Dana Alston is a Ph.D. candidate in Film Studies. He received his MFA in Film and Television Studies from Boston University and his dual BA's in Cinema Studies and Media Studies from the University of Oregon. His current work focuses on contemporary forms of film authorship, cinephilia, and industrial media commodification.

Geoff Daniels is a first year Masters student in the Cinematic Arts program as well as serving as a TA in the department.

Malik is pursuing an M.F.A. in Film and Video Production. He completed a BA in Film Production and Anthropology from Hampshire College. Malik is invested in the restorative qualities of documentary media and narrative cinema.

Yuqin He received her M.A. in East Asian Studies from New York University in 2023 and B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature from Beijing Normal University in 2017. Her research interests include film history, Chinese cinema, modern Chinese literature and affect theory.

Will Hella is a second-year doctoral student in Cinematic Arts, studying the representation of government in film and television and how it shapes public knowledge and discourse.

Arman Hodasefat is an independent filmmaker. He received his M.A. in Film Studies from the Art University of Tehran in 2017, and his B.A. in Architecture from the University of Guilan in 2013. His recent work focuses on an interdisciplinary idea of using the technical principles of architectural design in long-take shots and continuous shot feature films.

Jonathan R. Lack is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Iowa’s Department of Cinematic Arts. He earned his B.A. and M.A. summa cum laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and has written, published, and podcasted on film and media since the age of 10. His research specializes in East Asian cinema, with a particular focus on Japanese film and animation, and has written extensively on directors such as Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. His approach aims to study film and media in ways that are uniquely personal, interdisciplinary, and accessible for a wide audience of both scholars and casual viewers. Alongside Sean Chapman, he is host of The Weekly Stuff Podcast, a long-running show about movies, TV, and video games, and Japanimation Station, a seasonal anime podcast. You can read his work at www.JonathanLack.com.

Jeremy Laughery (he/they) is a first-year MA in Film Studies student at the University of Iowa, where he also teaches introductory Rhetoric courses in the Department of Rhetoric.

Ariana Martinez is a freelance film critic and culture writer. They have contributed to publications including Little White, TheWrap, and Little Village. Ariana’s work often gravitates towards explorations of the 1980s, gender, and sexuality in cinema.

Negar is an M.F.A. student in Film and Video Production. She began her studies in Film at an early age, receiving her BA in Cinema and Editing in Iran and worked as a video editor where she fell in love with the art. 

Zachary Vanes received his M.A. in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and his B.A. in English Literature and Film Studies from DePauw University.

Getong is an MFA student in Film and Video Production. He creates works that derive from his interests in film, poetry, and music. They often touch upon the ambiguity and fallout between fantasy and reality.

After studying Psychology and Philosophy as an undergraduate, and then working in the mental health industry as a mentor and teacher for several years, Chris earned his M.F.A. at Boston University, writing his thesis on the work of the American experimental animator Don Hertzfeldt. As a PhD candidate at the University of Iowa, Chris has conducted research on doppelgängers, digitality, documentary studies, Left Bank cinema, posthumanism, genre theory, epistolary aesthetics, collectivist ontology, and cinematic depictions of the afterlife.