Directed by the actor/filmmaker Ida Lupino, The Bigamist (1953) is the story of Harry Graham, a salesman travelling between two towns and two wives. In its portrayal of Harry’s "double life," the film takes on a double life of its own, hovering as it does between two genres. Telling the story through Harry’s voice-over, yet eschewing the iconic character of the femme fatale, Lupino’s film reveals and recasts film noir as male melodrama par excellence. In its rendering of this emotionally paralysed man, able only to reveal the truth of his duplicity to us, the film audience, The Bigamist is a fascinating study of the post-War male. Hastie explores the film in the context of independent Hollywood, at a time when the studio system was beginning to dissolve, and as a commentary on the fraught institution of marriage. She also considers The Bigamist in relation to Lupino’s personal and professional history. Lupino was one of only two women members of the Directors’ Guild of America in the classical Hollywood era, and The Bigamist, Hastie argues, reveals multiple traces of Lupino’s experiences of working as both director and actress in the movie business. Read more and buy the book.....
Colloquium Series
Visiting Artists
A Quiet Little Marriage, the award-winning first feature from writer-director Mo Perkins and co-producer Tamara Maloney (both F&DM alums) will be screened at this year's Santa Cruz Film Festival on Thursday, May 14 at the Riverfront Twin. Winner of the Grand Jury Award in the Narrative Competition at Slamdance 2009 and the Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival, Perkins' film examines modern relationships. Shorts by 2008 F&DM alums Deva Blaisdell-Anderson, Michael Tucker and Alex Calleros will be screened earlier that day on a program called UCSC in Effect! Tucker's film, The Reunion of Amilia Marbleberry and Marcy Stills, completed while he was still a UCSC student, recently won the Jury Award for Best First Feature at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth. Read more...
Prof. Caetlin Benson-Allott has won the 2009 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Dissertation Award for a doctoral thesis entitled "Imperio-Video: Motion Pictures, Spectatorship, and the Politics of New Media." Department chair Shelley Stamp noted that "this is an extraordinary honor that recognizes the best dissertation written in North America on any facet of film, TV and media studies."
The Film & Digital Media Department recently received an $8,000 donation from the Leon and Toby Gold Foundation to upgrade the fixed lighting grid in Studio B, our primary filmmaking studio. The lighting equipment currently installed in the studio is over 25 years old and very much in need of an upgrade.
UCSC Alum Marti Noxon won the Writers Guild of America Award for best dramatic television series for her work as part of the writing team on Mad Men. Best known as writer and executive producer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Noxon's television credits include Grey's Anatomy, Brothers & Sisters, Point Pleasant, Prison Break, Still Life and Angel. Read more
Documentary Filmmaking: A Contemporary Field Guide, a new book co-authored by F&DM 
Professor Gustavo Vazquez, is a straightforward, hands-on workbook that follows the documentary production path all the way from idea to distribution. Designed for both seasoned practitioners and students, the book offers sound advice on everything from the crucial role of story construction, to the importance of staying on top of emerging distribution methods. Read more
Chip Lord is one of 20 artists who have been commissioned to create video art works for an innovative installation at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). As part of the modernization and remodeling of the airport's Bradley International Terminal, two video walls will be installed in the "meet and greet" area for arriving passengers. Titled "To and From LAX," Lord's piece will offer a portrait of the global infrastructure of air travel through the use of photos and videos that have been shot in public spaces at more than 25 airports, as well as inflight. Read more