{"id":12267,"date":"2021-07-21T23:15:52","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T21:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/?p=12267"},"modified":"2021-07-21T23:15:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-21T21:15:56","slug":"the-academy-announces-2021-film-scholars-grant-recipients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/blog\/2021\/07\/21\/the-academy-announces-2021-film-scholars-grant-recipients\/","title":{"rendered":"The Academy Announces 2021 Film Scholars Grant Recipients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Samantha N. Sheppard and J.E. Smyth have been named 2021 Academy Film Scholars by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.\u00a0 The annual grant is given to established scholars whose projects are focused on some aspect of filmmaking and the film industry.\u00a0 Their respective books are titled A Black W\/hole: Phantom Cinemas and the Reimagining of Black Women\u2019s Media Histories<\/em> and Maisie: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood\u2019s Most Powerful Woman<\/em>.\u00a0 The Academy\u2019s Educational Grants Committee will award Sheppard and Smyth each $25,000 on the basis of their proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor the third year in a row, we are delighted to support the brilliant research of two women scholars,\u201d said Marcus Hu and Sara Rose, Academy Grants Committee co-chairs.\u00a0 \u201cSheppard and Smyth\u2019s insightful examinations of their respective topics will be meaningful contributions to the study of film history, filmmaking and the industry as a whole.\u00a0 We look forward to seeing the outcome of their hard work.\u201d

Sheppard is an associate professor at Cornell University.\u00a0 She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Cinema and Media Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles and a B.A. in Film and Television Studies and Women and Gender Studies from Dartmouth College.\u00a0 Her book project, A Black W\/hole: Phantom Cinemas and the Reimagining of Black Women\u2019s Media Histories<\/em>, will address the voids in cinema and media scholarship relating to Black women\u2019s creative practices, histories, traditions, and discourses.\u00a0 Through a series of case studies, Sheppard\u2019s book will provide histories and reimaginings of Black women\u2019s impact on American cinema.\u00a0 She is the author of Sporting Blackness: Race, Embodiment, and Critical Muscle Memory on Screen<\/em> and has published essays on Black film and media in Film Quarterly<\/em>, The Atlantic<\/em>, Flash Art International<\/em>, and the Los Angeles Review of Books<\/em>.

\u201cI am thrilled to receive recognition and support from the Academy for this book project, especially as the growing visibility of Black women in front of and behind the camera provides an occasion, if not the imperative, to examine Black women\u2019s cultural production and impact on the past, present, and future media landscape,\u201d said Sheppard.

Smyth resides in England where she is a professor at the University of Warwick.\u00a0 She is the author of several books about the entertainment industry, including Nobody\u2019s Girl Friday: The Women Who Ran Hollywood<\/em>, and is a contributing writer at Cineaste<\/em>.\u00a0 Her book project, Maisie: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood\u2019s Most Powerful Woman<\/em>, is the first-ever biography of Mary C. McCall Jr., the first woman to be elected president of the Screen Writers Guild (back in 1942).\u00a0 McCall guided Hollywood screenwriters through their first contract negotiations and credit disputes and led the Council of Hollywood Guilds and Unions at the end of World War II.\u00a0 She built a network of feminists who fought for recognition in the American film industry, but ultimately sacrificed her career to defend the last remnants of the Guild\u2019s contract and commitment to freedom of speech during the Hollywood blacklist.\u00a0 Smyth holds a Ph.D. in Film Studies and American Studies, an M.Phil. in American Studies and an M.A. in History of Art from Yale University, as well as a B.A. in History of Art from Wellesley College.

\u201cToday, many people think Golden Age Hollywood was dominated by men.\u00a0 They\u2019ve forgotten Mary C. McCall Jr., the three-time president of the Screen Writers Guild who had the guts to sue Howard Hughes at the height of the blacklist,\u201d said Smyth.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s time to remember her, and I\u2019m thrilled and honored that the Academy is supporting her biography.\u201d

Sheppard and Smyth join 16 Academy Film Scholars who are currently working on projects and 21 other scholars whose works have already been published.\u00a0 Academy film scholars with projects in progress include Charles Musser, Emily Thompson, Stuart Liebman, John Belton, Cari Beauchamp, Dan Streible, Thomas Schatz, Laurence Kardish, Ellen Scott, Donna Kornhaber, Ross Melnick, James Andrew Tweedie, Allyson Nadia Field, Melinda \u201cMindy\u201d Johnson, Racquel Gates and Rebecca Prime.\u00a0

Established in 1999, the Academy Film Scholars program is designed to support significant new works of film scholarship.\u00a0 The Academy\u2019s cultural and educational wing \u2013 the Academy Foundation \u2013 annually awards grants to film scholars, cultural organizations and film festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad.\u00a0 Through the Foundation, the Academy also presents a rich assortment of screenings and other public programs each year.\u00a0

For grant guidelines and information about the Academy Film Scholars program, contact Grants Director Shawn Guthrie at sguthrie@oscars.org<\/a>, or visit www.oscars.org\/filmscholars<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samantha N. Sheppard and J.E. Smyth have been named 2021 Academy Film Scholars by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.\u00a0 The annual grant is given to established scholars whose projects are focused on some aspect of filmmaking and the film industry.\u00a0 Their respective books are titled A Black W\/hole: Phantom Cinemas and the… Continue reading The Academy Announces 2021 Film Scholars Grant Recipients<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-12267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-academy","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.samdb.co.za\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}