Communication and Media Studies (Audio)

Screenwriters Todd Louiso and Jacob Koskoff join moderator Jim Kearney (UCSB, English) for a conversation about their 2015 adaptation of Macbeth starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard. Louiso and Koskoff discuss how the film was originally intended to star the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, the challenges of making the supernatural elements of the play scarier, and unraveling the metaphor of Shakespeare’s soliloquies through foregrounding grief, trauma, and reinterpreting key scenes.

Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33499]

Should your art send you to prison? Rap lyrics are increasingly turning up as evidence in courtrooms across the country. The fictional characters portrayed in violent gansta rap songs are often a far cry from the true personalities of the artists behind them, yet uninitiated audiences easily conflate artist with character and fiction with fact. On a broader scale, using rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases also raises questions about artistic freedom, freedom of speech and the rights of all citizens to receive a fair trial. UC Irvines Charis E. Kubrin, Ph.D and Adam Dunbar explore these issues. Series: "Zot Talks" [Show ID: 31368]

Writer/director/producer Jordan Peele joins UCSB’s Matt Ryan for a Script-to-Screen discussion of Get Out (2017), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Peele explains how the tone of the film was influenced by his background in comedy, the work of Ira Levin (The Stepford Wives, Rosemary’s Baby), and the desire to subvert the tropes of African American characters in the horror genre, as well how he created “the sunken place” through conceptualizing racism in a new way for the screen, and bringing it to life through stand-out performances from the actors.

Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33376]

The real-life married couple Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon (they co-wrote the script, and Nanjiani stars as a character with his own first name) discuss their acclaimed film "The Big Sick," loosely based on their own relationship's rocky start. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33375]

Tatiana Huezo, the director and writer of "Tempestad," talks with UCSB Professor of Film and Media Studies Cristina Venegas about the documentary that traces the emotional journeys of two women victimized by corruption and injustice in Mexico. Heuzo's filmography as director, writer, cinematographer, and editor includes documentary films and fictional short films. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33181]

Join the co-directors of the documentary "Nostalgia for the Future," Avijit Mukul Kishore and Rohan Shivkumar, in conversation with UCSB Professor of Film and Media Studies Bhaskar Sarkar. The film looks at Indian modernity, the making of the citizen and the architecture of the home. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33185]

Lisa Bruce has made feature films both domestic and internationally, both independently and with major studios. She was a producer on "Darkest Hour," a film starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill that follows his early days as Prime Minister while Hitler closes in on Britain during World War II. She is joined in conversation with Matt Ryan at the Pollock Theater at UC Santa Barbara. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33180]

Sonia Kennebeck, producer and director of "National Bird," talks with UCSB PhD candidate in the Department of Film and Media Studies Daniel Grinberg about her documentary on the US drone program told through the eyes of three military veterans and survivors. Kennebeck is an independent documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist with more than 15 years of directing and producing experience. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33182]

Vienna-born Fritz Lang’s first American film "Fury" was released in 1936 after he left Germany for Hollywood. Fury raises issues about race, technology, mob violence, the corruption of political and legal institutions that remain remarkably current. Harvard Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures Eric Rentschler, and Carsey-Wolf Center Director Patrice Petro sit down for an in-depth discussion of the film and Lang. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33184]

Billy Wilder's "Some Like it Hot" is one of the great comedies of Hollywood's golden age. Wilder was an Austrian-America filmmaker who moved to Paris then Hollywood after the rise of the Nazi party. David Mandel (Veep, Seinfeld) joins Carsey-Wolf Center Director Patrice Petro to discuss the film that starred Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon posing as women after witnessing a mob massacre in Chicago. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 33183]