The structural and emotional gambits upon which cinema of the past and present is founded have their roots in a number of factors, not least of which is one curiously under appreciated cinematic element: aspect ratio. Tucked away in the further reaches of a project’s production details on IMDb or found alongside a runtime on your favorite streamer’s ‘About’ page or average Blu-Ray case, this term quite simply relays the dimensions of a displayed image in terms of the relationship between its width and height. Aspect ratios common to contemporary consumer displays include a rectangular 16:9 for most televisions, laptops, smartphones and monitors, a largely square 4:3 for older TVs and some tablets, the 3:2 ratio often seen in 2-in-1 computing devices and 21:9, which is employed on ultrawide monitors and many projector screens. Continue reading What are Aspect Ratios and Why Should We Care?→
After a long hiatus, our film studies newsletter returns. The months since COVID disrupted our lives have seemed like years, and in the meantime all of our relationships to the moving picture have changed: suffering in some ways, and blossoming in others. Continue reading From the Director: Film Studies in the Time of Corona→
The 37th annual Miami Film Festival starts this weekend, and runs from March 6 to March 15. More than 125 short films, documentaries and features from over 30 different countries will be showcased as part of the festival program. Screenings will be held at the Coral Gables Art Cinema, Olympia Theater, Tower Theater, and Silverspot Cinema, along with a host of other participating venues located in the Miami area.
As December heat and humidity give way to January heat and humidity, you know spring is around the corner in South Florida. And spring in South Florida means two things–film festivals (including ones for student filmmakers) and Oscars.
This spring we have another slate of exciting courses to satisfy the appetite of film students, fanatics, and cineastes. Culture, Communication, Writing, and How to Run a Film Festival? Yes please.
Benjamin Edelman and Manuel Camilion, Miami-based UM alumni directors, wrote and directed Santastein, a short film project, last year which would eventually play at places like the Sarasota Film Festival. Their short film received various accolades, even winning top prize at the University of Miami’s Scares and Scores where it caught the attention of executive producer Eddie del Carmen, 10-year veteran of the industry. They are joined now by Vasisth Sukul, one of the film’s producers to talk about their feature length version of Santastein funded entirely through Kickstarter.Continue reading Five Questions With: the Minds Behind Santastein→
After a long hiatus, our film studies newsletter returns. The months since COVID disrupted our lives have seemed like years, and in the meantime all of our relationships to the moving picture have changed: suffering in some ways, and blossoming in others. 
