Department of Media Arts Annual Film Symposium

Schedule

This schedule is tentative and subject to change

Wednesday, March 1
Playing with Genre and Gender

11:30 a.m.-4:20 p.m.: Events in Rue Auditorium Room 115 (Norm Brodsky Business Center—formerly Sweigart Hall) 
4:30 p.m.-9:00 p.m.: Events in Mike and Patti Hennessy Science & Technology Center

11:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. Rue Auditorium

Faculty Presentation: Dr. Erica Rubine, Department of English
The Red Scare Diaries: Satire and Xenophobia in The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966) and Dr. Strangelove: How Learned I to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

1:40 p.m.- 2:40 p.m. Rue Auditorium 

Student/Faculty Panel: Apocalypse, Crime and Quirky Comedy
Dr. Cynthia Lucia, Moderator, Department of Media Arts (FMS/FTV)

This is the End (2013): Sal Camuto, Game & Interactive Media Design major; Film & Television minor
Bullet Train (2022): Andrew Xon, Film & Television major; Film & Media Studies minor

2:50 p.m.- 4:20 p.m. Rue Auditorium

Student/Faculty Panel: Ticklish Takes on Gender and Romance
Dr. Cynthia Lucia, Moderator, Department of Media Arts (FMS/FTV)

Miss Congeniality (2000): Kaitlyn McCormick, English major; Journalism minor
What’s Up Doc? (1972): Erik Olsson, Acting major; Film & Television minor
When Harry Met Sally (1989): Alicia Bartosik, Musical Theatre major; Film & Television minor
Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005): Bianca Bracey, Radio & Podcasting major; Film & Television minor

4:30 p.m.- 6:00 p.m. Science 102

Student/Faculty Panel: Upending Genre: Hilarity in Horror and Romance
Dr. Laurel Harris, Moderator, Department of English

Coming to America (1988): Talon Smith, Film & Television major
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988): Christine Ruggieri, English major; Psychology minor
Scary Movie (2000): Nick Bryant, Film & Television major

6:30 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. Science 102

Keynote Address: Dr. Mary Poteau-Tralie, Department of Languages, Literature and Cultures
“Blockbuster French ‘Buddy’ Comedies: A Look at Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis and Intouchables”

In the two highest grossing films of all time in France, Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Welcome to the Sticks, 2008) and Intouchables (The Untouchables, 2011), directors had to navigate stereotypes regarding social class, education, employment, and more recently ethnic/racial differences, that are meant to be the sources of the humor in "superior/inferior" comic duo pairings.

Dr. Poteau-Tralie, Professor of French, teaches French language, literature, film, business and culture. She has also taught in the Baccalaureate Honors Program. She was a member of the Steering Committee of the Film and Media Studies Program, and for the last 3 years, she helped library colleagues Melissa Hofmann and Sharon Whitfield secure a grant to host the Albertine French Film Festival on Rider’s campus through the French Ministry of Culture. She served as Chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, and also served a term as a Delegate of the Mid-Atlantic Region for the Modern Language Association. Her research publications and presentations focus on francophone postcolonial "rewritings" of canonical French texts, including those of Maupassant, Voltaire, and Camus, by such authors as Maryse Condé, Assia Djebar and Kamel Daoud, as well as French urban rap poets, including Abd Al Malik.

8:00 p.m. Symposium Reception—All are Welcome!

Thursday, March 2
Is it Funny? Is it Serious? Comedy in Likely (and Unlikely) Settings and Situations

All events in Rue Auditorium (Norm Brodsky Business Center—formerly Sweigart Hall) Room 115

11:30 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. Rue Auditorium

Faculty Forays into Film and TV Comedy (pizza, first come, first served)!
Welcome and Symposium Introduction: Dr. Cynthia Lucia, Department of Media Arts

“Comedy at Work in Modern Times (1936) and I Love Lucy (1952)”: Dr. Laurel Harris, Department of English
“The Comedies of Ingmar Bergman”: Dr. Jay Stern, Department of Media Arts (Film & Television)
“Sex Can be (Embarrassingly) Funny”: Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969): Dr. Cynthia Lucia

1:10 p.m.- 2:40 p.m. Rue Auditorium

Student/Faculty Panel: Comically Bungling Anti-Heroes
Dr. Charles Frantz, Moderator

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010): Austin Latanzio, Journalism major; Film &Television minor
The Graduate (1967): David Kessler, Game & Interactive Media Design major
The Party (1968): Dr. Charles Frantz

2:50-p.m.- 4:20 p.m. Rue Auditorium

Student/Faculty Panel: Courtroom Calamities and Law Enforcement Mishaps
Dr. Cynthia Lucia, Moderator, Department of Media Arts (Film & Television)

My Cousin Vinny (1992): Alex Junge, Music Production major; Film & Media Studies minor
Adam’s Rib (1949): Ashley Enabosi, Film & Television major (via Zoom from L.A.)
Pineapple Express (2008): Aidan Edwards, former Film & Television major
The Comedies of Mexican Actor Cantinflas: Ashley Morales, Film & Television and English double major

4:30-p.m.- 6:00 p.m. Rue Auditorium

Student Film Festival and Screenwriting Competition
Dr. Jay Stern, Moderator, Department of Media Arts (Film & Television)

Awards — Best Student Presentation; Best Student Film; Best Student Screenplay

Student Films: TBA
Student Screenplays: TBA

6:30 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. Rue Auditorium

Featured Speaker—Dr. Jerry Rife, Professor of Music, Emeritus
“The Comedic Soundtrack: Music and Humor in the Classic Cartoon”

Can music enhance and amplify humor in film? DUH!!!

Dr. Jerry Rife is Professor Emeritus of Music at Rider, where he taught for 37 years, serving as department chair and director of Rider University bands. He holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Michigan State University and, from Kansas State University, a Masters of Music in Clarinet Performance and an undergraduate degree in Music Education. In 1990, he received the Lindback Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Rife has been the conductor and musical director of the Blawenburg Band since 1985, a group that performs over 30 concerts each year, including past performances at the Sousa Centennial Ceremony and at the White House. He has published work in Saxophone Journal, Jazz Player Magazine, and New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians and was Associate Producer of the documentary, “If You Knew Sousa,” funded by Boston’s WGBH and aired as the flagship show on The American Experience. Dr. Rife is active as a performer of solo, recital, orchestral music on the East Coast. His traditional jazz band, The Rhythm Kings, has performed regularly for 25 years, and he plays clarinet in the Virginia Grand Military Band. Additionally, Dr. Rife has been invited to be a Lifetime Fellow in the John Bell Institute for the Foundations of Physics and, in 2019, performed at the inaugural meeting of the Institute in Zagreb, Croatia. He has been involved in the Institute's activities over the last four years.

8:00 p.m. Rue Auditorium

Closing Reception - All Are Welcome!