Cinema-Television Receives Major Research Grant

The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands has awarded the School of Cinema-Television a $350,000 research grant for the project, Viewing films Across Cultures:  A Dialogic Study of Film Reception Among U.S. And Egyptian Youth.  Critical Studies professor Ellen Seiter, who prepared the grant proposal, will be the principal investigator.  The project will bring together six Egyptian and six American undergraduates at USC  to look at the extent to which film viewing shapes the images youth hold of the U.S. and Arab world, how films construct emotional, political, and moral attitudes, and how much these attitudes can be changed through dialogue and discussion with one’s peers from a different culture.  The discussions will be videotaped and a DVD will be produced for eventual distribution to universities and cultural institutions.  Production senior lecturer Carroll Hodge will produce and direct the documentary and Production MFA alumnus Jill Aske will be the project manager. Critical Studies Ph.D. student Julia Himberg is the Research Assistant.  Dr. Seiter is currently interviewing potential subjects and plans to screen the films and conduct the discussions over the winter break.