Richly Resourceful! On B.Ruby Rich's Work, plus A Roundup of Recent Open Access Screen Studies Items

The SENSES of an ENDING from Catherine Grant

The above video treats the ending of Lucrecia Martel's La niña santa / The Holy Girl (2004), using insights about the film from Deborah Martin's book The Cinema of Lucrecia Martel (Manchester University Press, 2016) and Sophie Mayer's chapter 'Gutta cavat lapidem: The sonorous politics of Lucrecia Martel's swimming pools', in The Cinema of The Swimming Pool, eds. Christopher Brown and Pam Hirsch (Peter Lang, 2014). For Study Purposes Only - No Significant Spoilers.

The video is dedicated to pioneering queer and feminist film curator and critic B. Ruby Rich, one of the foremost advocates of the work of La niña santa's director, and much other queer New Argentine, and Latin American Cinema. 

Rich's career is justly being celebrated at a screening and discussion event taking place between June 21-25, 2017, at the Barbican Cinema (and other London venues) as part of its 2017 Film in Focus season. The event is entitled ‘Being Ruby Rich’ and is co-sponsored by Film London and co-curated by Club des Femmes, the queer-feminist film curating collective. La niña santa (a film championed by Rich, alongside Martel's other films) will be screened with an introduction by Sophie Mayer at the Barbican Cinema on Sunday, June 25, at 6pm.

For further information about these events, see here. 

Today, Film Studies For Free celebrates the much-awaited visit to London of B. Ruby Rich (foundational film critic, festival programmer, cultural theorist, and chronicler of social trends on screen and off), on the occasion of a magnificently merited celebration of her career at the Barbican and other venues, organised by Club des Femmes, the queer-feminist film curating collective (check out their interview about their work here).

The entry celebrates, as usual, in film studies links, beginning with a new video resource (above) on one of the films to be screened in this celebratory programme, and then lots of other rich Rich-related resources (below), followed by a roundup of recent Open Access Screen Studies Items, including numerous new journal issues online.

FSFF also wanted to share the great news that, from September 1, 2017, its author will be taking up the post of Professor of Digital Media and Screen Studies at Birkbeck, University of London, an institution with a longstanding and wonderful record of supporting open access publishing and widening educational access, in part through film curating study and practice! Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image is also co-host of one of the free events celebrating Ruby Rich's work, taking place on June 21, 2017.

By (or Featuring) B. Ruby Rich:

B. Ruby Rich on researching the intersection between film and social movements from Arts UCSC

• 'In the Name of Feminist Film Criticism', Heresies, 3.1, 9, 1980 Index page / Large PDF
• The first chapter of B. Ruby Rich’s book New Queer Cinema: The Director’s Cut, (Duke University Press, 2013)
• Excerpts from Chick Flicks: Theories and Memories of the Feminist Film Movement (Duke, 1998)
• 'Maedchen in Uniform: From repressive tolerance to erotic liberation', Jump Cut, no. 24-25, March 1981, pp. 44-50
• Interview with VICE Magazine: ''Brokeback Mountain' Ushered in a New Era of Gay Cinema', VICE, December 13, 2015
• 'When History Makes the Cut', Film Quarterly, Spring 2017, Volume 70, Number 3
• 'Film [sic]', Film Quarterly, Winter 2013, Vol. 67, No. 2
• Film and Media in a Time of Repression: Practices & Aesthetics of Resistance, Film Quarterly, February 24, 2014
• 'Film Criticism in the Era of Algorithms', Film Quarterly, Winter 2016, Volume 70, Number 2
• 'What Is at Stake: Gender, Race, Media, or How to Brexit Hollywood', Film Quarterly, Fall 2016, Volume 70, Number 1
• 'A Vocation in Film', Film Quarterly, Summer 2016, Volume 69, Number 4
• 'Academy Categories, Movie Theater Revivals & Always and Forever, Coutinho', Film Quarterly, Spring 2016, Volume 69, Number 3
• 'Evidence of Visibility', Film Quarterly, Winter 2015, Volume 69, Number 2
• 'New Visions, Old Crises', Film Quarterly, Fall 2015, Volume 69, Number 1
• 'Looking Back, Looking Ahead: What’s at Stake', Film Quarterly, Summer 2015, Volume 68, Number 4
• 'On Screen, Off Screen', Film Quarterly, Spring 2015, Volume 68, Number 3
• 'Chance Meetings and Metrics, with More to Come', Film Quarterly, Winter 2014, Volume 68, Number 2
• 'Film, Digitality, and Cultural Divides', Film Quarterly, Fall 2014, Volume 68, Number 1
• 'Thinking about Triggers, Thumbs, Sex, and Death', Film Quarterly, Summer 2014, Volume 67, Number 4
• 'Thinking Back, Thinking Ahead', Film Quarterly, Spring 2014, Volume 67, Number 3
• 'Notes on Arrival', Film Quarterly, Fall 2013, Vol. 67, No. 1
• Three Film Quarterly Reports on the Sundance Film Festival: 'Park City Remix', 'Frontlines', 'Sundance Film Festival'.
• In German: An excerpt from B. Ruby Rich's Keynote speech at the "Queer Film Culture" conference, Hamburg, October 15, 2014 (thanks to Skadi Loist and Dagmar Brunow)

B. Ruby Rich on TIFF's influence in coining the phrase New Queer Cinema

Mellon Visiting Artists and Thinkers Program | Conversation:Foundational Moments of New Queer Cinema with B. Ruby Rich, October 8, 2013


The Story of Queer Cinema: Edit (Anger/Warhol)

On Rich's work:

• Emma Myers, 'Profiles in Criticism: B. Ruby Rich', Indiewire, February 2014
• Patricia White, "Review Of "New Queer Cinema: The Director's Cut" By B.R. Rich". Film Quarterly. Volume 67,  2013, Issue 1. 89-91

Other news and recent open access screen studies links:

1. Cinephile aggregator extraordinaire David Hudson has taken his expertly unmissable daily round-ups of cinephile links, news and events (formerly of Keyframe Daily) to the Criterion Collection "Daily" website: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts?category=The+Daily.
2. Tiago Baptista's open-access PhD thesis on the digital audiovisual essay (supervised by Laura Mulvey and externally examined by Adrian Martin)! http://bbktheses.da.ulcc.ac.uk/215/.
3. Rob King's great new book Hokum! The Early Sound Slapstick Short and Depression-Era Mass Culture is available in open access formats at Luminosoa here: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520288119.
4. Nicholas Mirzoeff's new free e-book The Appearance of Black Lives Matter (NAME Publications) is available here: http://namepublications.org/item/2017/the-appearance-of-black-lives-matter/.
5. Out now: Issue 45.2 of Film/Literature Quarterly, a highly esteemed and long-established journal now available in an online open access version!! https://www.salisbury.edu/lfq/.
6. Just out: Issue 7 of MOVIE: Journal of Film Criticism, with new features on Opening Shots and audiovisual essays: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/film/movie/.
7. Just out: Issue 12 of The Cine-Files: a special commemorative issue on Chris Marker and Jacques Rivette, featuring so many delightful and insightful pieces... including an essay by Rivette himself! http://www.thecine-files.com and http://www.thecine-files.com/dossier-rivette-marker/.
8. Issue 11 of FRAMES Cinema Journal - The Future of Horror is now available online at http://framescinemajournal.com/.
9. A NEW issue of #openaccess journal NECSUS on #TRUE! with a great new AV essay section curated by Kevin B. Lee! http://www.necsus-ejms.org/portfolio/spring-2017_true/.
10. Three new contributions to "Ghetto Films and their Afterlife", in the #openaccess journal APPARATUS: http://www.apparatusjournal.net/index.php/apparatus/issue/view/3.
11. New issue of Film-Philosophy (21, 2, 2017) now published and fully open access: http://www.euppublishing.com/toc/film/21/2. ARTICLES: Memories of the Unlived Body: Jean-Louis Schefer, Georges Bataille and Gilles Delouse by Patrick ffrench; A Body Without a Face: The Disorientation of Trauma in Phoenix (2014) and New Holocaust Cinema by Olivia Landry; Intra-Diegetic Cameras as Cinematic Actor Assemblages in Found Footage Horror Cinema by Rødje Kjetl; Fearsome Acts of Interpretation: Audiovisual Historiography, Film Theory and Gangs of New York by Mike Meneghett.
12. New issue of Media Industries (Vol. 4, No. 1) now available. It features articles by Nora Draper, Darrell Davis and Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh, Patryk Galuszka and Katarzyna Wyrzykowska, and Justin Wyatt. The issue also contains a Special Section curated by Annette Hill and Jeanette Steemers that focuses on Media Industries and Engagement, featuring a dialogue between industry and academic researchers: http://www.mediaindustriesjournal.org/.
13. A new international peer-reviewed open access journal of James Bond Studies, shaken not stirred: http://jamesbondstudies.roehampton.ac.uk.
14. New issue of INTENSITIES: A JOURNAL OF CULT MEDIA: https://intensitiescultmedia.com/issue-9-spring-2017/.
15. New issue of the Journal of Lusophone Studies features a special dossier on Portuguese Cinema: https://jls.apsa.us/index.php/jls/issue/view/23.
16. A great new #openaccess practice-research publication: O A R Platform! Check out Issue 1: "Sites of Research" here: http://www.oarplatform.com/issue/issue-1/.
17. On David Lynch: a new virtual special issue of the esteemed journal Screen freely accessible until end August 2017: https://academic.oup.com/screen/pages/david_lynch_virtual_issue.
18. Laura Ivins' great video and text on Maya Deren's Film-Philosophy: http://blogs.iu.edu/aplaceforfilm/2017/05/23/maya-derens-film-philosophy/.
19. New essay by Adrian, Martin for Photogénie, on 'play' in American screen comedy from the early sound era to the 50s and beyond: thttps://cinea.be/game-space-and-play-time-a-partial-history-american-screen-comedy/?language=en.
20. Peter Labuza of the Cinephiliacs podcast interviews cinephile par excellence Girish Shambu: http://www.thecinephiliacs.net.
21. Further great, recent, scholarly-related cinema podcasts available at The Cinematologists: http://www.cinematologists.com.
22. Check out 'Edit shots' - a free for personal use (or pay what you want) resource: http://learnaboutfilm.com/editshots/.
23. ‪Check out Professor Ian Christie's new research blog on cinema pioneer Robert Paul, the "undersung hero of early British filmmaking": https://paulsanimatographworks.wordpress.com.
24. Attention Hitchcock Fans: there will be a free online, interactive course with multi-media course material, games and more from Ball State University. It is in conjunction with TCM running one of Hitchcock's greatest films every Wednesday and Friday night in July. You can enroll here: https://www.canvas.net/browse/bsu/tcm3/courses/hitchcock50.
25. Great interview with Laura Mulvey at Issue 8 of  Four by Three Magazine, part of an amazing issue of the magazine on DEATH, with other contributions by luminaries on a wide range of essential specific topics.
26. The international, Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded Filmmaking Research Network has designed a survey to gather data about filmmaking research. The aim of this survey is to compare and contrast examples of filmmaking research through producing case studies and a register of films as research outputs. It is also intended to build capacity through networking members via research themes, curating content from the film register for international dissemination and creating a Phd examiner list. Though the survey is primarily aimed at UK and Australian academics we welcome contributions from colleagues in other countries particularly those who have films to register. Please participate by completing the online survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/filmmakingresearch. For further information about the network and to join the e-list visit: http://filmmakingresearch.net.
27. Martin Scorsese on standing up for cinema in the Times Literary Supplement: http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/film-making-martin-scorsese/.
28. Great interview with Laura Mulvey at Four by Three Magazine: http://www.fourbythreemagazine.com/issue/death/laura-mulvey-interview.
29. The latest issue of Learning on Screen/BUFVC journal VIEWFINDER has published a conversation between Catherine Grant, Amber Jacobs and Ian Magor about the use of audiovisual essay in film and moving image studies.

http://bufvc.ac.uk/publications/viewfinder-archive

A Sweet Life in Italian Cinema: In Memory of Peter Bondanella (1943-2017)

Dan Schneider Video Interview with Peter Bondanella and Frank Burke, recorded on October 4, 2016 #78- On Federico Fellini from Dan Schneider 

'The most exciting aspect of Bondanella’s work is, in fact, his inextinguishable faith in the power of reason and systematization which reminds us in a nostalgic way of methods and choices inspired by respect and harmony.’ Federico Fellini 

Sad news has reached Film Studies For Free of the death of Italian cinema and culture scholar Peter Bondanella on May 28th. Bondanella was Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, Film Studies and Italian at Indiana University. He made many essential contributions to his fields during a career that spanned over four decades, most notably for our discipline, perhaps, his foundational volume Italian Cinema: From Neorealism to the Present, first published in 1983, and his  later reworked version of that book A History of Italian Cinema (2010).

FSFF marks Bondanella's brilliant career as well as his passing by rounding up some links to online works about him (including Gino Moliterno's wonderful obituary), as well as by him (including his magnificent recent contribution to the above embedded conversation about Fellini - who earlier had very nice things to say about Bondanella's own work, unsurprisingly).

As further tributes to Bondanella go online, these will be added below.

By Peter Bondanella

• 'Federico Fellini: A Life in Cinema' - excerpt, The Films of Federico Fellini (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)
• 'Amacord', The Criterion Collection: Notes, November 22, 1999
• Excerpt from Umberto Eco and the Open Text: Semiotics, Fiction, Popular Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2005) 

About Peter Bondanella

• Gino Moliterno, 'Addio A Peter Bondanella (1943-2017)', ACIS: Australasian Centre for Italian Studies website, June 5, 2017
• Nick Riddle, 'Renaissance Man', Indiana University Research and Creative Activity, April 2000 Volume XXIII Number 1
• Vincent Tocce, 'Respecting Rossellini: On Peter Bondanella, The Films of Roberto Rossellini', Film-Philosophy, 2.1, 1998
• Niall Flynn, 'The Italian Cinema Book edited by Peter Bondanella', LSE Review of Books, 2013
• Giacomo Boitani, 'Neorealist Cinema and Post-Neorealist Cinema', KINEMA, 

Other tributes

• Gino Moliterno, 'Addio A Peter Bondanella (1943-2017)', ACIS: Australasian Centre for Italian Studies website, June 5, 2017
• Peter Bondanella (1943-2017)', European Film StarPostcards website, May 31, 2017

Also see:

• 'Fellini Studies' Film Studies For Free, March 20, 2011
• "Between Past and Future": ROME, OPEN CITY Studies', Film Studies For Free, November 19, 2011
• Further Italian Cinema entries at FSFF