School of Film and Media Studies

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“In Tsou’s charming solo directorial debut, I-Jing, her teenage sister and their mother have just moved back to Taipei after years away in the countryside. Their mother Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai), opens a noodle stand in the capital’s famous night markets in an attempt to start a new life for her family. But a fresh start is rarely an easy one. Day after day, Shu-Fen toils to keep her food stall and family afloat — trying to pay the stall’s rent while juggling the debt she accumulated from her ex-husband’s funeral, and taking care of her daughters, who couldn’t be more different.” (NPR)

The Humanities symposium is a way to share and celebrate the great work of our students with faculty, friends, and family.

Women on the Verge — A Tribeca Student Shorts Showcase

Cinema Studies alumna Madison Egan returns to campus for a special screening and conversation featuring four international student short films that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

All four films are directed by women and explore young women coming into their own - standing on the verge of something larger than themselves, much like the students who created them.

Following the screening, Egan will discuss the importance of student shorts at major festivals, how filmmakers research and submit to festivals, and what programmers look for when selecting new voices.

Egan served as a Short Film Programmer at Tribeca, where she helped select emerging filmmakers from around the world. This program includes two films from each year she worked as a programmer (2024 & 2025), offering a rare look at how student work reaches one of the industry’s most influential festivals.

Congratulations on your acceptance to Purchase!

Jon Glaser has a conversation with Purchase professor and screenwriter Greg Lisi (Opening Night) about his own journey as both a writer and actor across platforms.

Nowhere (1997) directed by the New Queer Cinema director Gregg Araki is presented as a collaboration between the FMS Screening Series and the Cinemaroll Film Journal.

With the release of Nowhere “Araki’s career takes a sharp turn, and not a minute too soon. Though still quite imperfect, it’s a convincing teen movie and a reminder of Araki’s unique, punchy way with youth-culture iconography.” (ArtForum)

Nowhere is “described as a surreal “American Graffiti” crossed with a kinky “Beverly Hills 90210,” as imagined by a punked-out acolyte of John Waters or Andy Warhol.” (New York Times)

Audiences should be advised that the film contains content that could be disturbing to some audiences, such as staged sexual and physical violence.