On December 1, The Micheaux Visiting Filmmaker Series: Using Cultural Iconography in Screenwriting and Media Production will launch its first screening and discussion at 3 p.m. in Park Auditorium. Coordinated by A. Van Jordan, Ithaca College distinguished visiting professor, the event is free and open to the public.
Two guests, Mason Richards and Dion Graham, will join Jordan and discuss their work. Richard was born in Guyana, South America, and his film The Seawall was shot entirely on location there. The film, which tells the story of a family and migration, was an official selection for the Cannes Film Festival-Court Mertrage in 2011 and the Havana International Film Festival in Cuba in 2014, and has screened at festivals in the United Kingdom, Toronto and throughout the Caribbean.
Graham is an award-winning actor and narrator who appeared on HBO’s The Wire and currently narrates A&E’s The First 48. He’s been honored by Publishers Weekly as Narrator of the Year.
“It’s very important to nurture different voices and perspectives,” said Diane Gayeski '74, Dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications. “Professor Jordan’s expertise highlights his lived experience as an African-American writer. The series he is hosting presents our community with the opportunity to hear about new creative approaches from accomplished filmmakers, actors and screenwriters.”
Additionally, Jordan will host three other filmmakers in February as part of a one-credit mini-course called Iconography of Film, which is designed to help independent filmmakers and writers use both cultural and historic iconography in their filmmaking.
Gayeski says the course will provide students from across campus with an expanded conceptual framework as media makers and writers and how they may work with experts in history, anthropology, sociology, ethnic studies, and other areas in the liberal arts as they incorporate different cultures into their own work.