This spring semester, the Department of Cinematic Arts is hosting an online screening series, Black Lives on Screen, featuring the work of a diverse range of acclaimed African American and Black filmmakers, artists, and scholars. Intended to promote and celebrate the rich history and future of Black cinematic expression, the events will give UI classes, as well as individual students, staff, and faculty the opportunity to experience films ranging from the birth of cinema to the most recent documentaries, experimental shorts to mainstream blockbusters, and classic to marginalized or lost films.

Congratulations to Associate Professor Nathan Platte (UI, Music) on receiving FilmScene’s 2020 Visionary Advocate award. This much-deserved award speaks to the important impact of Platte's FilmCastPodScene podcast and related community work and research on sound in cinema.

Just before Thanksgiving, Professor Michael Cowan participated in the Domitor 2020 conference, where he discussed new research in a roundtable on Useful Animation in Early Cinema.

Congratulations to MFA Candidate Julianna Villarosa, who has been a programmer for the prestigious Slamdance Film Festival's Experimental Category this year. The festival has just announced the full program that you can find in the link below, and in light of the pandemic, the screenings will be all online and free. The festival will run February 12-25, 2021.

Ungar, a professor of cinematic arts, has provided extraordinary service to the university, including as departmental executive officer or chief administrator for five departments and one major program. Through this service, he has played a vital role in the hiring and advancement of generations of junior colleagues and the growth of innovative curricular programs. He frequently agrees to take on these responsibilities at times of challenge or crisis. He stepped in as interim director of the International Writing Program at a crucial moment when it was threatened with closure, and worked tirelessly to sustain it. In his most recent leadership role as interim departmental executive officer of cinematic arts, he spearheaded the collaborative effort to create a new Bachelor of Arts degree in screenwriting arts. He has influenced the careers of countless scholars through his generous dedication to team building and mentoring.

During his time at the University of Iowa, graduate student Hao Zhou has sought to increase LGBTQ representation in art and media by making LGBTQ-based independent films and photography projects.

Emily Drummer's thesis film Field Resistance will screen at Art of the Real. Our ecologically fraught present gives way to dystopian visions in Emily Drummer’s documentary-cum-science-fiction, which examines environmental devastation in Iowa as a means of thinking through the antagonism between nature and humanity.

Associate Professor in Film and Video Production Chris Harris premiered his new film Dreams Under Confinement during an online screening as part of the 2019–20 Wexner Center Artist Residency Award.

Hao Zhou received the Next Masters Support Program award from Talents Tokyo for his feature project 禁闭 (English working title: Bridled).

Emily Drummer’s (MFA, 2018) thesis film, Field Resistance, is screening at the annual Camden International Film Festival. Camden is recognized as a “major documentary event” and showcases innovative and visionary works of documentary cinema.