379: Italian Film Locations (1945-Present). Spring 2022.
LECTURER, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON (SEATTLE)
Departments of Italian (ITAL) and Comparative Literature (C LIT):
ITAL 303 Leonardo Sciascia’s A ciascuno il suo. Spring 2009 and Winter 2010.
C LIT 352 Transmedia Adaptations. Spring 2007 and Spring 2008.
C LIT 312 History of Film 1960-1989. Winter 2008.
C LIT 350 Twice Told Tales: Short Stories into Film. Fall 2007.
TEACHING ASSISTANT, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON (SEATTLE)
C LIT 271 Film Theory. Spring 2010.
C LIT 270 Film Analysis. Winter 2010.
C LIT 272 Martial Arts Film. Fall 2009.
C LIT 271 Great Directors: Alfred Hitchcock. Winter 2007.
C LIT 270 Introduction to Film. Fall 2006.
ITAL 390 Italian Society in Cinema. Spring 2006.
ITAL 366 Neorealism and Beyond. Spring 2004, 2009.
ITAL 101, 102, 103. First-year Italian. Fall 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009.
ITAL 201, 234. Second-year Italian. Fall 2008, Summer 2009.
ITAL 134. Intensive Italian. Summer 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.
ITAL 237. Advanced Conversation. Spring 2004, 2006.
LECTURER, VILLA AURORA COLLEGE (FLORENCE, ITALY)
1999 – 2001: Language, Film and Performing Arts. Responsible for teaching both year-long and summer intensive courses, in addition to organizing educational tours throughout Italy.
SENIOR HONORS & DIGITAL PROJECTS
2011 – Present: Supervised a dozen Cinemablography Practica
2015 – 2016: Diversifying IT: Race and Gender in the Tech Industry
COMM 497/498 (Departmental Senior Honors Project with Alicia Sims; 2 semesters).
COMM 391 and various internships.
2013 – 2014: Downward
COMM 497/498 (Departmental Senior Honors Project with Mitch McClure; 2 semesters). Dragoon Online Web Series. Funded on Kickstarter ($15,000). April 2014. Distributed by VHX.tv. Awarded Best Movie and Best Director at Splice Student Film Festival, Mechanicsburg. Nominated for Best Sound Design and Best Cinematography at the Action on Film International Film Festival.
2012 – 2013: Pioneering YouTube.
DIGM 490 (Senior Seminar and Project with Alex White; 2 semesters).
2012 – 2013: Palace, A Short Film
HONOR 498/499 (Senior Honors Project with Rolando Vega; 2 semesters)
Funded on Kickstarter ($5,000). April 2013. Distributed by Shorts TV. Awarded Best Student Film at First Glance 2013, Philadelphia. Awarded Best Cinematography at Splice Student Film Festival, Mechanicsburg.
2011 – 2012: This is Italy
Digital storytelling project in collaboration with the Intercultural Center. Presented at the Messiah University International Education Week and at the annual cross-cultural leaders’ dinner.
Fall 2012: Visual Science Fiction A collection of 3,000 film stills developed and organized with Science Fiction Cinema students.
INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE AT MESSIAH UNIVERSITY
2018 – Present: Academic Coordinator for Cross-Cultural Courses. Roles:
Serve as the primary faculty resource for faculty advisors on Cross-cultural courses.
Serve on the General Education Committee.
Serve on the Experiential Learning Initiative Oversight Committee.
Serve on the Off-Campus Programs Advisory Committee.
Serve on the International Risk Management Committee.
2016 – 2018: Faculty Fellow for ELI Off-Campus Programs. Roles:
Serve as the primary faculty resource for faculty advisors in Off-Campus Programs, with a focus on Cross-cultural courses.
Serve in the leadership pool for the Professional Learning Community.
Serve on the Experiential Learning Initiative Oversight Committee.
Serve as Co-chair of the Off-Campus Programs Advisory Committee.
2018 – 2022: Peer Evaluator for Faculty in the Tenure and Promotion Process. Seven courses reviewed: Kerry Hassler-Brooks (English), Jennifer Ness-Myers (Biology), Cynthia Wells (Higher Education), Sarah Fisher (Literacy Education), Niklas Hellgren (Physics), Kim Fenstermachen (Nursing), and Michelle Lockwood (Engineering).
Spring 2020: Member of the Search Committee – Assistant Professor of Film, Video, and Digital Media Production. Departmental. Successfully concluded with the hire of Tara Whitehead.
Fall 2020 – Member of the Scholarship Committee.
2018 – 2019: Review of the Film and Media Arts Program Learning Objectives with Krista Imbesi and Nathan Skulstad.
2012 – Present: Member of the Digital Media Steering Committee (representing the Department of Communication). Discussed and shaped the curriculum of the interdisciplinary Digital Media curriculum on campus.
2014 – 2016: Application vetting for the Humanities Scholarship (HSP). Reviewed and scored applications and recommended applicants for interviews in the field of Communication.
2012 – 2015: Faculty Representative of the Educational Technology Committee.
2013 – 2014: Chair of the Search Committee – Assistant Professor of Film, Video, and Digital Media Production at Messiah University. Departmental. Successfully concluded with the hire of Krista Imbesi.
2013 – 2014: Academic mentor to Brent Good (Visual Arts).
2012 – 2013: Chair of the Search Committee – Full-time/term-tenure track position in Film, Video, and Digital Media Production at Messiah University. Departmental. Successfully concluded with the hire of Nathan Skulstad.
2012 – 2013: Experiential Learning Committee (Member to represent the School of the Humanities).
2011 – 2012: Drama Season Selection Advisory Committee (Member).
2011 – 2012: Digital Humanities Group (Member to represent the Department of Communication). Led by Dr. Pete Powers (School of the Humanities Dean).
Academic supervisor of the student groups We Will Write (2012 – 2014), Kouenkai: Anime Club (2013 – 2015), and Messiah Filmmakers Society (2011 – 2014).
2011 – 2012: Best of First Year Seminar. Reviewed and selected student essays to be published in the 2012 annual booklet.
2010 – 2011: Film and Digital Media Concentration Review.
CAMPUS EVENTS AT MESSIAH UNIVERSITY
Presided and organized the Teaching Tuesdays session “Learning from the Stranger.” Respondents: Dr. Wanda Thuma-McDermond (Nursing), Dr. Robert Reyes (Human Development & Family Science), Katie Wingert (English ’18). Library Athenaeum. February 18, 2020.
Presided and organized the Culture Connect Annual Lecture: “Black Italians and Digital Diaspora In Contemporary Italy” Guest Speaker: Fred Kuwornu (activist, filmmaker, and lecturer). School of the Humanities and Department of Communication. November 4, 2019.
Presided and organized the first Teaching Tuesdays sessions entirely dedicated to cross-culturals. Respondents: Dr. Gladys Robalino (Spanish) and Nathan Simms (Film and Media Arts ’19). March 5, 2019.
Presided and organized a Professional Learning Community Session dedicated to Cross-Culturals. Respondents: Dr. Sharon Putt (Theology and Religion) and Dr. Shelly Skinner (Christian Ministries Fitness For Ministry Program Coordinator). Boyer Hall 231. November 8, 2018.
2012 – Present: Member of the Technical Jury of the Splice Student Film Festival. Selected and organized the films that were screened each year.
Faculty Keynote Panel with Dr. David Pettegrew (History) and Dr. Gladys Robalino (Spanish). Education Technology Day. April 2, 2014. Presiding: Peter Powers.
Presided and organized the Culture Connect Annual Lecture: “The Power of Simulation from The Matrix to Avatar.” Guest Speaker: Nidesh Lawtoo (Visiting Scholar at The Humanities Center, Johns Hopkins University). School of the Humanities and Department of Communication. November 10, 2014.
Presided and organized a Digital Humanities online conference with Jentery Sayers (English, University of Victoria). Department of Communication and School of the Humanities. May 7, 2012.
Alternate Chapel. Migrant Ed Retreat Day. Presented and introduced the Mexican science fiction movie Sleep Dealer in collaboration with the group La Alianza Latina. October 8, 2012.
2011 – 2012: College Honors Film Festival (organized by Dr. Dean Curry, Politics). Presented/facilitated discussions.
SELECTED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
For my collaborations with the journal Film Matters and the Society of Cinema and Media Studies, see Editorship.
Council on Undergraduate Research Institute: Creative Inquiry in the Arts and Humanities Institute. November 6-8, 2015; Greensboro, NC.
Advising Enrichment Workshops. Facilitators: Jim Sotherden, Registrar/Retention Coordination and Robin Lauermann, Assistant Dean of General Education, Common Learning and Advising. May 3, 2015 and March 3, 2016. Messiah University, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
Educause Annual Conference. October 15-18, 2013; Anaheim, CA.
Seminars: Principles and Practices: Building an Effective Social Media Toolkit and Reimagining the “E” in E-Portfolio: Emerging, Engaging, and Enriching Technologies for Teaching and Learning.
Libraries, Labs, & Classrooms: Locating the DH w/ Nicole Coleman, Neil Fresitat, & John Unsworth. Sept. 27, 2012. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania. Attended with Pete Powers and several film students.
Online conference NITLE (National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education): Undergraduates Collaborating in Digital Humanities Research. April 27, 2012. Attended with several film students. Messiah University, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
1994 – 2003: Literary Award Premio Greve (Tuscany, Italy). Organizer with Paolo Codazzi. Sponsored by the Greve City Hall, Greve Library, and the journal Stazione di Posta.
2001 – 2003: Organizer of and participant in over 50 cultural events (poetry readings, performances, and theater) sponsored by University of Florence and Cultural Council of the city of Florence and UNESCO, held in libraries, university campuses, and museums.
1998 – 1999: Coordinator for the Multilateral Exchange Project “L’Oeuvre du Voyage,” organized by the French association “Movidart” and financed by the program “Youth for Europe” with groups of youth from France, Germany, Finland and Italy. Final performance presented at Avignon Festival.
LANGUAGES
Native speaker of Italian, native fluency in English, professional working proficiency in French, Spanish, ancient Greek, and Latin.
ACADEMIC MEMBERSHIPS
Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS)
Modern Language Association (MLA)
North East Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
Humanities, Arts, and Technology Advanced Collboratory (HASTAC)
American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA)
Latin American Studies Association (LASA)
The American Association for Italian Studies (AAIS)
Popular Culture Association (PCA)
OTHER
Italian Citizen; United States Citizen since 2011.
REFERENCES
James Tweedie
Associate Professor of Comparative Literature
Program in Cinema Studies
Box 354338; Padelford
University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
email: jtweedie@u.washington.edu
Phone: 203-543-5603
Jennifer Bean
Robert Jolin Osborne Professor and Associate Chair of Cinema and Media Studies
Adjunct Associate Professor of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies
Box 354338: Padelford
University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
email: jmbean@uw.edu
Phone: 206-543-7542
Albert Sbragia
Associate Professor of Italian
Division of French and Italian Studies
Box 354361, Padelford
University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
email: sbragia@u.washington.edu
Phone: 206-543-6241
Cynthia Steele
Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature
Box 354338; Padelford
University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
email: cynthias@uw.edu
Phone: 206-616-4085
Crystal Downing
Co-Director of the Marion E. Wade Center
Wheaton College, IL
Crystal.Downing@wheaton. edu
Phone: 630-752-5908
Peter Kerry Powers,
Dean, School of Arts, Culture, and Society
Messiah University, PA
ppowers@messiah.edu
Phone: 717-766-2511
