Zoom-In 2026 is a public-facing, dynamic thesis showcase presented by the MA Film and Media Studies Class of 2026. The ninth iteration of this grand annual conference will be held at the Lenfest Center for the Arts. This year’s event features panel-based thesis presentations, a guest keynote speaker, curated screenings of feature and short films, as well as networking receptions.
Schedule
Friday, February 6
4:00 PM Keynote Speech: Whit Pow (NYU Department of Media, Culture, and Communication)
4:30 PM Keynote Q&A
4:45 PM Break
5:00 PM PANEL 1: “The Sound of Music—and Image!”
“Expanding Black Time and Space in Animation Through Jazz” by Peyton Freeney
“Rene Clair: The Sound From Silence” by Charles Meyers
5:30 PM Panel 1 Q&A, moderator TBC
6:00 PM Break
7:30 PM Feature Screening: The Beast (2023)
Saturday, February 7
2:00 PM PANEL 2: “Shifting Cinematic Images of a Nation”
“Unearthing Buried Memories: How have Korean Films from the Post-War Golden Age to the Present Reimagined Women’s Burden in Negotiating Survival, Trauma, and National Identity?” by Philip Gilstrap
“Industrial Exotic: Reconfiguring Chinese Labour Image in Transnational Documentary” by Eve Guo
“The Thrilling Sword / Taiwan Theory: Non-Translation and Collage as Possibilities” by Rong-Han Shiao
2:45 PM Panel 2 Q&A, moderated by Phoebe Chen (Department of Film and Media Studies)
3:15 PM Break
3:30 PM Short(s) Screening: Surprise Boogie (1957), The Milky Way (1968), Both Sides Now (1975), Frankenstein (1910)
4:00 PM PANEL 3: “Inhuman Anxieties and Emerging Intimacies with New Media”
“Advent Anxiety: The Telephone [Operator] and ChatGPT” by Carley Pinke
“Blood, Body, Heat: The Infrared Aesthetic and the Post-Optic Regime” by Drew Björkstén
“From Frankenstein to AI (and Artificial Intimacy): The Haunted Desire for Connection in the Age of Artificiality” by Haoze Guan
“Fan Edits as Dialectical Pastiche: Shadow Cinema and Queer Potentiality as Formal Distance and Emotional Non-Distance” by Sidnee Lim
5:00 PM Panel 3 Q&A, moderated by Jason R. LaRiviere (Department of Film and Media Studies)
5:45PM Zoom-In Conference ends