I'm deeply sorry to hear about this, Scott. Although I didn't know Patricia myself, her writing informed my own work over the years. A sad and premature loss. My best, Steve
On Sun, Aug 20, 2023 at 5:53 AM Scott MacDonald <smacd...@hamilton.edu> wrote: > Dear FRAMEWORKERS, > > The unexpected death of Patricia R. Zimmermann on August 17th shocked > those of us who were close to her and is a major loss for the world of > independent cinema and the field of Cinema and Media Studies. Zimmermann, > the Charles A. Dana Professor of Screen Studies, Media Arts, Sciences and > Studies at Ithaca College, was a charismatic college professor. a > remarkably productive scholar, and for the past 19 years, the director of > the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF). > > Zimmermann’s scholarship was broad ranging. *Her Reel Families: A Social > History of Amateur Film* (Indiana, 1995) and the collection, *Mining the > Home Movie: Excavations in Histories and Memory* (California, 2008), a > collaboration with Karen L. Ishizuka, were breakthroughs in the exploration > of vernacular cinemas. > > A long-time veteran of the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar, Zimmermann > collaborated with Erik Barnouw on *The Flaherty: Four Decades in the > Cause of Independent Cinema* (1995, a meta-issue of the journal *Wide > Angle*, edited by Ruth Bradley); and with me, on *The Flaherty: Decades > in the Cause of Independent Cinema* (Indiana, 2017), and *Flash Flaherty: > Tales from a Film Seminar* (Indiana, 2021), a collection of 102 stories > by Flaherty veterans, spanning the 7 decades of the seminar. > > During the 2000s, she explored new media and the continuing > struggle of independent filmmakers, especially documentary filmmakers, > within an evolving technological world, in *States of Emergency: > Documentaries, Wars, Democracies* (2000); *Thinking Through Digital > Media: Transnational Environments and Locative Places*, co-edited with > Dale Hudson (2015); and *Documentary Across Platforms: Reverse > Engineering Media, Place and Politics *(2019). > > Her essay on William Greaves’ *Ralph Bunche *project was a capstone for > *William > Greaves: Filmmaking as Mission* (2021, eds., Jacqueline Stewart and > MacDonald). > > Under Zimmermann’s leadership the Finger Lakes Environmental > Film Festival grew from a regional event into a national and international > event, expanding beyond film to feature new media, art installations and > exhibitions, music, scholars across many disciplines, archives, writers, > filmmakers, artists, musicians, activists, policy analysts, and public > health professionals. > > Up until her death, Zimmermann continued to lecture widely, in > North America and Europe. She helped establish and was Editor at Large for > the on-line journal *The Edge*, published by the Park Center for > Independent Media. She served on the editorial board of *Film Quarterly*, > and, during the summer of 2023, was actively involved with independent > film/photography exhibitors across central New York State working to build > a network of sites where independent image artists could show their work. > > Zimmermann’s unabated, forthright energy and her kindness and > camaraderie with colleagues across the world made her among the best-known > and admired contributors to Cinema and Media Studies and to the expansion > of opportunities to see and produce independent media. It is difficult to > imagine a world without her. > > > RIP, dear Patty. > > *Scott MacDonald* > > > > > -- > Frameworks mailing list > Frameworks@film-gallery.org > https://mail.film-gallery.org/mailman/listinfo/frameworks_film-gallery.org >
-- Frameworks mailing list Frameworks@film-gallery.org https://mail.film-gallery.org/mailman/listinfo/frameworks_film-gallery.org
