My department has a new opening in Cinema Studies! Please spread the word. cuny.jobs/staten-islan...
cuny.jobs
Matt Rule-Jones
@mwilljones.bsky.social
Historian of cinemas and their audiences. Escape room champion, optimistic hiker, book writer, board game player, cat tickler, very lucky husband🏳️🌈
Given many UK universities' decision to jettison Arts and Humanities (and some Social Science) subjects, it's interesting to see that top-ranking global universities tend to rank highly in these areas. MIT (ranked 2nd globally here) is ranked 1st in both Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences.
World University Rankings 2027: results announced
Asian universities’ resumed upward trajectory takes them past mainland Europe for the first time, as reputational lustre protects US and UK for now
timeshighereducation.com
Over the weekend Topsham Film Society were joined by @mwilljones.bsky.social for a Q&A at their special screening of our documentary REBELS WITH PROJECTORS, chronicling the past, present and future of the community cinema movement 🎞 Want to organise your own screening? Find out more: bit.ly/4dDn2Z9
We are once again searching for a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship in Visual Culture, focus on visual culture and the environment - deadline November 15 - details and application here: applications.caltech.edu/jobs/vcpd
Tonight for one night only if you’re in the Topsham area!
A friend was just surprised by this out in the wild. If you’re in the Topsham area on September 18th, come watch @cinemaforall.bsky.social’s documentary short and see me talk about film society history!
The worst postcard in Scotland competition is heating up
Strong Final Destination vibes on this Highlands bus
The Society will write up a summary for History for next week. Key points at this stage include: > 11% decline (-440 FPE) across all History staff between 2018/19 and 2024/25, compared with a 7% decline across all humanities > loss of 140 FPE History roles 2022/23 to 2024/25 #Skystorians 1/3
Get it while it’s hot - I chatted about my favourite Quatermass film with Ayesha and Mark for longer than you’d imagine is humanly possible, and now you too can listen in! I love this podcast - well worth a listen.
Ayesha Khan - Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*@everyscififilm.bsky.social · 3mo agoThe new episode is out! I speak to science fiction aficionados @markbould.bsky.social and @mwilljones.bsky.social about the Quatermass eXperience! There is a 25 minute longer episode available on Patreon for $3 or £3 if one hour of Quatermass simply isn’t enough! Links in bio
Got stuck in the worst imaginable spot at the Florence and the Machine gig… ✨
We got funding!!! 🎆 Absolutely ecstatic to announce that Laraine Porter and I have been awarded an AHRC Catalyst grant to work with @cinemaforall.bsky.social and its member societies on ‘Opening New Horizons in Early Community Cinema History’, piecing together the movement’s history from 1925-1946 🎇
Ok but some of these Himalayan temples don’t make maintaining one’s natural solemn, respectful decorum easy…
Spent the last two weeks hiking up to Everest base camp in the Himalayas. Now I have a few days left to explore Kathmandu. I’m a VERY happy chap. 🏔️🇳🇵🥾🏕️❄️
With this coming on top of the recent slashing of Film Studies staff at De Montfort University, Leicester is rapidly becoming a real desert for students seeking a career in the creative industries. Dreadful reputational damage for UoL and a genuine catastrophe for the East Midlands creative economy.
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 7mo ago'The University of Leicester is to close its film studies and modern languages degree courses to new students.' 'The university has confirmed the courses would cease, but declined to comment on the number of prospective students affected, saying the figure was "commercially sensitive".' 1/2
My husband just got his British citizenship!! No more collecting utility bills until our drawers burst and watching the latest immigration announcements with a mounting sense of dread about when the wave of new limitations would catch up with us. Today is a good day!!!
a pixel art drawing of a bear sitting on a beach drinking a drink
ALT: a pixel art drawing of a bear sitting on a beach drinking a drink
media.tenor.com
New article alert! ‘Infrastructures of Influence: The British Federation of Film Societies and the Circulation of Soft Power, 1960–2000’. Just published by the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. Fully open access, so please do share! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Infrastructures of Influence: The British Federation of Film Societies and the Circulation of Soft Power, 1960–2000
This article examines the role of the British Federation of Film Societies (BFFS) in the international circulation of film culture from 1960 to 2000, arguing that the Federation functioned as an in...
tandfonline.com
As someone who is in an academic department that is positively pullulating with global talent, I would just like to note the gratuitous, excessive emotional and financial stress and strain suffered by talented globals in the context of swingeing visa regimes and hostile environments.
Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 8mo agoGovernment to explore expansion of UK Global Talent Fund. Ministers will review scheme for attracting elite international researchers, as government trails further visa reforms. Free to read. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-p...
New article alert! ‘Infrastructures of Influence: The British Federation of Film Societies and the Circulation of Soft Power, 1960–2000’. Just published by the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. Fully open access, so please do share! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Infrastructures of Influence: The British Federation of Film Societies and the Circulation of Soft Power, 1960–2000
This article examines the role of the British Federation of Film Societies (BFFS) in the international circulation of film culture from 1960 to 2000, arguing that the Federation functioned as an in...
tandfonline.com
Yeah, people, go listen to the amazing @mwilljones.bsky.social and Keith Williams talk about this mid 60s oddity. 🥹
RW Scott@rrwscott.bsky.social · 8mo agothe inimitable Ayesha Khan of @everyscififilm.bsky.social #podcast📻 is back w/brilliant guests to discuss the history & cinematic legacy of one of my favorite oddball #sciencefiction films, #FirstMenInTheMoon. I love it's more breezy take on #HGWells. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooMc...
It’s the time again - the magnificent Ayesha was kind enough to have me back on her utterly fantastic Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever podcast, this time talking moon monsters, steampunk Britain and First Men in the Moon. Such a fun episode and the podcast is always worth your time - check it out! 🌙 👾
Ayesha Khan - Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever*@everyscififilm.bsky.social · 8mo agoYeah, people, go listen to the amazing @mwilljones.bsky.social and Keith Williams talk about this mid 60s oddity. 🥹
It's been a while since I've shared my film/media history starter packs. Still adding more people! Feel free to make suggestions, share, and keep building the community! (Part II below) go.bsky.app/12Wo3y5
'As a humanities professor myself, the biggest danger I see to the discipline is the growing perception, fueled by the ubiquity of large language models, that knowledge is cheap—a resource whose procurement ought to be easy and frictionless.' 1/2
Stop Trying to Make the Humanities ‘Relevant’
For humanities departments to continue to matter, they must challenge the modern world rather than accommodate it.
theatlantic.com
It may not be pretty, but this Khmer-spiced veggie shepherd’s pie was an absolute beast of a dinner!
Whisper it for now, but I’m starting to think I may actually finish everything I promised to do during my period of research leave…
The BBC staff film society’s in-house magazine letters page in the summer of 1987 was an absolute ROLLERCOASTER
