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Department Faculty

todd berlinerTodd Berliner
Associate Professor of Film Studies

Curriculum Vitae (PDF file)

Education

  • Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
  • M.A., University of California, Berkeley
  • B.A., University of California, Berkeley

 

Forthcoming Book:

Hollywood Incoherent: Narration in Seventies Cinema (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010)

 

Contact Information

Phone: 910-962-3336
E-mail: berlinert@uncw.edu
Office: King 106D

Teaching and Research Interests
Film aesthetics; film narration; American cinema; Hollywood films of the 1970s; John Cassavetes; Martin Scorsese.

My courses focus on aesthetics, which is the study of what people in fact value about art (the pleasure it gives them) as opposed to what people typically feel they ought to value about it (its meaning).

Regular Courses:

  • American Cinema 1927-1960
  • American Cinema Since 1961
  • The Cinematic Mind: Cognition of Cinema
  • Cognitive and Neoformalist Film Theories
  • Film Authors: John Cassavetes
  • Film Authors: Martin Scorsese
  • Film Noir
  • Film Styles and Genres
  • Hollywood Films of the 1970s
  • Introduction to Film Study
  • Introduction to Hollywood Cinema
  • Storytelling in the Cinema
  • Studio Seminar in Film Production
  • Theater and Cinema

Publications: Book

Hollywood Incoherent: Narration in Seventies Cinema. Austin: University of Texas Press, forthcoming 2010.

Selected Publications: Articles and Chapters

  • Todd Berliner. “Killing the Writer: Movie Dialogue Conventions and John Cassavetes.” Maske und Kothurn: Internationale Beiträge zur Theater-, Film- und Medienwissenschaft, forthcoming fall 2009. Reprinted in Film Dialogue, ed. Jeff Jaeckle (London: Wallflower, forthcoming 2011).
  • Todd Berliner. “John Cassavetes’s Debut.” Rev. of Criterion Company DVDs of Shadows and Faces. Film International 7.4 (2009): 61-63. Print.
  • Todd Berliner. “Todd Berliner Focuses on the Cinematic Side of Hanoi.” To Vietnam with Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur. Ed. Kim Fay. San Francisco: ThingsAsian, 2008. 102-03. Print.
  • Todd Berliner. “Visual Absurdity in Raging Bull.” Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull”: A Cambridge Film Handbook. Ed. Kevin Hayes. New York: Cambridge UP, 2005. 41-68. Print. PDF file
  • Todd Berliner. Rev. of John Cassavetes: Five Films. Film International 17.5 (2005): 58-59. Print. PDF file
  • Todd Berliner. Rev. of Cassavetes on Cassavetes by Ray Carney. Quarterly Review of Film and Video 20.4 (2003). 292-95. Print. PDF file
  • Todd Berliner and Philip Furia. “The Sounds of Silence: Songs In Hollywood Films Since the 1960s.” Style 36.1 (2002): 19-35. Print. PDF file or http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2342/1_36/89985874/p1/article.jhtml
  • Todd Berliner. “The Pleasures of Disappointment: Sequels and The Godfather, Part II.” Journal of Film and Video, 53.2-3 (2001): 107-123. Print. Reprinted in The Pop Culture Zone, ed. Allison Smith, Trixie Smith, Stacia Watkins (Boston: Wadsworth, 2009), 204-11. PDF file
  • Todd Berliner. “The Genre Film as Booby Trap: 1970s Genre Bending and The French Connection.” Cinema Journal 40.3 (2001): 25-46. Print. PDF file
  • Todd Berliner. “Hollywood Movie Dialogue and the ‘Real Realism’ of John Cassavetes.” Film Quarterly 52.3 (1999): 2-16. Print. PDF file

Teaching and Administrative Experience, UNCW

  • Associate Professor, Film Studies Department, 2002-present.
  • Founding Chair, Film Studies Department, 2002-2005.
  • Assistant Professor, Department of English, 1996-2002.
Selected Awards and Grants
  • Fulbright Senior Scholar Award to Vietnam, U.S. Department of State, 2005-2006. Taught film courses and helped develop film studies programs and curricula. Hanoi University of Theater and Cinema (Đại Học Sân Khấu & Điện Ảnh Hà Nội).
  • Named by one or more graduating seniors at UNC Wilmington as a faculty member whose impact on them at college was most significant, twelve consecutive years (1997-2008).
  • Research Grant, UNC-Wilmington, 2004.
  • Speaker and Specialist Grant, U.S. Department of State, Office of International Information Programs. Assisted program and curriculum development for a new film studies program at Pontifica Universidade Católica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. May 10-18, 2002.
  • Charles Cahill Award, travel grant to conduct archival research in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Summer 2002.
  • Research Grant, UNC-Wilmington, 2000.
  • Curriculum Development Grant, UNC-Wilmington, 1999. Designed Film Studies Program curriculum.
  • Research Grant, UNC-Wilmington, 1997.
  • Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award, U.C. Berkeley, 1994
  • Highest Distinction in General Scholarship (Summa Cum Laude), UC Berkeley, 1986
  • Phi Beta Kappa, UC Berkeley, 1986
Selected Conference Presentations
  • “On the Value of ‘Plot Holes’ in Hollywood Cinema.” Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image Conference. Copenhagen, Denmark, 26 June 2009.
  • “Nashville and Narration in Seventies Cinema.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference. Philadelphia, 7 Mar, 2008.
  • “The Construction of Film Space.” Co-chair of panel discussion—consisting of two cognitive psychologists and two film scholars—on “Cognition of Cinema.” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference. London, England, 2 Apr 2005.
  • “The Pleasures of Disappointment: Sequels and The Godfather, Part II.” Film and Literature Conference. Florida State University, Tallahassee, 31 Jan 2004.
  • “Aesthetic Perversity in Hollywood Cinema: Narrative Nonsense in The Philadelphia Story and Raging Bull’s Visual Chaos.” Society for Cinema Studies Conference. Denver, 23 May 2002.
  • “The Godfather and the Sequel.” University Film and Video Association Conference. Emerson College, Boston, 6 Aug 1999.
  • “The Exorcist’s Other Shock Value.” University Film and Video Association Conference. North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, N.C, 7 Aug 1998
  • “Seventies Genre Films, The French Connection, and the Police Thriller.” University Film and Video Association Conference. University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, 8 Aug 1997.
  • “Movie Dialogue, Cassavetes Films, and ‘Real Realism.’” Society for Cinema Studies Conference. Ottawa, Canada, 16 May 1997.
Selected Speaking Engagements and Invited Lectures
  • “The Construction of Film Space.” Speakers Program, Public Affairs Section, Embassy of the United States. Hanoi, Vietnam, 9 June 2006.
  • “Hollywood Storytelling.” Speakers Program, Public Affairs Section, Embassy of the United States. Hanoi, Vietnam, 26 May 2006.
  • “Classical Hollywood Narration.” Film Studies Program, Vietnam National University. Hanoi, Vietnam, 15 Mar 2006.
  • “The Function of Film and Film Criticism.” Film Studies Program, Vietnam National University. Hanoi, Vietnam, 3 Mar 2006.
  • “How Cinema Corporations Can Survive and Develop in Vietnam.” Roundtable discussion, Department of Planning and Finance, Vietnam Ministry of Culture and Information. Hanoi, Vietnam, 24 Nov 2005.
  • “Independent Filmmaker John Cassavetes.” Part of the series, “American Independents.” Hanoi Cinemateque. Hanoi, Vietnam, 2 Nov 2005.
  • “Unforgiven and the Evolution of the Western.” Part of the series, “Cowboy Classics.” Hanoi Cinemateque. Hanoi, Vietnam, 17 Sep 2005.
  • “Not Directing the Actor.” Presented to directing and acting students at the Department of Film and Media. Hunter College, City University of New York, 4 Oct 2004.
  • “It’s A Wonderful Life Holiday Screening.” Host and panelist, with Frank Capra, Jr., Screen Gems Movie Studios and UNCW Film Studies Department. Wilmington, NC, 3 Dec 2004, 12 Dec 2003, 5 Dec 2002, 15 Dec 2000.
  • “Gangsters, Private Eyes, Low Lifes — Forties Film Noir.” Part of the series, “You Must Remember This: A Celebration of 40s Popular Culture.” UNC-Wilmington’s Randall Library & Battleship North Carolina. Wilmington, NC, 22 Feb 2000.
  • “The Cinema of John Cassavetes.” Guest speaker, Department of Radio, TV and Film at The University of North Texas. Denton, 28 Oct 1999.
Filmmaking and Film Series Programming
  • Board Member, Cinematique, Wilmington, NC, 1997-present; film selection and programming for weekly art and independent film series.
  • Programmer and Host, “The Forgotten and Underrated Film Series,” dedicated to films that never achieved proper recognition or popularity. Conceptualized the series, selected 15 films, wrote copy, and introduced. Hanoi Cinemateque, Vietnam, 5-14 June 2006.
  • Co-programmer, Documentary Film Series. Series screened 19 recent documentary films. Hanoi Cinemateque, Vietnam, 10-28 Feb 2006.
  • Associate Producer, “Snapshot,” a short film by Andrew Lund, 2005.
  • Host and Programmer, Fabulous Fifty-Cent Fantail Film Festival, Battleship North Carolina. Oct 2003 (Hollywood Films of 1939 Series), Oct 2002 (Hitchcock Series), and Oct 2001 (Screwball Comedy Series). Programmed three annual series, introduced films.
  • Co-founder and Co-Organizer, Cape Fear International Film Series; Wilmington, N.C., 1998; devised, planned, and obtained funding for the first annual International Film Series in North Carolina’s Cape Fear area; organized publicity; selected, scheduled and introduced films.

Professional Service, Certifications, and Memberships

  • Expert Witness on mainstream and independent-art-film exhibition practices, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, Attorneys at Law, 2008.
  • Member, Ford Foundation Ad Hoc Foreign Advisory Committee of the Film Studies Program of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi VN, 2006-present.
  • Manuscript Referee
    • Columbia University Press, 2009
    • McGraw-Hill, 2004
    • W.W. Norton & Company, 2003
    • Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2003
    • Cinema Journal, 2002
  • Grant Reviewer, Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio Center. Reviewed grants in film and media category, January and August 2008.
  • Academic Program Reviewer, Department of Film and Media Studies, Hunter College, City University of New York, 2007.
  • Member, Grant Review Panel, Fulbright Vietnamese Visiting Scholars Program, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, 2005. Selected Vietnamese scholars applying for Fulbright grants to conduct research in the U.S.
  • Institutional Review Board (IRB) Training for Human Subject Researchers, certified 2005.
  • Board Member, FilmSouth, 2002-2004, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting indigenous Southern filmmaking through education.
  • Member, Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image
  • Member, Society for Cinema and Media Studies.

A List of Todd's Top 99 Movies

Course Materials

FALL 2009 COURSES
FST 317 Writing About Film
Course Syllabus and Policies (pdf)
Writing Assignments (zip)

FST 377 American Cinema Since 1961
Course Syllabus and Policies (pdf)
Writing Assignments (pdf)