Film and Media Studies Commons^™

I Am Grass, Sheila Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a review of the short film, I am grass (2024), directed by Abhi Indrekar.

Silent Trees, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a review of Silent Trees (2024), directed by Agnieszka Zwiefka.

Haptic Processing: How The Shutter Button Shapes Photography, Sean Scanlan

Publications and Research

The goal of this essay is to explore the haptics of taking photographs in the digital age. More specifically, I examine the evolving relationship between the body and imaging technologies. The body must, somehow, interact with the camera shutter, whether the shutter is a simple mechanical door or an electrical timing network switch. Human intention has to activate the switch via a button, even if this intention is complicated: since 2012, mobile phones can take photos using voice commands, relieving the need to physically touch the shutter button. One does not necessarily need to use the fundamental levers often associated …

Collaborative Ai: Oer Materials For Exploring Ai As A Partner Rather Than A Tool, David Smith

Open Educational Resources

The Collaborative AI Open Educational Resource (OER) explores how artificial intelligence can act as a creative and analytical collaborator rather than a tool. Centered on the Balanced Blended Space (BBS) framework and the philosophy of the Center for Holistic Integration (CHI), the OER includes curriculum materials, theoretical models, and live research environments. It offers an interesting approach to blending physical, virtual, and conceptual spaces through shared human–AI agency and invites ongoing participation in interdisciplinary meta-projects.

Student Planners, City Futures: A Crp Documentary, Natalie Kate Venable

City and Regional Planning

Student Planners, City Futures, is a documentary following Professor Dave Amos and 22 students as they prepare a draft of Grover Beach’s General Plan Circulation Element update. Students in their final year in Cal Poly’s City & Regional Planning program take CRP410 – Community Planning Lab I and CRP 411 – Community Planning Lab II during fall and winter quarter as their capstone planning studio. Each studio completes a different project each year. For the 2024-2025 school year, Professor Amos’s section was tasked with completing a General Plan Circulation Element update for the City of Grover Beach. The film …

Universe25, Sheila Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Universe25 (2025), directed by Richard Melkonian.

Memories Of Love Returned, Sheila Nayar

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Memories of Love Returned (2024), directed by Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine.

What's The Art In Artificial Intelligence?, Emily Verla Bovino

Open Educational Resources

This workbook learns from Black and Indigenous artists working with Artificial Intelligence to confront issues of ethics and aesthetics in its technologies. It features guided learning activities with links to publicly available video lectures and online articles, and includes options for experiential learning through both a tutorial in Midjourney and a visit to the public art collection at York College in Jamaica, Queens. Featured artists include: American Artist, Rizvana Bradley, Beth Coleman, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Suzanne Kite, Sondra Perry, Mimi Onuoha and Alisha B. Wormsley. Works by Martin Puryear and Maren Hassinger are explored in the Midjourney exercise.

About …

Banr, Chris Deacy

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Banr (2025), directed by Erica Xia-Hou.

Portal To Hell, William L. Blizek, Monica Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Portal to Hell (2025), directed by Woody Bess.

Bita Joon, William L. Blizek, Monica Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a review of the short film Bita Joon (2024), directed by Sara Boutorabi.

2025 Slamdance Film Festival Introduction, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

Introduction to the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival.

Social Media Influencers' Impact On Purchasing Decisions, Kennedi Kutz, Erin Flynn, Kiara Espinal, Julia Cheney

Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association

The study conducted entails how the usage of social media and the parasocial relationships with social media influencers impact the audience’s purchases as a consumer. The survey covers a wide range of questions discussing the different social media platforms, how often they engage on these platforms, and how often they click and engage with advertisements and influencers. It also covered questions that collected the demographics of the participants to give a better understanding of which groups are more likely to be influenced by advertisements and influencers. We have found that younger audiences are more likely to have their consumer purchases …

Italian Culture Through Film, Monica Rossi-Miller

Open Educational Resources

Introduction to important themes of Italian culture by viewing and analyzing
representative Italian films from the post-World War II era to the present. Topics examined include: the Italian family, how World War II has shaped contemporary Italian culture, Italy as a country of emigrants and immigrants, and an examination of religion and the Catholic Church.
This is a Writing Intensive course conducted in English, and all films have English subtitles.

A Writing Intensive Course Specifically is a designated course sections that—in addition to providing the established disciplinary-oriented student outcomes—incorporate approved instructional strategies and course assignments designed to enhance students’ writing …

Video Poem: What Remains, Edie Steiner

The Goose

What Remainsis a three-minute poetry film I created to address the issue of “becoming-with” (Wright 2014). In the film, I document two large-scale, public-art spectacles I witnessed in Toronto, as historical markers of collective becoming-with. I contrast super-8mm film footage of the 1984 outdoor public performance “Shibola” at the Bell Trinity Square building in Toronto, by the Japanese Butoh dance group Sankai Juku, with digital video of “A Tribute to Toronto,” Judy Chicago’s 2022 Smoke Sculpture on the Toronto waterfront. I then intercut these images with digital recordings of ruins and relics, both ancient and modern, merging as …

Beach Finds, Gina M. Granter

The Goose

This photo series, Beach Finds, is all from the beach of my hometown in Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland, from walks I took in the early spring of 2021. Particularly after storms, there would be an abundance of garbage washed ashore. I found a stick from a Buried Treasure ice cream treat that I had not seen since the 1980s; fabric flowers that had blown from the town’s seaside cemeteries into the water and back to land; hand-woven fishing nets that were now grounded; a tampon applicator that reminded me of the first one I ever saw as a child, on …

The Impact Of War On Innocence, Khanh Luong

CAFE Symposium 2025

Grave of the Fireflies, directed by Isao Takahata, focuses on the impact of war on innocent civilians, specifically children, rather than on battles or acts of heroism. The film establishes a tone of powerlessness from the start. This poster examines the symbolism of fireflies in the movie and the destruction of innocence throughout the movie. The film reflects the childhood trauma of both the movie's writer and the director.

The Valley Of The Wind And Buddhism, Grace Aulicino

CAFE Symposium 2025

Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a philosophical exploration of fulfillment, rooted in Buddhist and Taoist principles. The film contrasts the destructive forces of greed and individualism, embodied by Kushana and the Tolmekians, with the harmonious collectivism of the People of the Valley of the Wind. Nausicaä, the film’s heroine, challenges traditional gender norms by being a strong, selfless leader who seeks peace and balance rather than power. Her journey reflects the Taoist ideal of surrender as a path to enlightenment, ultimately sacrificing herself to unite humanity and nature. Through stunning visuals and rich storytelling, Miyazaki …

Ethical Problems Of Enforcing Justice In Death Note And Psycho-Pass Anime, Aldiyar Alen

CAFE Symposium 2025

What happens when justice is controlled by a single person or a powerful system? This research explores how Death Note and Psycho-Pass show the dangers of extreme justice. In Death Note, Light Yagami takes the law into his own hands, believing he can create a perfect world by eliminating criminals. In Psycho-Pass, an advanced AI system judges people before they even commit crimes, deciding their fate based on predictions. Both systems aim to reduce crime but end up threatening personal freedom and fairness. By comparing these stories, this study highlights the risks of justice without balance, questioning how …

Pom Poko: When Nature Speaks Out Against Urbanization, Sabrina Huynh

CAFE Symposium 2025

Pom Poko highlights the correlation between the survival of nature and the progress of humanity. Therefore, by showing different dynamic relationships like Gonta’s aggressive way of fighting against or peaceful co-existence of Shoukichi, Pom Poko suggests viewers may feel that humans should find a way to live harmoniously with the environment.