30 March 2009

Film Scholar Will Discuss Film and Democracy

April 2 webcast with New York University’s Dr. Sheril Antonio

Sheril Antonio will join America.gov and the American Embassy in Bogota, Colombia, to discuss her experience teaching film and working with some of the greatest filmmakers of our time. As a partner in America.gov's Democracy Video Challenge, she will talk about the connection between democracy and a vibrant cinema. Our webcast will take place on April 2 at 2 p.m. EDT (18:00 GMT).

Dr. Sheril Antonio is the associate dean of film, television, new media, and recorded music and an associate arts professor in the Department of Art and Public Policy at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. She serves as chair of the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music for 2008–2009 and was the interim chair of the graduate film program in 2001–2002.

A film scholar and lecturer, Antonio is the author of Contemporary African American Cinema (Peter Lang Inc., 2002) and a contributing writer on "New Black Cinema — When Self-Empowerment Becomes Assimilation" (Bertz Verlag, 2005) and "Matriarchs, Rebels, Adventurers, and Survivors: Renditions of Black Womanhood in Contemporary African American Cinema" (Sight & Sound supplement, July 2005). She has been interviewed for radio, television and print, including the Wall Street Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, Black Issues in Higher Education and Nickelodeon.

To join this event, go to http://www.cpcwebcast.com/state/. No registration is required. To submit questions in advance, send them to webcast@state.gov.