For the love of fi lm and friends

Film Club offers a forum for discussion and an outlet for creation

NATALIE MIRANDA Reporter @natalierosemir

A shared passion attracts a diverse collection of creative minds into one room. Writers, directors, actors and fans come together to enjoy and create one medium: film.

Film Club, which meets Mondays at 6 p.m. in VLLG 8211, has members discuss and pitch ideas for potential projects. The club meets every week with the objective to collaborate on projects, share their visions, and most importantly, make connections.

Club Advisor Ken Windrum said the uniqueness of the club depends on the students that decide to join.

“We had a very different vibe a year ago. It was a great club then, it’s a great club now, but what

Faculty plans to vote on recommendation

Before the fall semester department chairs requested that low enrolled classes not be cancelled prematurely.

Not all classes were saved, but the Academic Senate hopes a recommendation to deal with low-enrolled courses from being cut will be considered by administration.

During Monday’s Academic Senate meeting members discussed a proposal for low enrollment classes, stating that this interfered with students’ ability to complete their majors. The proposal will be voted on at the next meeting in two weeks.

President of the Academic Senate Anna Bruzzese said they tried to delay cancelling classes and urged students to register sooner.

“You have the debate of the role of art in society, but how do you get through life dealing with the fact that not everyone you fall in love with, will love you, and how you make decisions in life with those passions and disappointments ever present in your life,” Cantrell said.

Cantrell said that Posner keeps Chekhov’s ideas alive by giving actors and the director flexibility about how they fulfill scenes, while still maintaining what the author originally wrote.

“One of the primary ways he does this, is in the stage direction. The playwright will give you suggestions and finish those suggestions by saying ‘or not,’”

Cantrell said. “All those ‘or nots’ mean that we have a tremendous latitude of how we fulfill the text. That does not mean that it gives absolute freedom.”

According to Cantrell, the play will have moments where the dividing line between audience and stage will blur.

Cantrell said that he was originally drawn to the play because he is a huge Chekhov fan.

“He presents amazing challenges and an unending series of choices about character development and what he is trying to say about life and about art and relationships,” Cantrell said. “He is a playwright that doesn't necessarily give you easy answers or structures his play in an easy format.”

Jon Michael Villagomez, who started taking classes at Pierce's Theatre Department last semester, plays Con, the character the ensemble pivots around.

According to Villagomez, he tries to not get too attached to a script while auditioning, but it was different with “Stupid F****** Bird.”

"I read the play, and I fell in love,” Villagomez said. “I was so obsessed with it, and it was all I could think about. I wouldn't shut up about it."

"It was a really unfortunate situation where students were having a really hard time registering with the new SIS system,” Bruzzese said. “Different committees, like the Academic Policy Committee (APC), Enrollment Management Committee and the District Senate were really concerned so, because of the new system, the idea was to delay cancelling classes as much as possible.” these people should have a voice,” Shaktah said. “Film Club is a great way to voice that opinion and create new films and stories that break boundaries and deconstruct what we are all tired of hearing.” makes the club unique is the people in it and how they interchange,” Windrum said. “It’s the kind of vibe in the air; there’s a nice vibe in that room.”

According to College Outcome Committee representative Jennifer Moses, there is a contract rule the faculty has with administration that allows them the right to cancel classes if there are fewer than 15 students enrolled.

Club treasurer Kyle Coffman said “Scream” is his favorite film.

“It reinvented the horror genre of the 1990’s, and it was a very cleverly written script,” Coffman said.

Windrum said his favorite film is “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

“It is one of the few movies that couldn’t be anything, but a movie,” Windrum said. “It blew my mind when I was 12 years old, and it's been blowing it ever since then.”

Club Vice President Andrew Shaktah said his favorite film is “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

“I’ve always been into films that have a very surreal element to them, and no one does it better than Charlie Kaufman,” Shaktah said. “I can’t find a single thing wrong with that film.”

Shaktah said he changed his major to pursue his passion, and he relates to students who have done the same.

“I figured psychology is more practical, but film is what I love. It is where my heart is, and I really wanted to meet people that feel the same way, and I already have,” Shaktah said. “I made great friends, and honestly, it just seemed fun.”

Although he is new to the club, Shaktah said he knows why people enjoy being a part of it.

“As vice president, I really want to ground the idea of what Film Club is, what our goals are every semester and what people can expect from us, which is quality content,” Shaktah said. “I want everyone to know they have a voice in this project, or any project we do.”

Shaktah said that opposing ideas are welcome in the club, and he encourages members to create content that breaks the boundaries of mainstream cinema.

“Film is a very dead medium right now. The age of superheroes, sequels and trilogies are boring. I see that there are lots of people who are encouraged by older film and older cinema. I really think

According to Coffman, Film Club is there to support its members.

“Every week, we allow anyone to pitch an idea. Sometimes after their pitch, they’ll want further help, but sometimes they just want to know if it’s a good idea. We are happy to offer any additional services to them to make sure that idea gets put on paper and even shot,” Coffman said.

Windrum said the club has hosted a film series for four consecutive semesters. This semester’s theme will be “Journalism: Ethics or Profit?”

The film series will consist of multiple movie showings and panel discussions in the Great Hall. The panelists will be Film Club members and instructors from the Media Arts Department.

Letters to the Editor

On Sept. 26, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions commented on current litigation regarding Pierce student Kevin Shaw and the school's Free Speech Area.

Sessions said, “Many colleges now deign to ‘tolerate’ free speech only in certain, geographically limited, ‘free speech zones.’

Shaw filed a lawsuit against Pierce College, after he prohibited him from distributing Spanish-language copies of the U.S. Constitution outside the Free Speech Area.

According to the LACCD’s Board of Trustees Article IX rule, the Free Speech Area requires that campuses govern “the time, place and manner in which said areas are to be used” so that speech does not “disrupt the orderly operation of the college.”

Along with these restrictions, the 616 square foot Free Speech Area is the only location on campus where students can “distribute petitions, circulars, leaflets, newspapers and other materials,” including U.S. Constitutions, which state that government shall make “no law… abridging the freedom of speech.”

Ironically, Shaw, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), was handing out U.S. Constitutions, and administration said that he would be escorted off-campus unless he submitted a permit application granting him access to the 616 square foot Free Speech Area.

Not only is this ironic, it is at least orwellian to call an area a Free Speech Area, if it requires speakers to submit a permit application, comply with the vague Article IX rules and be constricted to a geographically minuscule area.

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens once said, “It is offensive in public discourse a citizen must first inform the government of their desire to speak… and then obtain a permit to do so.”

With national attention directed at Pierce, the college has become the center of a growing controversy over academia's treatment of the First Amendment.

Shaw told me, “Free speech is constantly being trampled on college campuses. Students are the last line of defense against these increasingly authoritarian policies.”

Pierce student Daniel Covelli

-Corrections-

Volume 127, Issue 4, Page 2: Pro was miscredited. The pro was done by Sandy Luque.

Volume 127, Issue 4, Page 4: UMOJA was misrepresented on a photo caption.

Volume 127, Issue 4, Page 4: Patrice Curedale's name was misspelled.

President Donald Trump announced his decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), creating anxiety and uncertainty for the mass of student recipients. DACA protects undocumented citizens, who arrived as children, from deportation and allows them a work permit.

The program has also made undocumented students eligible for certain types of financial aid for school. This program has helped undocumented students who felt they had little options, and provided them a means to access higher education to create a better future.

Pierce should have a clearly organized group to assist DACA students create game plans and maintain awareness of the current state of affairs regarding the program. Having a Facebook page for students to check in to receive updates on the situation would be helpful.

A leader who is knowledgeable about DACA proceedings could create scheduled meetings on campus where students can receive all the information they need to make guided decisions.

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, almost 800,000 undocumented young people have been served by the DACA program since it was created by President Barack Obama in 2012.

Trump's decision will impact students who have been working to achieve their educational goals. About 11,000 students enrolled in LACCD are in the DACA program. There has been notable uproar in response to executive decision to terminate the program, in addition to uncertainty about Trump’s course of action.

Pierce College had a march in protest of the removal of DACA on Sept. 12. Protests make people’s voices heard, but DACA students may be left wondering about their next step.

Support for DACA students is out there, however, students need a “home base” to check in for reliable information and guidance.

People deserve a fair chance and shouldn’t be faced with bleak options because they were born in a different geographical location.