The NYU Culture & Media series is a new collection showcasing ethnographic documentaries in the Program in Culture & Media (C&M) at New York University. C&M is a specialized course of study leading to a New York State certificate in Culture and Media for NYU graduate students who are also pursuing their Ph.D. degrees in the Departments of Anthropology, Cinema Studies, and Comparative Literature. The program integrates production with theory and research stressing a decolonial approach in exploring the relationships between culture and media in a number of domains: ethnographic film’s significance for the fields of anthropology and cinema/media studies; the representation of cultures through media; the development of media in Indigenous, Diaspora, and non-Western communities; the emerging social and cultural formations shaped by new media practices; the political economy shaping the production, distribution and consumption of media worldwide; and the impact of new media technologies on these processes.

 

Documentaries produced, directed, and shot by students in the yearlong Documentary Production Lab are the capstone of the Program in Culture & Media. Rather than focus on one filmmaking style, students are exposed to a wide variety of ethnographic and documentary filmmaking methodologies in order to determine the best fit for their story.

 

The documentaries included in the first two DVD compilations in this series are Stories from the Archive: History, Representation, and Identity and Point of View: 1st Person to Observational. These compilations of short films offer an array of filmmaking approaches to diverse cultural subjects. Excellent for anthropology and film classes, as well as documentary production courses.