Join us for a variety of events in the coming months featuring academics, journalists, and filmmakers in critical discussions spanning media and environment. The Park Center for Independent Media will co-sponsor several discussions with the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
This spring’s events include the 14th annual Izzy Award ceremony, which will recognize outstanding achievement in independent media from 2021. The ceremony will be in late April and feature speeches by the recipients.
Tuesday, March 1, 4:00–5:30 p.m.
Provost Colloquium Series: Innovations During the Pandemic
Held in Clark Lounge of Ithaca College’s Campus Center.
This year, the Provost’s Colloquium Series features innovations during the pandemic in the areas of teaching and scholarly/creative inquiry.
The Park Center for Independent Media’s presentation, “Engaging Global Media from Lockdown,” will describe the efforts of Director Raza Ahmad Rumi to completely shift to online zoom events in response to the COVID-19 shutdown. This enabled the Center to continue hosting speakers and significantly expand its audience and guests to a more global range for Ithaca College.
Wednesday, March 23, 12:00–1:15 p.m.
Book launch of “The Social Media Debate”
Join editor Devan Rosen, contributing authors, and moderator Raza Rumi to mine the debates percolating through this book about social media.
From Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to Snapchat and TikTok, social media has become part of our everyday experience.
However, its proliferation has brought a myriad of serious concerns about the long-term effects of social media on socializing and personal relationships and the impact on well-being and mental health (particularly in relation to children and adolescents), as well as issues linked to information and culture (such as privacy, misinformation, and manipulation).
Co-sponsored by FLEFF, PCIM, and the Interactive Film and Media Journal.
You can receive a discount on the book and read more here.
Wednesday, March 23, 7:00–8:00 p.m.
Conversation with Russian Dissident Writer Dmitry Bykov
Dmitry Bykov, one of Russia’s best-known public intellectuals, joins in conversation with Barbara Adams, associate professor of writing, director of the Internship Program in Writing and Publishing, and regional arts critic.
Bykov has authored more than 80 books, including novels, poetry, biographies, and literary criticism. Bykov is a four-time winner of the International Award in the Field of Fantastic Literature and a three-time winner of the Fiction International Assembly Award. A popular lecturer and public speaker, he has also served as the host of numerous television and radio programs.
In 2019, he fell ill while on an airplane flight and spent five days in a coma. An independent investigation found that the symptoms were very similar to those suffered by Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny and that the same government agents who poisoned Navalny had also been following him.
Bykov continues to visit Russia, but he has been banned from teaching there or appearing on state television. Currently hosted in the U.S. by Ithaca City of Asylum, he is a fellow of the Open Society University Network at Cornell University’s Institute for European Studies.
Co-sponsored by Ithaca City of Asylum, FLEFF, and PCIM.
You can read more here.
Sunday, March 27, 4:00–5:30 p.m.
“The Unmaking of a College” Screening and Talkback
Attend in-person at Cinemapolis and buy tickets here.
In “The Unmaking of a College,” students at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts confront their new president’s underhanded attempt to shut down the school. In the process, they discover that a powerful institution is bullying their inexperienced administration into giving up the independence of one of the most innovative colleges in the United States. This raucous ode to democracy in action will invoke viewers with the courage required to stand up to power.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Salman Hameed, Hampshire College; Patricia Rodriguez and Carlos Figueroa, Ithaca College; and moderator Raza Rumi, Director, PCIM.
Co-sponsored by FLEFF and PCIM.
You can read more here.
Friday, April 1, 12:00–1:15 p.m.
Scott MacDonald Interviews Su Friedrich on Reclaiming Lost Film Histories
Film historian Scott MacDonald will speak with experimental filmmaker Su Friedrich about her two epic website projects restoring the legacies of William Greaves and women film editors to film history.
Researched and built by Su Friedrich, “EDITED BY: Women Film Editors” is a remarkable, field-redefining compendium of 206 women editors who invented, developed, and revolutionized the art of film editing.
And with Louise Greaves, Friedrich redesigned and rebuilt the website of William Greaves (1926-2014), a prolific but somewhat ignored filmmaker, to make his legacy more accessible.
Co-sponsored by FLEFF and PCIM.
You can read more here.
Wednesday, April 6, 7:00–8:30 p.m.
Entangled: Climate Crisis and Media
Climate scientists and independent journalists will discuss and debunk the entangled media representations of climate crisis.
The presenters for this roundtable are Jake Brenner, Environmental Sciences and Studies, Ithaca College; Phil McKenna, Inside Climate News; Maureen Nandini Mitra, Earth Island Journal; Praneeta Mudliar, Environmental Sciences and Studies, Ithaca College; and moderator Raza Rumi, director of the Park Center for Independent Media.
Co-sponsored by FLEFF and PCIM.
You can read more here.
Friday, April 8, 2:00–3:30 p.m.
Inaugural International Congress on Climate, Media, and Science
Join a highly interactive, discussion-driven event that brings together climate scientists, environmental activists and scholars, journalists, and media makers to mobilize new thinking about how climate, media, and science entangle, and what we can do.
Co-sponsored by FLEFF, PCIM, the Interactive Film and Media Journal, and MDOCS: The John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative at Skidmore College.
You can read more here.