The Film Studies Working Group, formerly known as Comparative Literature Film Screening Series, aims to bring together graduate students and early-, mid-, and senior-career faculty who work on film at Penn State. Fostering a series of conversations across departments about the filmic medium, this project will create a vibrant network for scholars to meet, share their research, receive constructive feedback, and develop collaborative work.
Spring collaborative colloquia, co-coordinated by both the faculty, Chris Reed (English; Art History; WGSS) and Sabine Doran (Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures; Jewish Studies), and the graduate students, Merve Şen (Comparative Literature; Visual Studies) and Adam DeCaulp (Comparative Literature; Asian Studies) include faculty-graduate student joint presentations, multiple screenings, and guest visits from film scholars and filmmakers. The Group’s spring events are supported by Humanities Institute‘s Collaborative Colloquia.
The regular time and place of the events are the first Friday of every month at 6:00 p.m. in 113 Carnegie Building. This semester also includes more events on different dates and venues. Access the entire Spring schedule.
For more information and inquiries, and to be added to the Film Studies Working Group’s listserv, please contact Merve Şen (mfs6340@psu.edu) or Adam Decaulp (aqd6007@psu.edu).
Comparative Literature Film Screening Series, from which the group originated, began its events in spring 2024.
The East and Southeast Asian Film Series is an informal film screening series that brings together students, faculty, and members of the University community to engage with cinema from across East and Southeast Asia. Organized by graduate students, the series aims to create accessible opportunities for undergraduates and other campus audiences to explore East and Southeast Asia-related topics through film while highlighting works that are especially useful for classroom teaching across disciplines.
Each screening will include a brief introduction and an opportunity for discussion following the film. Some screenings are organized in collaboration with courses in Asian literature, film studies, and related fields, creating connections between classroom learning and shared viewing experiences.
Screenings will take place on selected evenings throughout the semester. All students, faculty, colleagues, and friends are welcome to attend.
Muyun Zhou (mqz5352@psu.edu) is the primary coordinator and contact person for the series. Please contact her for further information or to be added to the mailing list.
The Penn State Horror Network is an interdisciplinary, international group of scholars whose work grapples with horror, fictional and real, its enactment, consumption, and consequences. Conceived of during the COVID Pandemic, the Horror Network realized its present form in fall 2024 through the collaboration of Julia Barbara Köhne, Ph.D. (Humboldt-Universität, Berlin), Kobi Kabalek Ph.D. (Penn State), and graduate student Adam DeCaulp (Penn State).
Its goals are twofold and reciprocal: to expand the reach and gravity horror studies promise when thought beyond the categories of mere genre fiction and pure entertainment and to generate national and international connections for inspiration and collaboration between the current and upcoming scholars and thinkers fascinated by this rich, expanding field.
The Penn State Horror Network meets monthly on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. (EST) to discuss current developments in the field, new research, publications, or the ongoing projects of its members, typically with a presentation and Q&A session following. A monthly horror film screening series is also held in person at Penn State, followed by discussion, as part of the Network’s efforts to share and encourage its enthusiasm for horror studies and media with the academic community.
If you would like to know more about the PSHN, attend meetings or film screenings, please contact Adam DeCaulp at aqd6007@psu.edu.