For poets autumn is a time of reflection and melancholy, but on college campuses fall is the season of fresh starts. This fall I am excited about what’s happening in our FIU classrooms, around campus, and in the Miami film scene.

Two exciting events stand out for us in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, September 24, at 6PM, FIU’s Center for the Humanities in an Urban Environment has organized a screening and discussion of Talking Black in America, with Executive producer Matt Wolfram and producer Renee Blake. Our Frankie Dauphin has more to say about it.

Then on Wednesday, October 9 at 6:30 PM, we are co-hosting the FIU premier of award-winning local filmmaker Gabriel Rhenals’s first feature, For My Sister. Co-organized with the FIU chapter of NAMI and the Film Initiative, a panel discussion about stigmas related to mental illness will follow.

Also, we’ll be working closely with the Film Initiative to build on the success of last years’ Second Annual Panther Film Festival, the FIU student film workshop and showcase. We’ll have meetups and filmmaking challenges to get FIU filmmakers and wannabe filmmakers up and running with projects for the annual spring festival.

Fall is also mini-festival season in South Miami. Among those we’re especially looking forward to are the Miami Film Festival’s fall GEMS showcase, the Miami Short Film Festival (for which yours truly will serve as a judge this year), and the second annual Miami Polish Film Festival. We’ll keep you abreast of these and many more happenings both on campus and on the town.

Finally, we just want to give a shout out to our alumni and community partners. As always, feel free to email our director, Dr. Andy Strycharski, at strychar@fiu.edu to say Hi or let us know what’s going on with you. We love to hear from you all!