Holly Longfellow Wins Outstanding Leader Award

Photo-Cinema Alumni Society President, Holly Longfellow, received an Outstanding Society Leader Award at this years' OSU Alumni Association annual awards banquet. Holly has served as our president since 1994, and vice-president before that. Last year, Clay Lowe won the same award making this two years in a row that a member of our Society has been honored by the OSU Alumni Association; pretty good for a society that doesn't have a department anymore.

Among Holly's accomplishments cited by the Alumni Association was her work with the Senior Citizen Committee of the Downtown Kiwanis to sponsor a photography program at selected nursing homes in Columbus, as well as her continued work with film series at the Columbus Museum of Art and the Drexel Theatres. In the words of Clay Lowe's nomination letter, "We were good last year. She's made us even better this year."

West Coast Alumni Meeting Planned

Arrangements are underway for an OSU Photo-Cinema Alumni bruch to be held at 12:30 p.m. September 6, 1998 at Jerry's Deli, 12655 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, California. Alumni Board member Clay Lowe (who will be in L.A. to assist at the wedding of Charlie Fabb, BFA '92) will be working with Eric Swelstad (BA '87, MA '89) to help set up the brunch and to make contacts with our west coast alumni.

Eric, along with Scott Spears (MA '90) , Jay Weolfel (BA '85), Lora Chen (MA '89) and Sue Resatka (BA '85, MA '87) recently met in L.A. with OSU College of the Arts Dean Judith Korosic to discuss the future of media education at OSU. The Dean will also be discussing this issue with our Ohio alumni on May 27th. For a report on what's going on back in Columbus and for a chance to reconnect with our alumni on the west coast, come join us.

Photo & Cinema Board Meets with Dean

The Board of the Alumni Society will be meeting with the new Dean of the College of the Arts, Judith Koroscik, and her Assc. Dean, David Butler, on Wed., May 27 on the OSU campus. This will be the first opportunity for our Board to meet the new College administration and discuss film and photography education at OSU. We hope this exchange will accomplish several things:

1) Mend relationships within the College.
2) Open channels for this Society to support and hopefully enhance media studies on campus.
3) Build a structure for our Society to connect with these alumni in related disciplines now under other department structures, such as photography now in the Art Dept., video production in Theatre, and computer graphics in the Advanced Computing Center for Art and Design.

We will keep you apprised of our efforts and the outcome of our meeting.

New On-Line Alumni Photo Gallery Premieres

Visit our new Alumni Photo Gallery on the OSU Department of Photography and Cinema Alumni Society Web Page (www.hotstops.com/photocinema/). One of the benefits of Society Membership is a one year free display of your images on our Web Page. The limit is two new images every six months and the process is easy. The images should be jpeg files at 72dpi with dimensions no greater than six inches square. Once you have paid your membership, simply e-mail Kathy D. Bernat at Kbernat@Sprynet.com for details (editors note: since the writing of this article, responsibility for managing the gallery was changed. Email ground0@netwalk.com for details). If this all sounds like a foreign language, don't worry, Kathy will answer any questions you have about the process.

In addition to Photo Gallery participation, members will also enjoy links to their own Web Pages and E-mail through the Society Web Page. Just send us your information.

A Message of Holly

This is my final letter to alumni as your current President. It has been an exciting three years for all of us and a true labor of love for me. I step down this June knowing we have expanded our public outreach into many new venues, developed programs to reach underserved local communities, raised outside funds to support our programming and expand communication, and built both recognition and visibility in Columbus and on OSU campus, as well as bridges with our alumni through biannual newsletters and a working website. All these accomplishments are due to an extraordinary Board with tireless energy-Vicki Ann Bennett, Kathy Bernat, Anne and Bruce Brethauer, Walter Burbach, John Croyle, John DeSando, Chester Gallant, Tom Harned, Clay Lowe, Whit Martin, Bobbie Porto, and Breck Southard. We have accomplished a great deal, but I know there is more to come. I look forward to continued participation now as a fellow alumnus. Please stay in touch!

-Holly Longfellow
President OSU Photo-Cinema Alumni Society

Alumni Photography Exhibit at Basso Bean

A month long exhibit of the photographs of ten members of the OSU Photography & Cinema Alumni Society will be held July 3 through July 29, 1998 at the Basso Bean Coffee Shop. The Coffee Shop is located at 691 North High Street in the gallery district of Columbus's Short North. The public is invited to attend the opening reception on Saturday July 3, 7:30-9:30 p.m. In addition to the photographs, keyboard player, David Robinson will be featured.

Photographers exhibiting will be: Mary Albrecht (BA '81, MA '83), Stuart Applebaum (MA '76), Vicki Bennett (BA '78), Kathy Bernat (MA '90), D. Bruce Brethauer (BA '80), Lynn Campbell (MA '76), John Croyle (BA '83, MA '90), Clay Lowe (faculty), Jeff Rycus (BA '72, MA '74) and Patricia Williamsen (MA '84). Basso Bean hours are:

Mon-Thur 7:30am-12pm
Friday 7:30am-2am
Saturday 8am-2am
Sunday 10am-11pm

Talk Cinema Tuesdays Continue at the Drexel

Every second Tuesday of the month through July 14th independent and foreign film lovers gather at the Drexel Theatre, not just to take in the latest movie, but to share their immediate reactions to the film. Overseeing this conversational free-for-all is the Photography and Cinema Alumni Society. Board members take turns reviewing press packets, previewing the films, setting the mood during a brief introduction, and moderating the discussion afterwards. Since February, the featured films were:

The Apostle Even though this movie ran over three hours, many viewers stayed around to talk about apostolic religions, and the portrayal of the main character.

The Big Lebowski Most of the audience felt that this was a visually exciting and entertaining "nouveau noir," but those who tried to closely follow the plot line of the comedy left feeling a bit confused or disappointed.

Ma Vie en Rose (My Life in Pink) This French film evoked strong feeling, and a debate about gender identity and societal expectations that spilled over into the Radio Cafe next door.

The Spanish Prisoner A tightly woven David Mamet script, reminiscent of The Usual Suspects, left the audience seeking answers for plot twists that escaped them.

If you enjoy the kind of movies that the Drexel in known for showing, and you are up for a lively discussion with other cinemaphiles, please join us at the Drexel Theatre in Bexley every second Tuesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. Of course, this series could not happen without the continuing support of the Drexel Theatre owners Jeff & Kathy Frank.

Before Thelma and Louise

The Photo-Cinema Alumni Society hosted its sixth season of free public films at The Columbus Museum of Art this spring. The series, entitled Before Thelma and Louise, ran for five consecutive from Thursdays from April 30 through May 28. Each film was followed by a provocative audience discussion examining a range of women's roles in feature films before the debut of Thelma and Louise in 1991.

The films screened during the series were: Agnes of God 1985, Belle de Jour 1967, Personal Best 1982, Two Women 1961, and Smile 1975. Hosts for this season's films included: Vicki Bennett, Kathy Bernat, Ann Brethauer, Walter Burbach, John Croyle, Holly Longfellow, Clay Lowe, and Bobby Porto.

Alumni News

Family

Seth Reader (MA '87) and his wife Katy Murphy welcomed the birth of their daughter, Marian Elizabeth on September 25, 1997.

Frank Wylie (Staff) and Nancy Kiehl added a member to their family, too. Elynora Kiehl Wylie was born on September 2, 1997. They've recently relocated from Columbus to Dayton, Ohio where they've purchased a house.

The next month, on October 1, 1997, a daughter was born to Aaron (BFA '92) and Diane Clingerman (BFA '93), Indigo Elaine.

Tim Gassen (BFA '85) was married to Sarah Garrecht at their home in Tucson, AZ on Saturday, November 8, 1997. Clay Lowe officiated at the ceremony.

John Croyle ('83/'90) will be marrying Sharon Rhymaun in Jamaica on July 15th. Charles "Chip" Kocel (BFA '94) was married to Elizabeth Anne on August 2, 1997.

Career

Charles Newirth (BA '77) was the Executive Producer on City of Angels starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan and currently in release. His past credits include executive producer on Ghosts of Mississippi, The American President, and Phenomenon, co-producer on Forrest Gump, Bugsy, and Toys, as well as work on Avalon, Robocop, Throw Momma From the Train, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He is currently executive producing Patch Adams starring Robin Williams for Universal Studios.

Rafael Rosado (BFA '97, MA '89) is one of three executive directors of Sony's The New Ghostbusters. Tom Snider (Staff) is working as a realtor for HER. He also does negative cutting for films for Haskett Hall alumni and Dennison University students.

Melissa Phillips Woodruff (BFA '86), her husband Woody, and daughter Maggie live in Brooklyn where she works at The Media Workshop and is finishing up her Ph.D.

Mikel Monnett (BA '87) is attending graduate school at The Naropa Institute where he's majoring in Engaged Buddhism and Contempla-tive Religion, with an aim towards becoming a Buddhist chaplain.

Jennifer Songster ('BA 87) serves as the Curator of Audio/Visual at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus. Ahmet Aydogan (BFA '90) works for Fuji film as a technical sales rep. for professional film and cameras, color paper, processing chemicals and one-hour photo lab systems.

Steve Williams (BFA '90) has taken up residence in Bainbridge, Ohio were he's started an independent motion picture production company called Kinetic Image. He's been involved in the production of several independent features including They Bite, Hellmaster, Dinosaur Babes, Beyond Dreams Door, Immortal, Drainiac, and Demented. You can learn more about his films at his web site.

We received a long interesting letter from Jim Bihari. After more than a year of effort, he has found distribution for his two independent feature films, I Didn't Think You Didn't Know I Wasn't Dead and My New Advisor. Copies of the film are available from Jim.

Exhibits

Moments of Grace and Beauty, photographs by Kathy Bernat (MA ' 90) and Clay Lowe (Faculty), was exhibited at the Rich Blend Coffee House in Columbus this past January.

Mist and Fog, an exhibition of photographs by Jack Leigh (Staff) was held at the Southern Images Gallery at 132 East Oglethorpe Ave, Savannah, Georgia in July of 1997. A collection of photographs by James Friedman (Faculty) were shown at the Mauritz Gallery in Columbus this past January.

Paintings by Rosemary Matich (MA '82) were exhibited in January at the Big Pig Caf‚ in Victorian Village in Columbus.

Former Photo & Cinema Alumni Society President Linda Thornburg (MA '74) conducted a seminar Screenwriting 3x3 with Julia Reichert and L. G. Weaver at Ohio State's Fawcett Center on May 16th. Linda is currently working on a feature adaptation of May Sarton's novel, Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing.

Also, Thornburg's documentary Everybody's Neighborhood: The South Side Settlement House, and Sheldon Gleisser's (BA '82) feature film Fountain of Youth were selected for screening at the Ohio Independent Film Festival in Cleveland on May 1, 1998.

The Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio hosted the 1998 Ohio Short Film and Video Showcase on Friday May 15, 1998. The event led off with Sheldon Gleisser's short film Dinner at the Tarantino Home, an irreverent spoof of the films of the ever serious (and bloody) Quentin Tarantino. Linda Thornburg's sensuous documentary about a blind sculptor, Another View: A Sculpture Installation by Ann Gazell, was also screened.

Clay Lowe to Speak at UFVA Conference

Using the style of an half-hour evening newscast, OSU Emeritus, associate professor Clay Lowe (a former producer-director of the evening news) will present a discourse on how the media has shaped our changing concepts of reality over the last forty years at this years UFVA Annual Conference. Lowe will attempt, by the use of terse prose and sound bites, to demonstrate how packaging ideas has reshaped the ways we think about ourselves. Lowe will use clips from films and offer comments about the media savvy people who have become this century's shapes of cultural reality (e.g. Ayn Rand, Jerry Mander, Paddy Chayefsky, William Groom, James L. Brooks, Gus van Sant, Woody Allen, Victor Malfronte, Oliver Stone, etc.). Film selections include: The Last Angry Man 1958, All the President's Men 1976, Being There 1979, Bye Bye Brazil 1979, Zelig 1983, Forrest Gump 1994, Broadcast News 1987, To Die For 1995, Blast 'Em 1992, and Natural Born Killers.

For information and program details contact: UFVA Annual Conference, School of Filmmaking, North Carolina School of the Arts, P.O. Box 12189, Winston-Salem, NC 27117-2189, Phone: (336) 770-1300, Fax: (336) 770-1339, email jackmj@film19.ncarts.edu.

Chris Awards Celebrate 46th Season

This year will mark the 46th annual Columbus International Film and Video Festival - the Chris Awards. The Chris Awards features non-theatrical productions in a range of categories including a student competition that is sponsored and judged by the Photo-Cinema Alumni Society. As a new feature this year, the top award winners will be screened at the Drexel.

The deadline for this year's competition is Wednesday, July 1st. For more information contact the festival at: www.chrisawards.org

LENS & LIGHT is a publication of The Ohio State University Photography & Cinema Alumni Society.

The articles in this newsletter include materials submitted by Holly Longfellow, Clay Lowe, Kathy Bernat, Anne Brethauer and Walter Burbach. Newsletter Layout by Walter Burbach. Lens & Light logo designed by Bob Yothers. OSU Photography & Cinema logo designed by Bobby Porto. We always welcom news from alumni. Mail submissions to Chris Konik, PO Box 12366, Columbus, OH 43212 or email chriskonik@mindspring.com.

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer, P&C Alumni President Holly Longfellow, and OSU Alumni Society President Dan Heinlen.

New Fund Raising Program

The Ohio State University Photography & Cinema Alumni Society has become a part of the Amazon.com Associates Program. If you're going to shop at Amazon.com please click the icon below or those on other pages at this site. A small percentage of purchases you make at Amazon.com if are referred there through this site go to the Alumni Assocation. Thanks!

Clay Lowe and Kathy Bernat at the Rich Blend Coffee House