Matthew A Holtmeier
CO-DIRECTOR, FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES MINOR | ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, ENGLISH
holtmeier@etsu.edu
423-439-6678
211 Burleson Hall
Matthew Holtmeier joined the faculty at ETSU in 2018. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, he traveled to Scotland, where he earned his PhD in Film Studies from the University of St Andrews. After receiving his PhD, he taught film in the English Department at Western Washington University and then in the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College. His research interests span the regional, national, and transnational with a particular focus on global film, political cinemas, film-philosophy, and bioregional media. His Contemporary Political Cinema (Edinburgh University Press, 2019) explores the shifts in political aesthetics from classical films like Battle of Algiers (1966) to contemporary films such as Timbuktu (2014) in order to address the effects of global networks on cinematic politics.
Dr. Holtmeier is Conference Manager and serves on editorial board of Film-Philosophy: https://www.euppublishing.com/loi/film
For publication information, see: www.matthewholtmeier.com
Shara K. Lange
PROFESSOR | PROGRAM HEAD, RADIO/TV/FILM - MEDIA & COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT
langes@etsu.edu
423-439-7572
Warf-Pickel Hall, room 519
Shara K. Lange is Associate Professor and Radio/Television/Film Program Head at East Tennessee State University in the Department of Media & Communication. Lange and Lee Bidgood produced BANJO ROMANTIKA: AMERICAN BLUEGRASS MUSIC AND THE CZECH IMAGINATION, which screened nationally on PBS and at film festivals worldwide. Lange completed her MFA in film production at the University of Texas at Austin's Radio/TV/Film department. Her thesis film, THE WAY NORTH tells the story of North African immigrant women in southern France. She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to make the documentary, THE DRESSMAKERS (UFVA Award for Feature Length Documentary, 2013). Lange's award-winning short film, WORK STICKS (2019), follows the construction of a Patrick Dougherty sculpture on the ETSU campus. Lange's exploration of participatory methods in conjunction with doctoral work at Concordia University, Montreal has included collaborations with the Langston Centre and reimagined reality television projects. Lange has also published articles on teaching ethics and production. www.lightprojectsfilms.com
Vanessa Mayoraz
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR | ART DEPARTMENT
mayoraz@etsu.edu
423-439-4794
209-A1 Campus Center Building
Since 2015, Vanessa Mayoraz has been an Assistant Professor of Extended Media at East
Tennessee State University. She received a BFA from the Haute Ecole d'Art et Design
in Geneva, Switzerland, and an MFA in Art and Public Spaces and New Artistic Strategies
at the Bauhaus University Weimar in Germany. Mayoraz interest centers onobserving
the paradoxical relations built between humanity, social landscape and the natural
world. One could say that her work is the result of an analytical and unromantic examination
on nature with which she warns us on how economy (understood as a motivating power
of extraction, production, distribution, exchange, and consumption of goods and services
to meet our human needs) subjugates these relationships.
She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including Qui Vive! Young Artist
Moscow Biennial, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Belgrade, Le Commun at the Building
of Contemporary Art in Geneva, Switzerland, Gleisdreieck Parc, Berlin, Germany, Chashama
Gallery in New York City, the DC Art Center in Washington DC, and ArtPrize in Grand
Rapids, MI. In 2019 in conjunction with ArtBo Fin de Semana, she presented a solo
exhibition at Sketchroom Gallery in Bogotà, Colombia. She has been performing workshops
and lectures on subjects such as "artist as archivist" and "contemporary art practices."
She received a Pro-Helvetia national Swiss grant three times for her work, as well
as a Swiss Cultural Program in the Western Balkan grant.
Mayoraz also serves as the Chair on the executive board of the Johnson City Public
Art Committee.
Jacy Richardson
richardsoje1@etsu.edu
423-439-5113
Digital Media Center 196
Jacy (JC) loves creating 3D art in many forms. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Digital Media at East Tennessee State University. She’s also a Visual Effects and 3D Artist for Cortina Productions, which focuses on films and interactive experiences. The work she does could take many forms such as VR/AR, films, interactive game experiences, and projections. She enjoys experimenting with new technologies and seeing what she can create with them. https://www.jacyrichardson.com/
Chelsea R Wessels
CO-DIRECTOR, FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES MINOR | ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, ENGLISH
wessels@etsu.edu
423-439-6672
212 Burleson Hall
Dr. Chelsea Wessels joined ETSU in 2018 as an Assistant Professor and Co-Director
of the Film Studies minor. She received her PhD from the University of St Andrews
in Scotland, where her work focused on the emergence of the western as a political
and popular genre in global cinema. Her research interests include local cinema history
and archives, global film genres, and feminist film. Her publications include writing
for the National Film Registry, journal articles in Transformations and Frames Cinema
Journal, and chapters in Teaching Transnational Cinemas and The Western in the Global
South. She previously taught at Ithaca College, Cornell University, and Colby College.
An advocate for community engagement with independent film, she has served on multiple
festival juries and currently works with the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival
and the Johnson City Film Festival.