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Visual & Media Cultures and Colloquia: Yiman Wang
“Of Science and Propaganda: Experiments with Revolution in Mao’s China” Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2026Time: 4:00pm-5:30pmLocation: Porter College, D245 Science, especially everyday popular science in Mao’s China, could be understood as grandiose and banal experiments conjoining socio-political revolution, authority legitimization with cinematic education, and with laboratory and field research. Science education and “thought” (re)education went…
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Processing Pleasure: Public Talk and Discussion with Dr. Patrick Keilty
This event is sponsored by the Film and Digital Media Department. Date: Tuesday, January 27th, 2026Time: 5:00pm-6:30pmLocation: Communications Building Room 150 (Studio C) This talk examines the early history of electronic payment processing, as told by the engineers who developed the technology in the 1980s. Struggling to find a suitable customer for the invention, they…
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QUEER/TRANS PERFORMANCE: A Film Series
FREE AND OPEN TO ALL! Date and Time: Mondays at 7:00pmLocation: Communications Building Room 150 (Studio C) Come watch classic and contemporary films about queer and trans performance. These films are key texts for THEA 161M: Sexuality, Gender, Drama & Performance, taught by Prof. Ochoa. We’ll be screening and discussing them in community, so come…
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Wednesday Night Cinema Society
Join us every Wednesday for an evening of films and videos, curated by our graduate students. Cinema Society meets every Wednesday during the quarter at 7pm in Communications 150 (Studio C). Check the FDM Events google calendar for specific dates.
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“Third Act” with Tadashi Nakamura
Presented by the Film and Digital Media Department. Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2026Time: 7:00pmLocation: Communications Building, Room 150 (Studio C) DESCRIPTION: Generations of artists call Robert A. Nakamura “The Godfather of Asian American film,” but his son, Tad, calls him Dad. As the filmmaking son of a filmmaking legend, Tad uses the lessons his dad…
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Resonant Routes, Ocean Currents, Sino-Soundscapes: Chinese Opera & Transpacific World
A colloquium with Nancy Yunhwa Rao, PhD, Board of Governors Professor of Music, Rutgers University. Presented by Porter College, the Music Department, and the Film and Digital Media Department. This event is open to UCSC students, staff, and faculty only. Date: Monday, December 8, 2025Time: 1:30pm-3:00pmLocation: Music Center, Room 131 Chinese opera performers followed the…
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SHIMMERING (2025): A Screening and Discussion with filmmaker Matte Hewitt
Presented by the Center for Documentary Arts and Research (CDAR) and the American Indian Research Center (AIRC). Date: Friday, November 14, 2025Time: 4:00pmLocation: Communications Building, Room 150 (Studio C) Description: SHIMMERING (Matte Hewitt, 2025, 20 min) is an essay film poetically investigating creation, extraction, and second lives. Guided by the luminous figure of Hummingbird, SHIMMERING moves through place-based ways…
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Decolonizing Surfing: A View From Morocco
Presented by the Center for the Middle East and North Africa and co-sponsored by the Film and Digital Media Department. Date: Thursday, November 13Time: 5:30pm-7:00pmLocation: Communications Building, Room 150 (Studio C) Join us for a film screening featuring documentaries by Arté and Moroccan director Ilias El Faris, followed by a panel discussion exploring the history…
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“Familiar Touch” with Sarah Friedland
Presented by the Film and Digital Media Department. Date: Mondau, October 6, 2025Time: 7:00pmLocation: Communications Building, Room 150 (Studio C) DESCRIPTION: Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant), a retired cook, prepares breakfast in her sunny and cozy kitchen — a dish she seems to have made many times before, although small and puzzling errors now punctuate her comfortable…
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Visiting Artist Series
Every quarter, we invite a visiting artist to meet with students, lead workshops, and hold a public screening of their work with Q&A. All Public Screenings will take place in the Communications Building, Room 150 (Studio C) For our 2025-26 Visiting Artist series, we present:
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Film and Digital Media Fall Welcome
Date: Monday, September 22, 2025, Time To Be AnnouncedLocation: Communications Building Room 150 (Theater C) and via Zoom This is your opportunity to meet with faculty, learn about their research interests, and find out more about their courses for the year. An overview of the film and digital media program, including major requirements, will be given by…
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Social Documentation MFA Thesis Screening
Presented by the Film and Digital Media Department Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2025Time: 7:00PMLocation: Del Mar Theatre, Downtown Santa Cruz The annual SocDoc film screening showcases the work of the Arts Division’s Social Documentation (SocDoc) M.F.A. students. Each student presents a 20-minute film, followed by a Q&A. The 2024-25 cohort, including Em Butler, Catalina Jeanneret Calderon, Matte Hewitt, Jiayi…