Christopher Reed, Distinguished Professor of English, Visual Culture, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Art History

Sabine Doran, Associate Professor of German and Jewish Studies

 

Graduate Student Coordinators

Thomas Bryant, PhD Candidate in English and Visual Studies

Adam DeCaulp, PhD Candidate in Comparative Literature and Asian Studies

The Film Studies Working Group aims to bring together graduate students and early, mid-career, and senior faculty who work on film at Penn State. Fostering a series of conversations across departments about the filmic medium, this project will create a vibrant network for scholars to meet each other, share their research, receive constructive input, and develop collaborative work. 

Toward this end, the group will host a series of seven symposia in 2026-2027. Each symposium will feature joint presentations by a faculty member and a graduate student on films central to their research. The format will include film screenings, presentations, and moderated discussions. We present this model to animate an ongoing dialogue across career stages and to demonstrate the possibilities of collaborative engagement.

 

First Symposium

Film Studies Working Group Members (Chris Reed, Sabine Doran, Merve Sen, Adam DeCaulp, Thomas Bryant)

• Friday September 11, 2026, 6 pm in 113 Carnegie 

How Much Wood Would a WoodChuck Chuck? (1975, 45min) by Werner Herzog. Moderated roundtable and Q&A will follow.

Second Symposium

Matt Tierney (Associate Professor of English, Penn State)

Merve Sen (Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow of Comparative Literature, Penn State)

• Friday September 18, 2026, 6 pm in 113 Carnegie

News from Home (1976, 88min.) by Chantal Akerman. Presentations and moderated Q&A will follow.

Third Symposium

Sarah Townsend (Associate Professor of Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Studies, Penn State)

Collaborator TBD

• Friday October 2, 2026, 6 pm in 113 Carnegie

Film TBD. Presentations and moderated Q&A will follow.

Fourth Symposium

Shuang Shen (Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Chinese, Penn State)

Joshua Winkowski (PhD Student in Comparative Literature and Asian Studies, Penn State)

•  Friday October 16, 2026, 6 pm in 113 Carnegie

Film (TBD). Presentation and moderated Q&A will follow.

Fifth Symposium

Kevin Hagopian (Teaching Professor in the College of Communications, Penn State)

Visakha Chowdhury (PhD Student in Comparative Literature and WGSS, Penn State)

• Friday November 6, 2026, 6 pm in 113 Carnegie

Another Sky (1954, 86min) by Gavin Lambert. Presentation and moderated Q&A will follow.

Sixth Symposium

Cory Barker (Assistant Teaching Professor in the College of Communications, Penn State)

Justin Rizzi (PhD Student in English, Penn State)

• Friday, November 20, 2026, 6 pm in 113 Carnegie

Pillow Talk (1959, 102min) by Michael Gordon. Presentation and moderated Q&A will follow.

Seventh Symposium

Thomas Bryant (PhD Student English, Penn State)

Adam DeCaulp (PhD Candidate in Comparative Literature and Asian Studies, Penn State)

• Friday December 4, 2026, 6 pm in 113 Carnegie

Moulin Rouge (2001, 127 min) by Baz Luhrmann. Presentations and moderated Q&A will follow.