HORROR DOC PREVIEWS IN SF, LA, DENVER
Making the film festival circuit this summer is the documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street, which features Prof. Scahill as an authority on horror cinema and queer audiences. Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street opened in June at San Francisco's Frameline Film Festival, the world's first and largest queer film festival, now in its 43rd year. The film then made its Denver debut as the offical opening night film at CinemaQ Film Festival at SIE FilmCenter, a
AWARD-WINNING GRAPHIC NOVELIST VISITS CLASS
Dr. Scahill's "From Literature to Film" Maymester course was honored to welcome comic book author Sean Benner (West of Oz) and artist Jorge Corona (Middlewest) to class for a Q&A. This year's course is centered around adaptations of L. Frank Baum's book The Wizard of Oz, and both Benner and Corona's comics offer original and inspiring takes on the Ozified narrative. Jorge Corona was previously nominated for an Eisner Award (comic book's version of the Oscars) for his work on
EVENT: FEMINIST HORROR SCREENING AND Q&A
This week, the makers of the psychological horror film CAM visited UC Denver's campus to screen their breathrough film and hold an exclusive Q&A with our students. Screenwriter Isa Mazzei and director Daniel Goldhaber are Colorado natives, and were excited to talk to young Denver filmmmakers about the contemporary film landscape and how to bring their ideas to the screen. From the producers of Get Out and BlackKklansman, CAM offers a modern perspective on the tech thriller as
LFA: MASCULINITY IN HOLLYWOOD CINEMA
​​At this year's Literature/Film Association conference in New Orleans, Dr. Scahill chaired a panel on the role of gender ​​in film adaptation. Each of the three papers specifically examined masculinity, race, and homosociality in Hollywood cinema. Co-panelist Sarah Ropp addressed the Oliver Stone film Savages, while scholars Jodi Van der Horn-Gibson and Janice Kelly provided a retrospective on the film representation of black masculinity over the last century. In his paper "
Q&A: INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC ANIMATOR
Dr. Scahill's Intro to Film class held a Skype Q&A with Sam Stewart, Senior Digital Paint Artist at Industrial Light and Magic. A division of LucasFilm, ILM was responsible for a revolution in special effects with the release of Star Wars in 1977, and continues to be a major driving force in the world of VFX. Prof. Scahill's Intro to Film students, many of whom are in the animation program here at CU Denver, were excited to gain insight from an industry leader. Stewart took a
INTERVIEW: 'THE MEG' AND REVENGE OF NATURE
​Andrew Scahill was interviewed this week by VICE for an article on the upcoming sci-fi horror film The Meg, which features a 75-foot megalodon shark wreaking havoc on a beach community after being disturbed by deep-sea divers. Given his expertise in horror cinema, Dr. Scahill was contacted by VICE to provide some genre history for the revenge-of-nature film, which took over the box office in 1975 following the release of Stephen Spielberg's summer blockbuster Jaws. Recent fr
GUEST PANELIST: DENVER COMIC CON 2018
This year, Prof. Scahill brought his cinematic exepertise to Denver Comic Con 2018, held downtown at the Convention Center. Comic Cons are national events held in every major city which cater to sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fans in a variety of mediums, including comic books, cinema, television, and video games. Fans are encouraged to "cosplay" (dress as their favorite characters), meet artists and celebrities in sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, shop at hundreds of vendors, and at
SPECIAL EVENT: FILM STUDENT SYMPOSIUM
Students in Dr. Scahill's "Studies in Censorship" class presented their original research on the very timely topic of art censorship on Wednesday, May 2 in the Auraria Library. By presenting their works-in-progress in a public forum, students considering graduate study were able to experience a conference format in a supportive environment.
The topics included literature as well as film, and the issues concerning political dissent, sexuality, public space, and free speech p
SCMS 2018: CHILDREN'S FILMS WORKSHOP
The Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) conference will be in Toronto this year. Please come to the workshop I'm chairing on Wednesday, March 14 from 3-4:45pm: "Not Just Kidding Around: On Teaching Children's Media" considers the absence of children's films in film studies curriculum (despite the fact that they carry a 20% market share in the industry). This is a problematic omission for understanding film culture, as children’s films have increased in market share fr
Q&A: MAD MAX FURY ROAD COMPOSER JUNKIE XL
On Wednesday, November 2, the composer of Mad Max: Fury Road, Junkie XL (Tom Holkenberg), talked via Skype with Dr. Andrew Scahill's Introduction to Film class from his production studio in Los Angeles. Holkenberg is an award-winning and prolific film artist who began his career as a trance DJ and transitioned into film scoring for blockbuster films such as Divergent, Amazing Spiderman 2, Deadpool, and Batman vs. Superman. His background as a classically-trained pianist and a
NEW ESSAY: TV HORROR REBOOTS
Dr. Scahill contributes a chapter to the new edited collection Cycles, Sequels, Spin-offs, Remakes, and Reboots: Multiplicities in Film and Television from University of Texas Press. The collection takes a serious look at textual plurality and the processes of reiteration to elucidate their importance for audiences, industrial practices, and popular culture. Dr. Scahill's contribution, "Serialized Killers: Prebooting Horror in Bates Motel and Hannibal," asks what happens when
NEW BOOK: LOST AND OTHERED CHILDREN
Lost and Othered Children in Contemporary Cinema challenges notions of the innocent child through an exploration of the dark side of childhood in contemporary cinema. The contributors to this multidisciplinary study offer a global perspective that explores the multiple conditions of marginalized childhood as cinematically imagined within political, geographical, sociological, and cultural contexts. Praise: "Here is an excellent, invigorating collection dealing with children i
