Speaking Engagements & Invited Lectures
“Genre Expertise and Aesthetic Pleasure,” Presentation to the Department of Film and Media Studies, Emory University, 8 February 2019.
“Ideology and Aesthetics in Hollywood Cinema”;
Presentation to the Chapman University School of Film and Television, 6 October 2017.
Presentation to the Department of English, University of Rhode Island, 7 March 2017.
“Aesthetics of Hollywood Storytelling,” Bryan Singer Division of Cinema & Media Studies, University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, 5 October 2017.
“Crime Film Aesthetics during the Period of the Production Code Administration,” Presentation to the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, 4 October 2017.
“Hollywood Style,” Presentation at the Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC, 18 May 2017.
“Genre Expertise and Aesthetic Pleasure, or Why Film Scholars Didn’t Like Star Wars,” Author Talk at Oxford University Press, New York, NY, 10 March 2017.
“Bursting into Song in the Hollywood Musical,” Presentation to the Visual Arts Program and the Fordham Filmmaking Club, Fordham University, 9 March 2017.
“Ideology and Aesthetics in Hollywood Cinema,” Presentation to the Department of English, University of Rhode Island, 7 March 2017.
“Complexity and Experimentation in the Hollywood Western,” Presentation to the Department of Film and Media Studies, Tufts University, 6 March 2017.
Speaker, “On the Limitations of Cognitive Film Studies,” part of the Cognitive/Analytic Scholarly Interest Group roundtable, “The Place of Cognitive Research in Film Studies,” Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference. Atlanta, 3 April 2016.
Master of Ceremonies, Wilmington Jewish Film Festival, 19-26 April 2015.
Panelist and advisor, Wilmington Jewish Film Festival, Broadway Musicals: a Jewish Legacy, Thalian Hall, Wilmington, NC, 13 October 2013.
"Commencement Speaker, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 11 May 2013. View.
“Gangsters, Private Eyes, Low-Lifes: Film Noir.” American Corner of Debrecen, Hungary, 17 Apr 2012.
“The Hollywood Aesthetic.” Department of Cinema, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, 27 Mar 2012
“Regarding Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain.” Presentation for America Week, sponsored by the University of Pannonia, the American Corner of Veszprém, and the Embassy of the United States. Veszprém, Hungary, 13 Mar 2012.
“Taxi Driver and Hollywood in the 1970s”;
Occidental College, 21 Apr 2011
Sarah Lawrence College, 14 Oct 2010
“Hollywood Incoherent: Narration in Seventies Cinema”;
Department of Film and Media Studies, Hunter College, CUNY, New York, 18 Oct 2010
Department of Theater, Dance and Film, Providence College, 15 Oct 2010
Department of Cinema Studies, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, 13 Oct 2010.
“Distribution Solutions,” Moderated panel of distributors and filmmakers on independent film distribution. Cucalorus Film Festival, Wilmington, NC, 14 Nov 2009.
“Hollywood Storytelling”
Writer’s Week” presentation. Department of Creative Writing, University of North Carolina Wilmington. Wilmington, NC, 4 Nov 2009.
Speakers Program, Public Affairs Section, Embassy of the United States. Hanoi, Vietnam, 26 May 2006.
“The Construction of Film Space.” Speakers Program, Public Affairs Section, Embassy of the United States. Hanoi, Vietnam, 9 June 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 Cinematheque. Hanoi, Vietnam, 2 Nov 2005.
“Unforgiven and the Evolution of the Western.” Part of the series, “Cowboy Classics.” Hanoi Cinematheque. 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.” Department of Radio, TV and Film at The University of North Texas. Denton, 28 Oct 1999.