MEDIALOG: April 2026

View this email in your browser

The image above is a part of the New School Archives and Special Collections, from an April 2000 poster for the launch of the latest issue of the MA Media Studies' own student and faculty-run scholarly journal, Immediacy Forum for Media, Arts and Culture, which ran from 2004 to 2019, founded under the guidance of Sumita Chakravarty, Emeritus Professor in Media Studies.

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Just this past weekend, the reprised Critical Themes Graduate Student Conference featured an incredible two days of exciting and jam-packed programming that reflected the breadth of intellectual and creative energy emergent in our field. Make sure to scroll down to read co-organizer, Erin Kroi's, dispatch from the conference. With our 50 years of MA Media Studies as the catalyst for the convening, this is an apt moment as well to revisit Immediacy (image above). Perhaps some student editors and writers might be keen to take the journal live again?!

Speaking of vibrant student organizing and talent, the 3rd Ruff Cuts event of the semester is this Friday. Indeed, for 17 years and counting, students continue to produce this monthly, crowd-pleasing, ever-expanding, work-in-progress screening. And as the end of the semester is already in sight, don't forget that submissions are still open for current students and alumni to submit their completed films and video projects to the curated Fine Cuts show. Make sure you've got Fine Cuts on May 4 and Thesis Presentations on May 5 in your calendars. Do take advantage of our specialized tutoring as you work on final projects. And, if you are a current student, please do take a moment to complete our current curriculum survey before April 6. Again, scroll down for details and lots more!

All my very best,
Melissa "Mel" Friedling
Director of MA, Media Studies

A reminder to add the MA, Media Studies google calendar to your own. That way you'll always know what's coming up. And, as always, please share your own news to be included in our next issue of MediaLog here.

UPCOMING EVENTS

RUFF CUTS #3

Friday, April 3, 2026
6:00 PM-9:00 PM

Starr Foundation Center
U L102 - 63 Fifth Avenue

Only one more Ruff Cuts screening before the semester ends! Join us Friday, April 3rd, 2026, from 6–9 PM at the Starr Foundation Center, 63 Fifth Avenue. Make sure to grab your seat soon. We are no longer accepting submissions for this event. Thank you so much to the filmmakers who submitted and are showcasing their work on Friday! Stay tuned for updates on the lineup for the evening.

Ruff Cuts is Parsons’ main screening event, where students and alumni screen their films and receive feedback from their colleagues and professors. It is an incredible opportunity to screen your work-in-progress films, receive feedback, and connect with other talented filmmakers from our community. We screen an average of 5-8 films on a first-come, first-served basis. RSVP here.

Doc Talk:Specular Fiction and The Upper Room with Coleman Collins

Monday, April 6, 2026
1:00PM- 3:30PM

Kellen Auditorium
Room 101, 66 Fifth Avenue

Join Documentary Studies for a screening and Q&A with interdisciplinary artist Coleman Collins to discuss his video works Specular Fiction and The Upper Room.

Primarily derived from 3D scans of objects and with a particular focus on digital replicas of West African architectural sites, Specular Fiction (2024) is a short, speculative narrative video that traces the complex relationships between seemingly dichotomous terms: original and copy; object and image; real and virtual space. In an imagined future of indeterminate distance, the objects of the world have been destroyed, leaving only the mirror-world of their digital replicas behind. The Upper Room (2025) traces the often destructive effects of mimetic desire through a narrative video essay that weaves together fact and speculative fiction.

Shown here together, the two works are part of the artist’s ongoing research into the resonances between notions of diaspora and technological methods of transmission, copying, and reiteration. RSVP here.

Art & Activism In These Times: The Healing That We Need

Friday, April 10, 2026
9:30AM- 3:00PM

The New School University Center
Starr Foundation Hall UL102
63 5th Avenue

Join us for a day of Artist & Community Healing through creativity, storytelling, and collective action.

Coffee Reception | 9:30 am
Morning Session: Artist Healing (10am–12pm)
Community Lunch & Gathering (12–1pm) Lunch included!
Afternoon Session: Community Healing (1–3pm)

RSVP here.

Narwhal Tank Impact Ventures Showcase

Thursday, April 16, 2026
5:00 PM-7:00 PM

University Center
Room UL104
63 5th Avenue

Join Parsons ELab and IEI for the pitching event of the season. Showcasing The New School’s most impactful student and alumni ventures tackling social and environmental challenges in our world today. Register now!

Save the date: 18th Annual Truth be Told Film Festival - May 21, 2026

Join us for the eighteenth annual Truth Be Told, a festival showcasing original short documentaries by the 2026 cohort of the Graduate Certificate in Documentary Media Studies at The New School. Each film emerges from a year of rigorous engagement with documentary practice - spanning production, history, theory, and aesthetics - and offers a distinct perspective on the urgencies of our present. Hosted by Amir Husak, Director of the Documentary Media Studies Graduate Certificate Program, and co-produced with Documentary Program Associates Arushi Kalia (Media Studies ’26) and Guili Mikovicious (Media Management ’26). The screenings will be followed by a faculty-led Q&A with the filmmakers and a light reception. Admission is free and open to the public. Registration required (RSVP link coming soon). Full program details will be announced shortly. Please check back at newschooldocstudies.com for updates.

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

Notes from the Critical Themes in Media Studies Graduate Student Conference, March 27-28
By Erin Kroi

Eszter Kalláy presenting on the Critical Themes Saturday panel titled “Collective Constructions.” Kalláy is currently a Guest of Department at Princeton University and a PhD candidate at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest.

For the first time since 2014, the MA Media Studies department held its Critical Themes Graduate Student Conference!

We hosted media scholars from around the world who gathered to present and share their work on the current media landscape relating to the theme New Constructions – Building for The Moment.

We kicked the conference off Friday evening with a collaborative workshop from Breck Furnas, Post-Digital Practice: Designing Pleasure Beyond the Doom Feed, followed by a talk by Mike Pepi titled Institutions After Slop? which contextualized the impact of AI platforms producing a flood of slop, and the role that institutions might play.

Saturday saw panelists from twelve institutions including Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, NYU, Brooklyn College, University of Buffalo, Rensselaer Polytech, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, UC, San Diego, and University of Creative Arts, London and across disciplines come together to present on the themes Playful Networks, Theorizing Digital Futures, Collective Constructions, Mediating The Body, and Visual Interventions. Special acknowledgement goes out to our TNS MA Media Studies students who presented their work at the conference:

Jiuzhen Deng, Aisha Servia, Rory Curtin, Zhiyuan Tan, and Arushi Kalia.

The conference concluded with a very powerful presentation from Shannon Mattern, Director of Creative Research at the Metropolitan New York Library Council, previously tenured professor in media studies, anthropology, and art history at The New School and the University of Pennsylvania, and former director of TNS MA Media Studies program. Shannon Mattern’s closing keynote, entitled Fugitives, Neighbors, Satellites, Parasites: New Schools for Media Study, explored new organizational forms and network architectures that promote resistance, conviviality, and solidarity, drawing from the legacy of Dr. Mattern’s work with civic infrastructures, alternative education, and her 20 years as faculty at The New School.
The conference empowered scholars through their myriad voices and variety of work. Thank you to all of our participants– we look forward to seeing you all next year!

Student Organizers: Rory Curtin, Arushi Kaliea, Erin Kroi, Gil Hatcher, Anita Rzewski, Nazli Saatcioğlu,Taylor Seckler, Aisha Servia

Faculty Advisor: Josh Scannell

Volunteers: Mafe Pizarro, Amira J. Sari

Mike Pepi delivering opening keynote “Institutions After Slop?” at the 2026 Critical Themes Graduate Student Conference.

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

Media Studies Student,Soroush Taheri Aval presents Pearl: An Off Broadway Play on Women's Courage and Resistance

Soroush Taheri Aval, MA Media Studies student at The New School, recently presented his play Pearl (Morvarid) at The HERE Arts Center in SoHo, New York. Running for one week, the production received enthusiastic audience acclaim. Taheri Aval directed and performed in the play, working with Maneli Hosseinpour as actor and set designer, and Foroujan Gharib, Media Studies graduate, as stage manager.

Pearl offers a historical portrayal of the Mongol invasion of Iran, focusing on the courage and resilience of women resisting violence and oppression—a theme that continues to resonate in contemporary Iran. Performed in Persian with English subtitles, the play emphasizes women’s resistance against terror and their vital role in preserving life and dignity.

Orfeas Skutelis presents an immersive dance video-installation

Orfeas Skutelis, current Media Studies Part-time Faculty and Production Manager for Red Dog Productions, in collaboration with choreographer/dancer, Liz Gerring, presented Intersection, a dance video installation set within a multi-channel sound environment allowing audiences to experience movement through observation, proximity, and immersion. The work was mounted at The Shirley Project Space, March 5 - March 29, 2026.

Media Studies Faculty, Margaret Rhee invited at the Jeonju International Film Festival for a special talk

Professor Margaret Rhee has been invited to present at the Jeonju International Film Festival in Korea this May for their Special Focus: New York Underground – The Mavericks. Her talk will explore New York Underground film of the 1960s and 1970s, with a focus on the groundbreaking work of experimental film directors Robert Downey Sr., Jack Smith, and Carolee Schneemann. Through this lens, she will examine the radical aesthetics and cultural impact of avant-garde cinema in New York City. It will be the premiere of the films by Robert Downey Sr. in Korea.

Bill Kartalopoulos(MA '13)curates exhibit at Center for Book Arts

Media studies alum Bill Kartalopoulos (MA '13) has curated this exhibit titled "Rewriting the World: Isidore Isou and the Lettrist Book" at the Center for Book Arts with co-curator Frédéric Acquaviva featuring a little-known, pre-Situationist avant-garde movement that he began researching as a student in Professor McKenzie Wark's class. Kartalopoulos will give a talk about "Lettrism and Comics" on March 31 as part of the New York Comics & Picture-Story Symposium. The exhibit will be up at the Center for Book Arts through May 2.

STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES

FINAL CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FINE CUTS: 47TH ANNUAL INVITATIONAL FILM SHOW

Application Deadline: April 7, 2026

With just one week remaining, this is a reminder that FINE CUTS 2026 submissions close on April 7 at 11:59 PM.

If you’ve been working on a film this semester or have a project nearing completion, we encourage you to submit. Fine Cuts is an opportunity to share your work with a wider audience and have it reviewed by a jury of film professionals.Eight films will be selected to screen at the awards show, followed by a Q&A and reception with the filmmakers.

Here's what you need to know:

Submission Deadline: April 7th, 2026 @ 11:59 PM
Submission Form: Fine Cuts 2026 Submissions

Eligibility:

Current MA Media Studies and former SMS students, including undergraduates.
Alumni who graduated in the 2024/2025 year and have completed their film as part of an SMS program/coursework.
Anyone who took a class within the Media/Film department.
Films with a total running time of 15 minutes or less.

Film Show: May 4, 2026

FINE CUTS is Media Studies' signature curated screening series of short films and video works produced by alumni, graduate, undergraduate, and certificate students in the School of Media Studies over the past year as part of their coursework. A panel of distinguished filmmakers, producers and artists will select the finalist for inclusion in the 2026 show. Winners will be awarded media goods and services donated by media and tech companies. A viewers' choice award will be given at the end of the screenings.

RED DOG PRODUCTIONS IS HIRING!!

Red Dog Productions is currently seeking great candidates to perform the duties of the Production Crew. This is a non-academic worker student staff position that reports to the Manager of Red Dog Productions. The assignments include University-wide live events, covering symposia and panel discussions hosted in the auditoriums as well as documenting conferences, exhibitions, social receptions, concerts and lectures.

Red Dog Productions will train individuals and they will work alongside producers and faculty advisors to create professional quality, original content that can be added to career portfolio and resumes, while gaining professional experience.

Apply now using the links that apply:

Internal application for registered students

External application for registered students who do not have an active profile in MyDay

The Sinha Memorial Endowed Fellowship in Media Studies 2026-27 Applications Open

The Sinha Memorial Endowed Fellowship in Media Studies is now accepting applications for the 2026-27 academic year.

The Sinha Fellow will be affiliated with the Media+Migration Lab, which runs projects such as the Migration Mapping digital archive. Depending on the selected student’s interests, opportunities for Fellows include creating or curating multimedia projects about media and migration for the M2Lab platform, writing short media analyses or reflections on migration for publishing on M2Lab’s online platforms, pursuing networks and collaborations, maintaining and managing digital databases, engaging in online outreach efforts, and organizing on-campus events. Applications are open to M.A. students at The New School studying in Parsons Media Studies or related programs for the 2026-27 academic year.

Read more

Post your Casting Calls in the School of Drama's Weekly Newsletter!

For students looking to audition and cast actors for their films, the School of Drama publishes casting calls in its newsletter every week. To create a casting call, please complete this form by Thursdays at 5pm to be eligible for inclusion in the following Monday's newsletter.

Photography volunteers needed for the ReelAbilities Film Festival!

ReelAbilities, the world's leading festival showcasing films by and about people with disabilities, is seeking volunteer photographers to help capture festival moments April 23-30, on the UWS in Manhattan. Modest stipend & festival perks offered.

REMINDER:STUDENT TUTORS AVAILABLE TO ASSIST!

As a reminder, for out-of-class supplementary assistance with production coursework during the semester, you are encouraged to schedule free tutoring sessions with Media Studies/Media Practices Student Tutor Specialists. Sign-up information is on the tutoring website. New step-by-step guides in all the tutoring areas will also be available on the website.

Tutoring is available to all students in MA Media Studies and Documentary Studies Graduate Certificate courses who want to hone and troubleshoot skills and concepts related to software and hardware utilized in our classes. Specialized tutoring is available in the following areas:

Audio: Audio hardware/gear (field recorders, microphones, etc), Pro Tools, and Adobe Audition.
Video Post-production: Adobe Premiere, DaVinci Resolve.
Design: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat
Coding/Programming: JavaScript. P5js, Python, and/or Jquery
Camera: Sony A7 series, Sony FS5, and other available digital cinema cameras.

Note: Tutoring supplements course instruction but does not replace class participation, instructor feedback or independent work on assignments.

PARTICIPATE IN THE MEDIA STUDIES ACADEMIC PROGRAM REVIEW(APR)!

As part of our deep commitment to supporting student learning in the MA Media Studies program, we regularly take stock and assess our program's curriculum, classroom experience, opportunities, and support systems.

In an effort to seek out widespread community participation in this spring's Academic Program Review (APR) self-assessment project being led by our faculty (our APR committee members are listed below), we invite you to share some feedback in a short survey linked here. The survey will stay open through April 6.

We will also be inviting you to take part in a focus group(s) that will be scheduled in April. We hope you'll be willing to participate.

Please note - this survey is separate and distinct from the course evaluation surveys you are asked to complete during the last two weeks of every semester related specifically to the classes you are enrolled in. Your responses to course evaluation surveys are extremely valuable and your feedback in all cases is sincerely appreciated.

ADVISING UPDATES

MA, Media Studies advisors Stephanie Richards and Sophie Ideker, will be holding a Fall 2026 registration info session online - Tuesday April 7 at 1 pm at this link.

GET INVOLVED!

RUFF CUTS: Ruff Cuts is a monthly student-run series in which current students and alumni screen and discuss works-in-progress. Presenters receive feedback on their work from the audience in attendance made up of fellow students as well as faculty members and invited professionals. We usually screen an average of 7-10 films on a first come, first served basis.

Email: ruffcuts@newschool.edu | Instagram: @ruffcuts_tns

Submit your works-in-progress here. Submissions accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Critical Themes: Student Conference and Research Group - Be part of this student group organized to reprise our Media Studies graduate student conference that provides a distinguished forum for students from The New School and from around the world to present original scholarship on media studies.

Email: criticalthemes@newschool.edu | Instagram: @criticalthemestns

The student group is also organizing study groups and research talks throughout the year. To get involved, join their newsletter using this link.

*
Secret 16: Student-run series featuring 16mm picks from the Media Studies Archive, and running workshops on 16mm processes!

To get involved, add yourself to the WhatsApp via this link.

SUBMIT YOUR EVENTS, HIGHLIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE MAY NEWSLETTER HERE!

FYI: As academic student workers (research assistant, course assistant or teaching assistant) you’re a member of SENS at the New School!

If you have any questions, concerns, grievances or simply want to be more involved in the union, you’re welcome to contact Aisha (serva890@newschool.edu), your Media Studies union steward a.k.a. your point of contact for updates to-and-from the union. Don’t hesitate to reach out!

Copyright © 2026 Master of Arts in Media Studies The New School. All rights reserved.

School of Art, Media, & Technology/Parsons School of Design

Our mailing address is:
6 E 16th Street, 5th floor
New York, NY 10003

mamediastudies@newschool.edu

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.