News & Events

Film Studies Newsletter

Winter '24 / Spring '25

The Cucalorus Film Festival includes an innovative line-up of films ranging from love-lost unicorns and teenage bank robbers to family flicks and social justice documentaries.

More that 240 independent and international films will be screened, including a hefty list of world premieres, U.S. and regional premieres, award-winning international films and original debuts from well-known and up-and-coming filmmakers.

Along with a deep schedule of multi-disciplinary performances ranging from dance to spoken word and beyond, the festival will include:

• 43 narrative features
• 21 documentary features
• 145 shorts
• 34 music videos
• 7 works-in-progress

FST 210 Movie Makers and Scholars features lectures and presentations by filmmakers, film industry professionals, and film scholars. The course is offered as part of the UNCW University Studies curriculum.

The class is held in the King Hall Theater, room 101 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. each Friday. All Film Studies majors and pre-majors are welcome to attend guest lecture presentations. For more information, email Terry Linehan.

Past Movie Makers and Scholars Guest Speakers Include:

• Jim Taylor, Oscar winning screenwriter: Sideways
• Ira Sachs, director, writer, producer: Love is Strange, Keep the Lights On
• David Bordwell, film scholar, author of Film Art
• Frederick Wiseman, documentary filmmaker: Titticut Follies, High School
• Jerry Ziesmer, assistant director: Apocalypse Now, Jerry Maquire
• Pat Hingle, actor: On the Waterfront, Talladega Nights
• David Andrews, actor: Fight Club, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Apollo 13
• Jennifer Barrow, writer: King of the Hill, Dater's Handbook
• Adam Kritzer, producer, director: The Making of Easter Sunday, Good Funk
• Tom Priestly Jr., ASC, cinematographer: The Thomas Crown Affair
• Bob Mondello, NPR Public Radio film commentator and critic
• Greg Prange, producer and director: One Tree Hill, Dawson's Creek
• Richard Murphy, sound mixer: American Gangster
• Alonzo Wilson, costume designer: The Wire
• Judith Helfand, documentary director: Blue Vinyl
• Ira Sachs, director, screenwriter: 40 Shades of Blue
• Evgency Adineevsky, producer, writer, director: Winder on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom, Oy Vey! My Son is Gay!!
• David Dunn Jr, writer, director: Harry, Being with You, The Writer's Pub
• William Lewis,& documentary director, producer: 911: In Plane Site, Beyond Treason
• Patrick Stettner: screenwriter, director: The Business of Strangers
• Lamont Johnson, director: The Execution of Private Slovik
• Peter Jurasik, actor: Babylon 5, NYPD Blue, Tron
• David Gatten, experimental filmmaker:& Secret History of the Dividing Line, A True Account in Nine Parts
• Naomi Uman, experimental filmmaker: Removed, Leche
• Simona Irrera, director, producer, writer: Songbirth, Death & Resurrection
• Nick Pryor, veteran film actor: Smile
• Ken Olin, actor, producer: Sleepy Hollow
• George Parra, executive producer: Silver Linings Playbook
• Greg Sherman, director: The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story
• Dan Janvey and Michael Gottwald, Academy Award-nominated producers: Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Sydney Penny, actress: All My Children, Days of Our Lives
• Will Geiger, writer, director: Elvis and Anabelle, Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove

Wilmington Film Industry Professionals Including:

• Mark Fincannon, casting director, location casting: The Blind Side
• Bo Webb, camera operator: Veep, Eastbound & Down, One Tree Hill
• Erica Dunton, director: To.get.her, The 27 Club, Red Means Go
• Dan Brawley, Cucalorus Executive Director
• John Copeman, stunt coordinator: Zombieland, The Hours, Under the Dome
• Johnny Griffin, Wilmington Regional Film Commissioner
• Dan Turek, first assistant camera: Sleepy Hollow, The Conjuring, Eastbound & Down
• Richard Leder, screenwriter: Ambers Story, The Bad Son
• Bill Davis, art director: One Tree Hill, Dawson's Creek
• Barbabra D'Alessandro, producer: Secrets and Lies, Reckless, Army Wives
• Joe D'Alessandro, camera operator: The Hunger Games, The Blind Side, The Secret Life of Bees
• Tammy Arnold, dialect coach: The Notebook, Big Fish, Radio
• John Kretschmer, production designer: Homeland, Army Wives, One Tree Hill