Graduate Students
Cem Ismail Addemir
he/him/his
M.S., Illinois State University; B.A., North Central College; A.A., College of Dupage
Marxism; Media Infrastructure; Media Criticism; Photography; Middle East Studies; History of the 20th Century; Science and Technology Studies
Faculty Advisor: Peter Krapp
Anna Atkeson
they/them/she/her
M.A. Cultural Studies, Claremont Graduate University; B.A. Visual Arts, University of Chicago
Digital media, queer media and culture, internet studies, virtual spaces
Faculty Advisor: Lucas Hilderbrand
Rhituparna Basu
she/her
M.F.A. Film Production, University of Texas at Austin; M.A.S. Film and Media Studies, Arizona State University
Race, empire, revolution, Third Worldism/internationalism, postcolonial studies, anticolonial/anti-imperialist film movements, and political filmmaking.
Faculty Advisors: Sohail Daultazai & Glen Mimura
Brandon Blackburn
he/him/his
M.A. Visual Studies, University of California, Irvine
Depictions of monstrosity and affects of horror through the lenses of race and queerness in games and related media
Faculty Advisors: Aaron Trammell and Bo Ruberg
FMGSA Peer Mentorship Facilitator
Changie Chang
they/them
FMGSA Peer Mentorship Facilitator
B.A. History and Literature, Harvard University
queer theory, video games, archives, data storage, hardware, affect theory, software studies, history of computing, glitches
Faculty Advisor: Braxton Soderman
Suchen Ding
she/her/hers
M.A. Critical Asian Humanities, Duke University; B.A. Chinese Language and Literature, Wuhan University
Digital Labor, environmental media and media infrastructure, particularly within the Global South, with a specific emphasis on China. The themes of precarity and affect relating to new media technologies, and the representation of Chinese migrant workers in the smaller-screen visual practices
Faculty Advisor: Meryem Kamil
Sedef Hizlan
she/her
M.A. in Film Studies, King’s College London; B.A. in Film and Television, Kadir Has University
Transnational cinema, Yeşilçam film history and archives, female stardom and performance studies, critical film historiography, psychoanalysis and feminist film theory
Faculty Advisor: Kristen Hatch
Jeferson Martins
he/him/his
M.A. Film and Theater, Hanyang University; B.A. Journalism, Federal University of Juiz de Fora
Korean Cinema, Brazilian Cinema, LGBTQ+ Film Studies, Histories of Censorship, Postcolonial Studies, Queer Culture and Media
Faculty Advisor: Lucas Hilderbrand
Kate McCullion
she/her/hers
M.A. Film Studies, King’s College London; B.A. American Studies, University of Manchester
Classical Hollywood, Critical Theory, Political Economy, Film as Popular History, Visuality and Modernity, Silent Cinema and Deafness, Horror Studies
Faculty Advisor: Kristen Hatch
Edward Mendez
he/him/his
M.A. Public Engagement, University of Nevada, Reno; B.A. English, University of Nevada, Reno
Black film, critical race theory, film criticism, black radical politics, political economy
Faculty Advisor: Allison Perlman
Rodolpho Hockmuller Menezes
he/him/his
B.A. & M.Sc. in History, University of São Paulo, Brazil
Media history; history and historiography; transnational/global media and Christianity; television and film studies; political economy of media
Faculty Advisors: Catherine Benamou & Catherine Liu
Geo Moon
she/they
M.A. English Literature, Seoul National University; B.A. English Literature (Minor: Aesthetics), Seoul National University
Decolonial media and knowledge; Scientific diaspora; Queer temporalities, anachronism, and world-building; Genres and interfaces; Exophonic, indie, and vernacular media practices; Data/electronic colonialism; Music, sound, and synchronization technologies
Faculty Advisor: Keiji Kunigami
Julia Nava
she/her/hers
B.A. Theory and Practice of Cinema, California State University-Long Beach
Digital media piracy, Latinx and Latin American media, transnational exchanges of media across Latin America and the US, media accessibility, and feminist theory.
Faculty Advisor: Arcelia Gutierrez
Ally Poehailos
they/she
M.A. Global Communications (Development Communications), American University of Paris; B.F.A. English Language and Literature, Southern New Hampshire University
Anticolonialism, Decolonial Theory/Film, Revolution & Guerrilla Movements, Palestinian Resistance, Palestinian Film & Literature, Visuality
FMGSA Graduate Student Representative
Ari Polgar
she/her
FMGSA Graduate Student Representative
M.A. Cinema & Media Studies, USC; B.A. Film Studies, Wesleyan University; B.A. French Studies, Wesleyan University
Interactive Media, Extended Reality, Video Games, Infrastructure, Materiality and Embodiment, Digital Media, Industry Studies, Music
Faculty Advisor: Braxton Soderman
Yinlong Qian
he/him
M.A. Critical Asian and Middle Eastern Humanities, Duke University; M.A. Chinese Studies, SOAS University of London; B.A. English, Renmin University of China
Game Studies, Asian Media Studies, Critical AI Studies
FMGSA Social Chair
Yilia (Yijia) Qu
She/her
FMGSA Social Chair
M.A. Media, Culture, and Communication, New York University; B.A. Cinema and Media Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, Wellesley College
Queer and Feminist Studies, Game Studies, Digital Media, Media Technology, Domesticity and Domestic Labor, Smart Home Devices
Faculty Advisor: Braxton Soderman
Elsa Rogers
she/her
B.S. Cinema Studies, University of Oregon
Early and silent-era cinema, American Western genre films, Pacific Northwest film production, German Expressionist cinema, preservation and archiving, feminist film theory
Raphael Rosalen
he/him/his
M.A. Cinema and Media Studies, University of Southern California; B.A. Cinema and Media Studies, University of Southern California
Digital media, celebrity culture, internet studies, virtual experiences
Faculty Advisor: Bo Ruberg
Alexander Rudenshiold
he/him/his
M.A. Media, Culture, & Technology, University of Virginia; B.A. English, Political Science, Digital Studies, University of Mary Washington
Internet (sub)culture, podcasting, labor/left politics, (post)marxism, livestreaming, video games, gay/queer media, the end(s) of the world
Faculty Advisors: Allison Perlman & Meryem Kamil
Maya Singleton
she/her/hers
M.A. Humanities, CSU, Northridge; B.A. African American Studies: Arts and Literature, CSU, Northridge; B.A. English- Creative Writing: Poetry, CSU, Northridge
Black girlhood; Black visual culture; Black popular culture; Black archival practices; Black womxn media making
Faculty Advisors: Philana Payton and Bambi Haggins
Trevor Redd Smith
he/him/his
M.A. Communication, The University of Utah
Generative AI, Games Studies, Digital Media
Faculty Advisor: Peter Krapp
Charlotte Stout
she/her
M.A. Cinema Media Studies, University of California, Los Angeles; B.A. American Studies, Wellesley College
Unscripted Television, Fat Studies, Feminist Media Studies, Queer Media, Popular Culture, Production Studies
Ruodai Sun
she/her
M.A. Film Studies, University College London; B.A. Editing & Publishing Science, Wuhan University
Chinese-language and East Asian Cinema, Transnational Cinema, Queer Media and Culture, Censorship, Audience Studies
Wendy Zhang
she/her/hers
M.A. Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Hong Kong
Eco cinema, ecofeminist art, film festival studies, critical infrastructure studies, global Asias
Faculty Advisor: Catherine Liu
Alumni
Kiên Lê
he/him/his
Ph.D. in Film and Media Studies, 2026
Cinema, Infrastructure, History of Science and Technology
Dissertation Title: The Latent Image: Photography, Infrastructure, and the Imagination of Vietnam under French Rule (1887-1954)
Contact Film and Media Studies PhD
2000 Humanities Gateway
Irvine, CA 92697
