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photo credit - Mary Lou Chlipala
Disney Guest Artist Matthias Lechner (Art Director of Environments for Zootopia) poses with "the Michigan zoo" after his behind-the-scenes animation presentation and Q&A last Thursday in the Natural Science Auditorium
THIS WEEK'S EVENTS
SAC Speaker Series Presents
A Talk by Doctoral Candidate Dimitri Pavlounis
"Sound Evidence: William J. Burns and the Case of the Detective Dictograph"
Thursday, February 25
SAC Conference Room, 6360 North Quad
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. 
Throughout the 1910s, celebrity detective William J. Burns contributed to and inspired a visual and narrative culture around the device for which he became most famous: the detective dictograph. Not only did this voice amplification and transmission device play a prominent role in a number of crime plays and films, but it also became a celebrity in its own right, being featured on promotional materials and catalyzing debate in the popular press around the nature of detective work and the implications of the use of sound-based technology in crime prevention and detection. This paper puts this imagined, mediated life of the dictograph in conversation with its material affordances and limitations. Moreover, it argues that Burns’ status as “America’s Sherlock Holmes” helped transform the dictograph from a machine that one journalist described as a “merely highly refined telephone” into an infallible forensic technology capable of recording indexical traces of criminal bodies.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Latino Americans: 500 Years of History -
Screening of War and Peace
Hosted by Assistant Professor Colin Gunckel 
Monday, February 29
Ypsilanti District Library
6:30 p.m. -- Free and Open to the Public 
Episode three of this PBS Series, (full series to be screened at the Ypsilanti Library), moves into the World War II years and those that follow, as Latino Americans serve their new country by the hundreds of thousands — but still face discrimination and a fight for civil rights back in the United States.
Latino Americans: 500 Years of History Film Series-
Related Discussions with Assistant Professor Colin Gunckel 
March 3 and March 16
Ypsilanti District Library
6:30 p.m. -- Free and Open to the Public 
Related Discussions with Assistant Professor Colin Gunckel: 
Zoot Suit Riots (Thursday, March 3, 6:30 p.m.)
Explore the complicated racial tensions that led to the famous riots in Los Angeles in 1943.
Civil Disobedience (Wednesday, March 16, 6:30 p.m.)
Learn how art and activism influenced each other in 1970s Latino/a culture. 
20th Annual CLIFF Conference: Appetites: Discourses of Consumption
March 10, 11, and 12
Rackham Graduate School
Times Vary; Please See Complete Conference Schedule 
Keynote speaker: Rey Chow, Professor of Literature at Duke University. Situated at the intersection of critical theory, cultural studies, literary studies, film and media studies, and postcolonial studies, many of Chow’s recent publications directly address the connections between the culinary and the cultural, with food becoming a window into the depths of the ordinary.
Over the past twenty years, the rise of food studies has brought the culinary to the attention of academics, particularly among social scientists and in departments of cultural studies. This relatively new concern with food opens up the possibility of thinking consumption and appetites in broader terms. How do we consume bodies, images, and cultures? How can the humanities engage with food studies? Is it possible to think the consumption of food alongside other forms of consumption? This conference, aimed at graduate students in all disciplines across the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, is concerned with appetite and consumption in all their varied aspects.
 
This event is sponsored by the College of LS&A, Judaic Studies, Comparative Literature, Afroamerican and African Studies, Rackham Graduate School, the International Institute, Screen Arts & Cultures, Romance Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Asian Languages and Cultures, History, English Language and Literature, and Germanic Languages and Literatures. 
SACapalooza: SAC's Undergraduate Declaration Event
March 18
Studio A, 1440 North Quad 
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.  
If you are interested in declaring a SAC major or a GMS minor and/or you just want to learn more about what these academic programs offer, join us at SACapalooza! This year, in addition to the information session provided by our SAC advisors, the FVSA (Film & Video Student Association) and React to Film will be giving presentations about their organizations.
SPOTLIGHT ON SAC ALUMNI 
(Above) Nathan Scherrer on the set of a music video in LA in 2014.
photo credit - Jonathan Craven 

SAC Alum Nathan Scherrer ('12) was nominated for two Grammys for Best Music Video: Pharrell's "Freedom" and The Dead Weather's "I Feel Love (Every Million Miles)."  Michigan Radio writer Josh Hakala, in his article "Northport, Michigan native goes from intern to Grammy-nominated video producer," shares information from Nathan's recent interview on NPR's Stateside: "In college, Scherrer was a pre-business and pre-law student at the University of Michigan before he took a film class during his junior year and 'switched gears completely.' After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles. 'I went out [to Los Angeles] with a couple hundred bucks, and just tried to figure it out,' said Scherrer, whose first job was to drive the talent from the parking lot to the set. He credits his work ethic and persistence as an intern as the key to climbing the ladder in the music video business." Listen to Nathan's full interview -- and hear the full story behind the making of the videos and his advice about how to make it in show business -- here. 

Scherrer graduated with a double major in Sociology and Screen Arts & Cultures and a Screenwriting Sub-Major. 
THIS WEEK'S FEATURED PHOTO
photo credit - Mary Lou Chlipala
 
Jim Kouf and David Greenwalt (screenwriters of Grimm) visited Burnstein and Rayher's SAC 423 class last Friday; during their visit, they read two student scripts, Present Day and The Dejects, and then shared their notes with the class.
NEWS
Associate Professor Daniel Herbert Gives Keynote at Graduate Conference in Kansas
Daniel Herbert delivered the keynote lecture at the 19th Annual Film and Media Graduate Conference at the University of Kansas on February 12th. In his talk, entitled, "'Movies 'n More': On the Educational Value of Video Rental Stores," Herbert examined the ways that video stores have impacted media education, and, more particularly, he looked at several video stores that have recently become non-profit institutions with educational missions. 
Professor Yeidy Rivero Quoted in International Business Times
In the International Business Times' article "From Telenovelas To Turkish Dramas: Why Turkey's Soap Operas Are Captivating Latin America," author Michael Kaplan discusses the growing popularity of Turkish television dramas in Latin American countries. Professor Yeidy Rivero comments that the dramas are doing so well in Latin America, in part, because they share commonalities with the telenovela dramas (tear-inducing and drama-packed shows, often focusing on rocky relationships set against societal problems like violence or racism) that are already popular across Latin America. Despite the popularity among Latin American audiences, however, "some academics are debating the messages," Rivero claims. "Many telenovelas are very progressive in terms of women, but here you have, in some ways, a more conservative representation." 
Read the full article, including more of Yeidy Rivero's commentary, here.  
Photo credit, Global Agency
Professor Amanda Lotz Interviewed by CBC Radio About the Changing Landscape of Entertainment Media 
Amanda Lotz, Professor of Communications and Screen Arts & Cultures, was recently interviewed by CBC Radio's Nora Young about how online streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, and YouTube are creating original content -- and the impact of this trend on traditional broadcasters. When asked about the shifting entertainment landscape -- and, in particular, about why online distribution companies were creating their own content --, Lotz responded, "I think what's happened with Netflix is the recognition that business based just on being a distributor, and relying on other companies' content, might become unsustainable at some point." Listen to Lotz's full interview here. 
SAC Affiliate Professor Daniel Herwitz Quoted in New York Times 
Author of The Star as Icon, Daniel Herwitz was recently quoted in the New York Times' "The New Celebrity Power Move: Keeping Secrets." In the article, writer Jim Farber explores the methods top celebrities use to "hold information about themselves close in an age of 24/7 social media, email leaks, and TMZ."  Because people generally believe that social media is the most direct route to a star's life, Herwitz claims, "[...] it becomes totally extraordinary when somebody doesn’t tell. On one hand, the public is in awe of the fact that the star, for the moment, resisted the system. But they’re also disappointed, as if somebody let them down. 'Why didn’t I know this? The media dropped the ball!’” Read the entire article here. 
SAC Faculty Spotlight: Senior Lecturer and Associate Chair Terri Sarris 
Terri Sarris is entering her last semester of a three-year term as SAC’s Associate Chair. She has enjoyed meeting many SAC students through advising appointments, SACapalooza, and other Departmental events like the recent internship panel she helped FVSA to produce.
 
This semester, Sarris is teaching the very first SAC course (SAC 304) for students involved in WOLV TV, which has given WOLV students the opportunity to think critically about the work they do, as well as pitch ideas for new television shows (three of which will be put into production this semester).  Visitors from the world of broadcast television are helping to supplement the course pedagogy by teaching workshops in producing for television, on-air reporting, and sports television.
WOLV TV students gather around TV Director Mark Cendrowski in Studio A.
Two of Sarris’ short films were recently selected for screening at this year’s Ann Arbor Film Festival.  “Drive In,” a collaboration with SAC staff Joel Rakowski, is a portrait of Detroit’s Ford Wyoming Theater.  “Our Last Hurrah” is a portrait of family, nostalgia, and impending loss.  Both were originated on Super 8mm film.  In winter of 2017, Sarris will be teaching a course on the AAFF as part of the UM Bicentennial Theme Semester.
In fall of 2016, Sarris is excited to be co-teaching SAC 401, a course in Direct Cinema Documentary, with SAC faculty Markus Nornes and visiting filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda.  The class will work together to produce a feature-length documentary on UM’s “Big House.”