News

To view some of the most recent honors and awards for our FTT Faculty, Students, and Alumni, click here.

FTT Film Students Film Theological Journey Through Jerusalem

Over fall break, Erin Moffitt and Nicole Timmerman, both senior Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT) majors in the College of Arts and Letters, traveled with a group of undergraduate theology students to Notre Dame's Tantur Ecumencial Institute in Jerusalem.  Their mission was to create a pair of short documentaries about the experience for the Department of Theology.  Read more

Notre Dame to Offer Courses Through Online Education Consortium

The University of Notre Dame is among seven leading academic institutions that will participate beginning this fall in Semester Online, the first educaion consortium to offer online, for-credit courses from top colleges and universities.  Read more here

FTT Professor Frederic W. Syburg dies at 88

A professor of theatre at Notre Dame from 1954 to 1991 who directed more than 40 plays during his tenure died Feb. 15 at Zilber Hospice in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin at the age of 88. Read more about the life and works of Professor Syburg here.

FTT Professor Christine Becker quoted in the South Bend Tribune on violence in the media

The South Bend Tribune opinion pages feature the perspective of Professor Christine Becker. Read here.

Students Take Learning on the Road and Around the World

There's nothing quite like dipping one's foot into the Dead Sea or speaking with participants of the 1965 Freedom Marches to bring perspective to classroom learning. Over fall break of 2012, students in Notre Dame's College of Arts and Letters took advantage of the week off to expand their educational experiences through travels abroad, around the nation, and across campus. More

DreamCatchers: Notre Dame Sophomore expands effort to grant 'dreams' for hospice patients

University of Notre Dame sophomore Caitlin Crommett founded DreamCatchers, a national organization that fulfills 'dreams' for hospice patients. Read South Bend Tribune article more

Senior FTT and Political Science Major Patricia Harte Faces the Nation

Well before graduation, University of Notre Dame senior Patricia Harte has already put her Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT) and political science majors to work at multiple broadcast journalism internships—and begun networking with alumni in her chosen field. Currently a production assistant at WNDU, Harte interned at Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer during her spring 2012 semester in Notre Dame’s Washington, D.C. program and worked through the summer as an intern for Cox Media Group, where she covered events at the White House, on Capitol Hill, and even at the U.S. Supreme Court. More

Video: Fighting to Develop Great Leaders

Is this a dream we can make come true? When she was just 15 years old, Caitlin Crommett founded DreamCatchers, a volunteer organization that works with hospice care professionals to fulfill the dreams of terminaly ill patients. Today, thanks to support from Notre Dame's Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program, the sophomore business entrepreneurship and film, television and theatre major's vision of fulfilling the dreams of others is now active in 10 states and counting. More

Renowned Shakespeare Scholar Peter Holland to Receive 2012 Sheedy Award

Peter Holland, associate dean for the arts in the University of Notre Dame's College of Arts and Letters and McMeel Family Professor in Shakespeare Studies in the College's Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, has been selected to receive the 2012 Sheedy Excellence in Teaching Award. The award ceremont will take place on December 5, 2012, at 3:30 p.m. at the Notre Dame Conference Center in McKenna Hall and is open to all faculty and students. More

Notre Dame Film Students' Documentary Explores a New Kind of Modern Family

Project Hopeful, a documentary 2012 University of Notre Dame graduates Grace Johnson and Kelsie Kiley made for a course in the Department of FIlm, Television, and Theatre (FTT), is about a new kind of modern family: one where an Illinois couple with seven biological children doubles the size of its family by adopting orphans with HIV/AIDS and special needs. More

Notre Dame Theater Course 'Takes it Down to Zero'

In Performance Analysis, a Notre Dame theater course taught by Anton Juan, a senior professor of directing and playwriting in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT), this fall, majors from a cross-section of the FTT's  disciplines are guided to the sources fo performance. It's more than just "What's My Motivation 101". The goal, says juan, is for the student actors to develop critical thinking. More

FTT Professors Lecture in Saturday Scholars Series

FTT professors Mark C. Pilkinton and Susan C. Ohmer participate in College of Arts and Letters sponsored lecture series to discuss some of the most pressing and fascinating issues of our times. More

Christine Becker Connects Scholarship and Social Media

When Christine Becker signed up for Twitter in September 2009, the associate professor in Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television, and Theatre wasn’t sure what to expect. What she found was a new way to connect with people in both academia and the television industry, a new source of research and teaching materials, and a vehicle for staying on the leading edge of her scholarly field. More

FTT Students Granted Exclusive Right to Make Cannes Documentary

Networking with industry insiders, watching highly anticipated films, walking the red carpet, and seeing stars was all part of the job for a group of University of Notre Dame students who jetted off to the 2012 Cannes International Film Festival this summer. Working with Assistant Professor Aaron Magnan-Park, the students from the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT) were granted the exclusive right to make a documentary about the internship program at the festival’s American Pavilion—an opportunity that provided a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the premier event in international film. More

Ted Mandell: From Classroom to Stadium to Third World

As a documentary filmmaker, a faculty member in College of Arts and Letters' Department of Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT), and a producer for Fighting Irish Digital Media, Ted Mandell '86 quite literally sheds light on the University of Notre Dame's traditions of social justice and student athletics. What unites his approach to these roles, says Mandell, is a commitment to show the human side of every story- and help his students learn to do the same. More

Senior Film Student Kathleen Bracke Wins Princess Grace Award

When Kathleen Bracke got the call, she dropped the phone out of shock, then picked it up and asked the caller to repeat the news. On the other end was a representative of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA announcing that Bracke had won a 2012 Princess Grace Award. More

U Cannes Do It! Project

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The University of Notre Dame was granted the exclusive rights to make U Cannes Do It!, the official documentary film of The American Pavilion Student Programs experience at the Cannes International Film Festival. For over 20 years, The Pavilion has been the American presence at the Festival and a full service business and entertainment venue serving present and future members of the international film industry More

García-Romero Invited to National Playwrights Conference

Anne García-Romero, an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, has been accepted to the prestigious Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference this summer. One of just eight playwrights selected out of nearly 1,000 applicants, García-Romero will spend the month of July at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in Connecticut, working with acclaimed theatre professionals to workshop her play Provenance. Also among the honorees is Notre Dame English alumna Theresa Rebeck '80, an award-winning playwright and creator of the television show Smash...More

Alumnus Advances Career Making Movie Trailers

Moneyball. True Grit. The Social Network. Black Swan. If you watched a trailer for any of these movies, then you've seen the work of Notre Dme alumnus Scoot Mitsui '92. A communications and theatre major, Mitsui has spent the past 12 years as a producer and vice president of operations at Mark Woollen & Associates in Santa Monica, Calif., a company responsible for some of the most noteworthy and award-winning film trailers in Hollywood...More

New Artistic Director of Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival Named

Grant Mudge has been named the Ryan Producing Artistic Director of the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival. Mudge succeeds Jay Paul Skelton, who departs after the conclusion of 2012 season of the Festival to pursue a research degree in England. "We chose Grant after an extensive national search," says Peter Holland, associate dean for the arts in the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame. "His success in building the Richmond Shakespeare Festival shows that he has the track-record and the talent to help us take the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival forward to an ever more exciting future...More

Notre Dame Students Head to Northern Ireland For Innovative Service Project

Seven University of Notre Dame students and two faculty members traveled to Northern Ireland this spring to explore the role of digital technology in peace building. As part of a new Center for Social Concerns (CSC) seminar, the notre Dame team worked with eight students from Lismore Comprehensive School, a Catholic school in Portadown, and four students from Lurgan Junior High School to help create a website. Lurgan Junior High is a Protestant school about 20 minutes from Portadown...More

Light Up The Sky

By Moss Hart
Directed by Jay Paul Skelton
Decio Mainstage Theatre

luts


Tuesday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 22 at 2:30 p.m.

Light Up The Sky (1948) is the last play written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Moss Hart. This backstage tale takes a jaundiced view of the theatrical archetypes: the arrogant director, the diva leading lady and her acerbic, seen-it-all-before mother, the ambitious producer, the naive new writer, and of course a garrulous parrot. Throw in a Shriners' convention and you have the recipe for a madcap evening in and about the theatre. Fast-paced and full of reversals of fortune and shifts in power, this very funny comedy is perfect for families and groups of all ages. 

For ticket information, click here

Chilean Film Festival begins Thursday, April 19th

 

Showcasing the originality of Chile’s indigenous filmmakers, the Festival of Chilean Film brings five feature films—and three acclaimed Chilean directors—to Notre Dame. Directors Ignacio Agüero, Gonzalo Justiniano, and Andrés Wood took up their work after the Pinochet dictatorship had almost eliminated Chile’s film industry. Their films have played a critical role in the country’s democratization process and helped form Chile’s present-day conceptions of history and identity. All events will be held in the Browning Cinema of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

The festival will begin with a free, but ticketed panel discussion and reception on Thursday, April 19 at 6:30 PM. The panel discussion, “Masters of Chilean Cinema,” will feature the three directors. The event is free, but ticketed with a reception to follow at 7:30 PM.

Tickets for the remaining events can be purchased at the Ticket Office by phoning (574) 631-2800 or online at performingarts.nd.edu.  Ticket prices are $6, $5 Faculty/Staff, $4 Senior, $3 Child/Student.

Thursday, April 19 at 8:30 PM 
Film Screening: Gonzalo Justiniano
Director Gonzalo Justiniano will introduce his film.

B-Happy (2003)
Not Rated, 90 minutes, Spanish and French with English subtitles

Katty is a teenage girl who finds solace from her troubled family in her friendship with a classmate who introduces her to the beauty of poetry. Challenged by her criminal father and overworked mother, she is forced to make difficult choices in order to live independently. Justiniano’s unsentimental coming-of-age drama is elevated by a remarkable performance by Manuela Martelli as Katty.

Friday, April 20 at 6:30 PM
Double Feature Screening: Andrés Wood
Director Andrés Wood will introduce his films.

Violeta Went to Heaven (2011)
Not Rated, 110 minutes, Spanish with English subtitles

Winner of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Jury Prize, Violeta Went to Heaven tells the extraordinary story of Violeta Parra, Chilean folksinger and pop culture icon whose songs expressed the soul of her nation. Following her whirlwind journey from Chile to Paris, where she also gained fame as a visual artist, Andrés Wood’s impressionistic biopic is permeated by Parra’s heart-wrenching, indelible songs.

Machuca (2004)
Not Rated, 121 minutes, Spanish with English subtitles

Set in 1973, this astonishingly intimate and painful coming-of- age story centers on a pair of 12-year-old boys from opposite extremes of society who form an unlikely friendship during the last chaotic days of President Allende and the first days of the brutal rule of General Pinochet. Featuring a searingly beautiful soundtrack, Machuca was acclaimed at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. It is arguably the best-known Chilean film in the international context.

Saturday, April 21 at 6:30 PM
Double Feature Screening: Ignacio Agüero
Director Ignacio Agüero will introduce his films.

100 Children Waiting for a Train (1988)
Not Rated, 55 minutes, Spanish with English voiceover

Each Saturday, Alicia Vega transforms the chapel of Lo Hermida into a film screening room as she conducts a workshop for children under the auspices of the Catholic Church. The hundred or so children who had never seen a movie before learn about the cinema through photograms and moving images, discovering the wonder of Chaplin, Disney and the Lumières.

Agustín's Newspaper (2008)
Not Rated, 80 Minutes, Spanish with subtitles

Journalism students embark on an investigation of El Mercurio, the country’s oldest newspaper, and its pro-coup role in 1970s Chilean politics. Agüero’s documentary raises profound questions not only about the role and responsibilities of Chile’s media, but also of all those who manage the dissemination of information around the world.

Laura Mulvey to present "Hitchcock's Blondes, Feminism and Psychoanalytic Film Theory"

Thursday, March 8, 2012
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Eck Visitor's Center Auditorium

With her landmark essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," in 1975, Laura Mulvey transformed feminist and film theory. Her discussion of what has come to be called "the male gaze" in cinema still generates debate. In this lecture, Mulvey will bring together Freud and Hitchcock in order to discuss the importance of the iconic "Hitchcock blonde" for the development of feminist psychoanalytic film theory.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, click here.
 

peter_richardsonPeter Richardson, FTT '02, screened his Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner in the Browning Cinema

In 1994, Oregon became the first state to legalize the Death with Dignity Act. As a result, any individual whom two physicians diagnose as having less than six months to live can lawfully request a fatal dose of barbiturate to end his or her life. Since 1994, more than 500 Oregonians have taken their mortality into their own hands.

Director Peter Richardson appeared in person.

For more information, visit the film's website at howtodieinoregon.com

fishing_without_nets_resized   John Hibey, FTT '05, was awarded
   the Grand Jury Prize for
   Short Filmmaking at the
   2012 Sundance Film Festival

     The winning film, Fishing Without Nets, tells a tale
     of a poor, young Somali fisherman who ends up
     joining a group of pirates.

     For more information, click here

The 23rd Annual Notre Dame Student Film Festival

screen_shot_2011_12_02_at_12

The wildly popular Notre Dame Student Film Festival returns to campus for its 23rd year. The Festival tickets will go on sale on Monday, December 5th.

A tradition like no other, the festival screens films that were made by undergraduate students during the past year as class projects. These students study the art of filmmaking in advanced, intermediate, and introductory film and television production courses taught in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre. All films are shot on location and often feature the acting talents of Notre Dame students and faculty. The Festival will be held in the Browning Cinema of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

The Screenings Are:

Thursday, January 19th at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Friday, January 20th at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Saturday, January 21st at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

On Monday, December 5th, tickets can be purchased at the Ticket Office, online at performingarts.nd.edu or by calling (574) 631-5200. 

Tickets move fast, so get your tickets early!
 

FTT Talks Presents: Antonia Ellis and Kevin Fortson, and Their Lecture, "Producing Successful Television Shows - Studio and Producer Perspectives"

4:30 PM, Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Eck Visitors Center Auditorium

fortson

antonia


Antonia Ellis has been the producer of Sex & The City, Royal Pains and Men in Trees. She was also co-producer of The Corner, which won an Emmy for Best Mini-Series. Earlier, Ellis was a production executive and head of post-production at DreamWorks SKG Television, and before that was associate producer on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Ellis has also produced feature films and is developing a web series. She is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Producers Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, and Women in Film.

Kevin Fortson, in his current role, produces scripted and reality series. He oversees the hit reality franchise The Bachelor  -- which includes The Bachelorette and Bachelor Pad -- The Voice, Rizzoli & Isles, Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game, and Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew. Prior, Fortson was senior vice president of operations and studio facilities for Warner Bros. Earlier, he worked on shows such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Extra, Geraldo, and Now It Can Be Told.

For more information on Antonia Ellis and Kevin Fortson: click here

Sponsored by the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts and Multicultural Student Programs and Services
 

FTT Artist in Residence, Nejla Yatkin, has been selected to participate in the United States Artists Projects

Nejla Yatkin will be participating in a new online community of America's finest artists called USA Projects (unitedstatesartists.org) created by United States Artists to expand its mission of investing in America's finest artists. 

For more information, click here or visit Nejla Yatkin's webpage

Provenance in the Local News

To view reviews of Provenance, a play by FTT Professor Anne García-Romero, directed by FTT Professor, Kevin Dreyer, please click the following links:

The Observer and The South Bend Tribune

"From Simple Flats, Elaborate Plots Bloom"

November 17, 2011

Professor Pam Wojcik and her recently published book, "The Apartment Plot:
Urban Living in American Film and Popular Culture, 1945 to 1975," were featured in
The Chicago Tribune, in an article by Nina Metz, discussing the ever important
"Apartment Setting" in American Pop Culture. 

To view the full article, click here

Film Fails as Scholarship, but Anonymous Might be Fun

November 5th, 2011

Professor Peter Holland, the McMeel chair of Shakespeare at  Notre Dame, states
"As an action movie, [Anonymous] promises to be fun, but as a serious contribution to scholarship,
it promises to be ridiculous," in his interview with the South Bend Tribune. 

To view the full article, click here

Playwright and Theatre Scholar Gives Voice to Lost Stories

provenance_thumbnail    November 3rd, 2011

    Intersecting cultures. Family heritage. Art. Love. Money.
    All these themes work their way onstage in Provenance, a new play
    by Anne García-Romero, a Moreau Postdoctoral Research Fellow
    in Notre Dame's Department of Film, Television, and Theatre. 

    For more information, and to see the full article, click here.

Latina Theater Today: New Voices Conference

lt_conference_thumbnail_horizontal

    Thursday, November 17th, 2011
    210 McKenna Hall 

    Latina Theater Today: New Voices is a one-day conference on
    Contemporary Latina Theater. It will feature two free panels of
    leading theater professionals and Latina Theater scholars exploring
    Latina plays and playwrights.
   
The conference will include a performance of Provenance by Anne García-Romero.

For more information, click here.

Silent Shakespeare: An Evening With Thanhouser Films

king_lear1_thanhouser_1916_labosier_    7:30 PM, Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
    The Browning Cinema, DeBartolo Performing Arts Center

    Featuring the short films The Winter's Tale (1910), Cymbeline (1913)
    and King Lear (1917)

    For more information, click here.



 

   Mpilkintonark Pilkinton's new book, Washington Hall at
   Notre Dame
, is featured in ND Works.

     See: http://nd.edu/~ndworks/2011-8-18-Vol%209-No%202.pdf
     For Publication Information: http://undpress.nd.edu/book/P01479


 

 

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