Ithaca College

Thomas Shevory, professor of politics, and Patricia Zimmermann, professor of cinema, photography, and media arts, were invited speakers at the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture conference in Austin, Texas, on October 20, 2007. Shevory and Zimmermman are codirectors of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF).

Shevory and Zimmermann gave a presentation on the strategies that FLEFF employs to create commissions linking scholarly research, archival and silent film, and live music through the establishment of collaborative partnerships with archives (such as the Human Studies Film Archives of the Smithsonian Institution), composers, and musicians.

As part of their presentation, they also screened a selection from Memescapes, the original commission and opening night performance for FLEFF 2007, featuring archival footage edited and produced by Ann Michel and Phil Wilde, and an original score by Judy Hyman and Jeff Claus.