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Faculty
Core Faculty
Professor of Film and Media Studies
Catherine Benamou
she/her/hers
Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., New York University, Cinema Studies
Hispanophone and Lusophone cinema and television, U.S. Latinx media, Orson Welles, transnational media, media and social justice, cinematic memory and cultures of preservation
Director of Production and Screenwriting Studies, Associate Professor for Film and Media Studies
Desha Dauchan
she/her/hers
Director of Production and Screenwriting Studies, Associate Professor for Film and Media Studies
M.F.A., UCLA, Directing/Production
Media and Activism, African American Film, African Diaspora Cinema, Oral History, Screenwriting, Directing & Film Production M.F.A., UCLA, Directing/Production
Professor of Film and Media Studies
Sohail Daulatzai
he/him/his
Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., University of Southern California, Cinematic Arts
Decolonization, Black Studies, Critical Ethnic Studies, Imperial culture, Race, Aesthetics, Politics
Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies
Arcelia Gutiérrez
she/her/hers
Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., University of Michigan, Romance Languages & Literatures
Latinx Media Studies, Media Activism, Media Policy, Industry Studies
Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies
Bambi Haggins
she/her/hers
Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., UCLA, Film & Television
Black African-American Comedy in Film, Television History, Digital Media and Performance, Comedy as Social and Political Discourse, African-American Studies, American Studies
Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Professor for Film and Media Studies
Kristen Hatch
she/her/hers
Director of Graduate Studies, Associate Professor for Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., UCLA, Film, Television, and Digital Media
Classical Hollywood, American Film History, Histories of Race, Gender and Sexuality, Stardom, Childhood and Girlhood Studies
Department Chair, Professor of Film and Media Studies
Lucas Hilderbrand
he/him/his
Department Chair, Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., New York University, Cinema Studies
Queer Cultures and Media, Pornography, Cultural Studies, Documentary, Media Infrastructures, Popular Music, Histories of Technology
Professor of Film and Media Studies
Victoria E. Johnson
she/her/hers
Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., University of Southern California, Cinema-Television
Television, Sports Media, Critical Race Theory, Cultural Geography
Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies
Meryem Kamil
she/her/hers
Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., University of Michigan, American Culture
New Media Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Palestine/Palestinian Social Movements, Ethnic Studies, American Studies
Professor of Film and Media Studies; English; Informatics; Music
Peter Krapp
he/him/his
Professor of Film and Media Studies; English; Informatics; Music
Ph.D., UC Santa Barbara, German & Comparative Literature
Secret Communications and Cybernetics (Cryptologic History), Cultural Memory and Media History (Games and Simulations, History of Computing), Aesthetic Communication (Title Design, Film Music)
Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies
Keiji Kunigami
he/him/his
Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., Cornell University, Asian Studies
Brazilian Cinema, Japanese Cinema, Critical Race Theory, Film and Media Theory, Critical Theory, Silent Cinema, Decoloniality, Cinematic Embodiment, Asian-Latin American Studies
Professor of Film and Media Studies and Comparative Literature
Catherine Liu
she/her/hers
Professor of Film and Media Studies and Comparative Literature
Ph.D., CUNY Graduate Center, French
Historical Materialism, New Taiwan Cinema, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang, Sinophone Cinema, Political Economy of Film and Media Studies, Genre Film, Class and Contradiction, History and Theory of Trauma Studies and Trauma Media
Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies
Glen Mimura
he/him/his
Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., UC Santa Cruz, History of Consciousness
Third Cinema; Asian American Film and Media; Native American and Indigenous Film and Media; the Western and Martial Arts Genres; Animals and Representation
Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies
Philana Payton
she/her/hers
Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., University of Southern California, Cinema and Media Studies
Black Film and Television History, Black Popular Culture, Performance Studies, Classical Hollywood, Stardom, Women and Gender Studies, Black Studies, Queer Studies
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Associate Professor of Film and Media
Allison Perlman
she/her/hers
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Associate Professor of Film and Media
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, American Studies
TV Studies, Media Policy and Law, Media Activism, Popular Memory, Public Media, Media History
Professor of Film and Media Studies
Bo Ruberg
they/them/theirs
Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., UC Berkeley, Comparative Literature
Digital Media, Game Studies, Technology, Queer Studies, LGBTQ Studies, Gender Studies, Video Games, Feminism, Digital Humanities
Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies
Braxton Soderman
he/him/his
Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies
Ph.D., Brown University, Modern Culture and Media; M.F.A., California Institute of the Arts, Writing - Critical Studies
Game Studies, Game History, Digital Media Studies, New Media Aesthetics, Play studies
Affiliate Faculty
Professor of English and Asian American Studies; Director of Center for Critical Korean Studies
Joseph Jonghyun Jeon
he/him/his
Professor of English and Asian American Studies; Director of Center for Critical Korean Studies
Ph.D., UC Berkeley, English
Korean Film, Asian American Studies, Globalization, Political Economy
Professor of East Asian Studies
Kyung Hyun Kim
he/him/his
Professor of East Asian Studies
PhD., University of Southern California, Cinema Studies
East Asian cinemas, Korean popular culture, Korean literature, critical theory
Clinical Professor of Law
Jack Lerner
he/him/his
Clinical Professor of Law
Bachelor of Arts, University of Kansas (English); Juris Doctor, Harvard Law School
Copyright, documentary film, freedom of expression, fanworks, comparative law, AI, independent creators & the creative economy
Assistant Professor of European Languages and Studies
Maxime Philippe Bey-Rozet
he/him/his
Assistant Professor of European Languages and Studies
Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh, Film and Media Studies with a Concentration in French
Extreme cinemas; Trauma studies; Louis-Ferdinand Céline; 20th Century French literature and thought; French film industry; Black filmmaking in France; Horror studies
Professor of English
Michael Szalay
he/him/his
Professor of English
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, Ethnic Studies
20th- and 21st-Century American, Critical Theory, Film/TV/New Media
Associate Professor of Informatics
Aaron Trammell
he/him/his
Associate Professor of Informatics
Ph.D., Rutgers University, Journalism and Media Studies
Game Studies, Media Studies, American Studies
Professor of Anthropology
Roxanne Varzi
she/her/hers
Professor of Anthropology
Ph.D., Columbia University, Anthropology
Multi-Modal Research Design, Visual Anthropology, Storytelling, Ethnography, Academic and Prose Writing, building creativity and dismantling ideology, Religious Studies and non-linear thinking
Lecturers
Lecturer
Liz Cane
she/her/hers
Lecturer
UCLA, M.F.A., Film Directing/Production
Narrative and documentary filmmaking, screenwriting, exploring the aging process with an emphasis on successful aging, global warming, social justice
Lecturer
Marie Cartier
she/her/hers
Lecturer
Claremont Graduate University, Ph.D., Religion and MFA, Art: Installation and Painting
Screenwriting, LGBTQ+ popular culture, LGBTQ+ Film Studies, Gender and Women's Studies, Queer Studies/ History, Religion, Ethnography
Lecturer
Janet Chen
she/her/hers
Lecturer
Asian American, ethnic, LGBTQ+ studies; mental health and intergenerational healing; documentary, fiction, and hybrid filmmaking; and creating multimedia
Lecturer
Ricky Crano
He/They
Lecturer
Politics and aesthetics of digital culture, posthumanism, critical data studies, media and the environment, critical theory, psychoanalysis
Lecturer
Aruna Ekanayake
He/Him
Lecturer
Third Cinema, Decolonization, Critical Race Studies, Gender Studies, Experimental Cinema, Transcolonial Cinema, Cinema Theory, Documentary Theory
Lecturer
Lesley Elizondo
She/Her
Lecturer
Filmmaking and Cinematography
Lecturer
Andrew Kim
He/Him
Lecturer
Film sound technology and history, Avant Garde Cinema, Nonfiction filmmaking/documentary methodologies, Sound and video synthesis
Lecturer
Rajee Samarasinghe
He/Him
Lecturer
Experimental and Hybrid Cinema, Film Production, Emerging Media Technologies, Postcolonial Histories, War and Trauma, Ethnography, Asian Cinema, Decolonization, Narrative and Documentary Intersections
Lecturer
Mark Saraceni
He/Him
Lecturer
Deaf Theatre and Inclusive Strategies for deaf artists in film and television
Lecturer
Nadine Truong
She/Her
Lecturer
Screenwriting and Directing with a Focus on Healthcare Narratives
Postdoctoral Fellow
Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow
DeWitt King
he/him/his
Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow
Ph.D., University of Minnesota, American Studies
Black Cultural Studies, Black Geographies, Critical Sport Studies, Media Industries, Labor, Race and Technology, and Black Studies
Emeriti Faculty
Fatimah Tobing Rony
she/her/hers
Ph.D., Yale University, History of Art; M.F.A., UCLA, Directing/Production
Animation, Narrative, Documentary, Experimental Film Production, Visual Biopolitics, Film Theory and History, Visual Studies
Contact Film and Media Studies PhD
2000 Humanities Gateway
Irvine, CA 92697
Phone: (949) 824-3532