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Film + Media

classroom with student of color and a Black professor
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
“Everyone writes from the lens of their experience or where they allow their imagination,” says film & media studies lecturer Wendy Eley Jackson, pictured at far right.

UC Santa Barbara and Tuskegee University launch pilot program to advance Black cultural perspectives in TV writing

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Annual summer film series from UCSB Arts & Lectures brings the beach
A promotional image from the film "The Citizen" depicts a man with dark hair on a payphone, with a NYC backdrop
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Courtesy image
“The Citizen” provides a gripping commentary on the sociopolitical landscape of the U.S. and the everyday struggles of Arab-Americans after 9/11

‘The Citizen’ examines the immigrant experience in a post-9/11 world — with echoes that resonate today
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Media Inside Out conference honors pioneers and provocations in film and media studies 
Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in costume as Lord and Lady MacBeth
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Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand in Joel Coen’s 2021 film, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”

Translating a Shakespeare masterpiece into a mesmerizing movie
photographer of the five film students who made the 841 documentary
The "841" film crew (from left): director of photography Logan Asperian, sound mixer Lauren Barley, producer Macielle Villaseñor, director Rachel Burnett and editor Vincent Cuenco off the coast of Santa Cruz Island in 2023.

Coastal Media Project student documentaries to screen at Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Dancers from Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo posed in red dresses
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Courtesy photo
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo is celebrating their 50th anniversary season

Keep on ‘Trockin’’ in the free world
Napa Ever After publicity photo of a Black woman and man embracing

Hallmark uplifts Black love with historic Mahogany movie premier — lecturer Wendy Eley Jackson wrote the screenplay 
A woman singing in a production still from 'Nashville'
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Courtesy photo

Revisiting ‘Nashville,’ Robert Altman’s poetic — and still relevant — masterpiece
Student filmmakers Alessandra Puig-Santana and Tess McCormick
Photo Credit
Ian Kellett
Student filmmakers Alessandra Puig-Santana (left) and Tess McCormick on Santa Cruz Island

Adventuresome filmmaking meets theory, technique and environmental education
Actress Cate Blanchett, as composer Tar, in the foreground; her face decorated with Indigenous ceremonial markings
Photo Credit
“Cate Blanchett and Ruperto Fasabi.” © David Díaz Gonzales & Olaf Heine 2021 @ Focus Features, Courtesy of Todd Field.
Created by David Díaz Gonzalez, an affiliate of the Indigenous-focused Peruvian arts nonprofit Xapiri Ground, this photo of Cate Blanchett in character as Tár was produced expressly for the film and appears in one scene.

The rich ambiguity of Tár, and why director Todd Field wouldn’t have it any other way
Rosa Parks
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Rosa Parks

A rich and unsung legacy comes to light in ‘The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks’
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Documentary screening features Nobel Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa
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