Internship Report
This blog was created as a result of a course I was privileged to take at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in the Spring of 2017 entitled “Representations of Greece: Ancient & Modern,” taught by Dr. Katerina Zacharia of Classics and Archaeology. As the title suggests, the primary subject matter studied was representation, or how one forms his or her identity (and then presents that identity to the world) within the contexts of their society, one composed of social constructs and their interplay with one another. The second half of the course, and that relating this to Greece in its history/modernity, comprised itself of a dual internship with the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, a relatively new yet growing relationship, especially for those students continuing its development. Regarding this aspect, the other students and I were grouped into various categories (Food & Travel, Theatre and Art, etc.), where weekly we would view and interpret, through papers and research, multiple film submissions to the Festival using our newfound language and understanding of representation. Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist and political activist, was a key contributor to this understanding in his book Representation (Second Ed.), our pioneer text of study spanning topics from the “The Poetics and the Politics of Exhibiting Other Cultures,” to “Exhibiting Masculinity,” often in the framework of the film, television, and music industries. Dr. Zacharia’s Hellenisms served as the second major reference material, which through a diverse ensemble of historians, anthropologists, classicists and the like, explores the legacy of Greek culture from antiquity to its expression in modern homelanders today. This source, along with various newspaper/scholarly journal articles, allowed us to locate our films in their contemporary dialogue. Combined, these texts alongside a flow of contemporary film was what made the course so successful, as not only did it bridge an unknown divide (to many non-film majors especially) between classics and entertainment, but it also created an academic environment of actual engaged learning with a goal/purpose to work towards in a body bigger than the classroom; LMU having a film spot/selection in the festival as a result of its students’ work and study. Such an experience simultaneously provided students with experience within the international industry, and allows them to consider its application to their own lives.
To the topic of my blog, “Greek Masculinity’s Re-Assimilation in Crisis,” I have always been interested in perceptions of gender and the societal norms created around them, most especially in how those norms vary from one community to the next. This curiosity has almost always been limited to, however, the United States and our popular culture surrounding the idea. With the flexibility in topic choice given to us by Dr. Zacharia, I couldn’t help but have picked such a topic after being provided the opportunity to study the variety in a “foreign” setting, particularly through the visual/contemporary (with incredibly strong notions of masculinity already embedded in its history/culture) of Greek film. Even here, though, I wanted to do more, and found as it became routine in critical analysis of cinema and representation, that identity in crisis was more frequently being displayed through children/the younger generations, with their transitions into “manhood” in and of itself an already existing evolution of its own; the perfect parallel.
The completion of this course is not the end for me, however, as I have begun my continuation of the internship into the summer with the International Project Discovery Forum (IPDF) branch of the Festival, a team for whom I worked last year. The aim of this Project is to create a bridge between the American Independent Film scene and that of the Greek/Balkan. Taking submissions from independent producers and filmmakers, those selected are hosted at the Festival to be paired with American film professionals (distributors, producers, etc.), who will then help them develop their content. Compared to LAGFF 2016, where my general commitments included guest guidance and information distribution, this year I shall be working prior the Festival in the organization of the program booklet/online presentation of IPDF, as well as with its outreach and communication with the artists and their professional couplings. I shall add to this page of the blog my furthered experience once the Festival is complete. Please look forward to this instillation!
And lastly, amidst this entire experience, I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to simultaneously wrap my construction of the LAGFF’s first ever Film Archive; a compilation of over 500+ film submissions to the Festival since its creation in 2008, where myself, along with Maria Ullman (the second Rains Research Intern to Dr. Zacharia, and student in the course), organized, catalogued, and labeled the content for not only future use, but preservation of the Festival’s roots. A large thank you is due to Dr. Zacharia and the Department of Classics and Archaeology at LMU for supporting and encouraging this undertaking.
To the topic of my blog, “Greek Masculinity’s Re-Assimilation in Crisis,” I have always been interested in perceptions of gender and the societal norms created around them, most especially in how those norms vary from one community to the next. This curiosity has almost always been limited to, however, the United States and our popular culture surrounding the idea. With the flexibility in topic choice given to us by Dr. Zacharia, I couldn’t help but have picked such a topic after being provided the opportunity to study the variety in a “foreign” setting, particularly through the visual/contemporary (with incredibly strong notions of masculinity already embedded in its history/culture) of Greek film. Even here, though, I wanted to do more, and found as it became routine in critical analysis of cinema and representation, that identity in crisis was more frequently being displayed through children/the younger generations, with their transitions into “manhood” in and of itself an already existing evolution of its own; the perfect parallel.
The completion of this course is not the end for me, however, as I have begun my continuation of the internship into the summer with the International Project Discovery Forum (IPDF) branch of the Festival, a team for whom I worked last year. The aim of this Project is to create a bridge between the American Independent Film scene and that of the Greek/Balkan. Taking submissions from independent producers and filmmakers, those selected are hosted at the Festival to be paired with American film professionals (distributors, producers, etc.), who will then help them develop their content. Compared to LAGFF 2016, where my general commitments included guest guidance and information distribution, this year I shall be working prior the Festival in the organization of the program booklet/online presentation of IPDF, as well as with its outreach and communication with the artists and their professional couplings. I shall add to this page of the blog my furthered experience once the Festival is complete. Please look forward to this instillation!
And lastly, amidst this entire experience, I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to simultaneously wrap my construction of the LAGFF’s first ever Film Archive; a compilation of over 500+ film submissions to the Festival since its creation in 2008, where myself, along with Maria Ullman (the second Rains Research Intern to Dr. Zacharia, and student in the course), organized, catalogued, and labeled the content for not only future use, but preservation of the Festival’s roots. A large thank you is due to Dr. Zacharia and the Department of Classics and Archaeology at LMU for supporting and encouraging this undertaking.