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Visiting Professor of Art History Scott MacDonald has published a nonfiction novel, Binghamton Babylon, (Suny Series, Horizons of Cinema)  which documents one of the crucial creative adventures in the history of the academic study of cinema.

Stan Brakhage is one of the most significant avant-garde filmmakers in the 20th century. His influence can be seen across genres and decades. This summer, Emerson grant recipient Marty Cain ’13 is exploring the aesthetic philosophy of Brakhage and its relation to contemporary poetry.

Aside from the summer blockbusters like Bridesmaids, Hangover Pt 2, and Transformers, a few smaller scale films have been making the rounds, stirring up chatter in cinema lobbies and on the Internet. Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate has commented and been quoted on a couple of these films on CNN.com and other online outlets.

Joe Harmon ’12 is fascinated with the culture of boxing—and he's certainly not alone; there is a mystique to the sport that has allured Americans for more than a century, and boxing has given birth to some of the biggest stars in the sporting world. An Emerson grant recipient, Harmon will spend the summer studying “Filmic Interpretations of Boxing” with Visiting Professor of Film History Scott MacDonald.

Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies Brent Plate’s perspectives on this year’s Oscar nominees and the themes conveyed by them appear on several major media sites including CNN.com, Religion Dispatches and beliefnet.com. “It’s kind of an unusual year – almost all of the top films have relatively little explicit religious dimensions to them,” said Plate. “But these films are asking the same questions that religions ask: Where did we come from, how did we get here, where are we going and who are we?”

The Washington Post’s “On Faith” blog published “And the Oscar for Best Image of God in a motion picture goes to . . .” on March 4. Written by Visiting Associate Professor of Religion S. Brent Plate, the article will appear in The Washington Post’s print edition shortly. Plate reviewed the films of 2009 and the manner in which they explored the image of the human and the image of God.

Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Rodriguez-Plate participated in the American Academy of Religion (AAR) annual meeting in Montreal, Nov. 7-10, where he was awarded a research grant, moderated a session and served as jury chair for a "Religion and the Arts" award.

Adventures of Perception; Cinema As Exploration, a new book by Visiting Professor of Film History Scott MacDonald, has just been published by the University of California Press. Adventures includes eight essays and eight interviews.