The School of Film is excited to announce that we will be sponsoring two students to participate in the annual Flaherty Film Seminar's Online Fellowship Program.
The Flaherty is a longstanding film event focusing on experimental documentary. Each year, a curator is selected to choose a theme, and while this theme is announced in advance, they do not announce any of the individual filmmakers or films. This is meant to create an atmosphere of discovery and community exploration --- a group of artists, writers, scholars, students and others coming together to watch and discuss provocative work without preconceptions! Traditionally, the event is held on a college campus and as attendees arrive, no one knows which filmmakers are there to screen, and which are just there to watch.
For anyone interested in independent or experimental documentary cinema, the Flaherty is an invaluable opportunity to see exciting new work, meet other filmmakers, curators, and critics, and advance your studies and career.
Last year, we sponsored three film students to attend virtually, but this year selected students will be able to participate in a more robust fellowship and mentorship opportunity that includes guided discussions, workshops, and the possibility of screening your own work.
Please read about this year's theme, "Queer World Mending," on the seminar website. And please note that the event is demanding -- it will consist of 7 consecutive days with a screening program and a discussion.
If you are interested in being considered for this opportunity, please write to professor Ben Mendelsohn at bam34@pdx.edu by Monday, May 1st with the following information:
• First/Last Name
• Email
• What year will you graduate?
• Provide a 1-2 paragraph statement about your interest in attending the Flaherty Seminar
• Confirm your ability to fully participate in the Flaherty Seminar dates remotely June 16-23 if selected
• Confirm that you have read the information below about what this opportunity entails
Description of the Fellowship Opportunity
The Fellowship program will take place June 16-23, 2023, and is an expanded experience of the seminar, led by the online Fellows Coordinator and designed to further understandings of cinema through conversations that are inspired by the seminar’s program, and Fellows-only sessions with programmers and filmmakers. After two successful and invigorating online experiences, we are continuing to shift and experiment with the ways in which we watch films and build community in online formats. We are eager to reimagine the fellowship experience through the online fellowship and to create an accessible and enriching online experience for a global cohort of emerging and mid-career filmmakers, media professionals, and community members to attend the Flaherty Film Seminar online.
The online fellowship will have both a synchronous and asynchronous component. Online Fellows will gather once a day on our custom online platform to watch and discuss one program synchronously. Fellows will have access to the full additional programs to watch at their own time throughout the week, as well as access to all the other programs and discussions after the in-person seminar ends.
Fellows will thus be offered many options to engage with the full seminar program:
• one screening and facilitated discussion a day with the full online Fellows cohort.
• readings and complementary materials designed for expanded engagement with the film programs, picked by the programmers.
• a facilitated screening of all online Fellows’ work
• scheduled meetings and discussions with guest artists and curators
• all other seminar programs available to fellows only, for viewing at a time that fits their schedule and time zone.
• a month-long post-seminar access to all seminar programs, discussions, and readings, as well as opportunities to self-organize for discussions, workshops, screenings