"Saturday Night Live & American Culture," Winter 2026
Department of Film & Media Culture, Middlebury College

"Since 1975, Saturday Night Live has served as a crucial barometer for American life and culture. Beyond its influence on comedy and indeed television writ large, SNL offers a crucial window into American politics, business, music, taste, and more. This course will survey the history of Saturday Night Live, using the show as a prism through which to understand the last fifty years of American life, exploring the program’s triumphs and failures, including: its reshaping of television comedy, engagement with American democracy, depictions of race and gender, intersections with Hollywood stardom, impact on the business of television, and engagement with the medium’s digital turn."

Syllabus available upon request. 

"American Experimental Cinema," Winter 2025
Department of Film & Media Culture, Middlebury College

"In this course we will survey the varied films that have made up the American avant-garde since 1943. Drawing on theories of spectatorship, we will consider how experimental films challenge viewers through form and content. Special attention will be given to critical consideration of the avant-garde’s relationship with the more commercial cinema of Hollywood. Filmmakers discussed will include Maya Deren, Stan Brakhage, Shirley Clarke, Andy Warhol, Marlon Riggs, George Kuchar, Cheryl Dunye, Su Friedrich, and Kevin Jerome Everson. In watching and discussing these works, we will trace a material history of the avant-garde, from 16mm and video, to digital cinema and machinima, drawing through lines from the underground avant-garde of the 20th century to the pervasive remix culture of today."

Syllabus available upon request.

"Video Editing & Film Montage," Summer 2023, 2024, 2025
Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst

"An in-depth immersion into the practice of video editing and film montage. This course will offer a thorough understanding of video editing techniques. Students will gain skills in file management, importing footage, remixing footage, working with audio, recording one's screen, creating titles and more. Video exercises will be informed by montage theories and practices. Students will learn about various editing techniques employed by filmmakers and then recreate those techniques through practical exercises. The goal of this course is to learn by doing. This course will also offer a brief introduction to online remix culture through assignments. Readings and videos will offer students the opportunity to reflect on how the work they are creating corresponds to an existing creative and scholarly practice."

Syllabus available upon request.