February 26–28, 2026
Convened by: Erica Stein, Associate Professor and Chair of Film at Vassar; Noelle Griffis, Associate Professor of Communication and Media Arts at Marymount Manhattan College; Fabio Andrade, Assistant Professor of Film at Vassar; and John Hulsey, Assistant Professor of Art at Vassar.
This program will excavate and celebrate the invisible organizing labor, often done by women, that makes independent film and video production possible. It will bring together key figures from innovative collectives of the 1970s to the 1990s, scholars, archivists, and members of media organizations active in the Hudson Valley today to discuss recirculating films and videos of the past and strategies for making this kind of work in the future.
Program Schedule
Day One, Thursday, February 26, 2025
3:30 p.m.
Registration
3:45 p.m.
Welcome
4:00–5:00 p.m.
Panel 1: Scholars and Archivists
- Elizabeth Coffman, Filmmaker and Professor of Film and Digital Media, Loyola University Chicago
- Elena Rossi-Snook, Film Specialist, New York Public Library and the collection manager of the Reserve Film and Video Collection
- Juana Suárez, Associate Professor, NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Director, Moving Image Archiving & Preservation Program
- Joan Hawkins, Professor Emeritus, Cinema and Media Studies, Indiana University
- Sophie Holzberger, Co-Founder, Feminist Elsewheres and PhD Candidate, NYU Tisch School of the Arts
5:30–7:00 p.m.
Reception
Opening Reception for Women’s Work: Organizing New York Independent Film and Video at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center.
Day Two, Friday, February 27, 2025
9:30 a.m.
Doors Open
Coffee will be served.
10:00–11:20 a.m.
Panel 2: Filmmaking and the Women’s Movement
- Ariel Dougherty, Filmmaker, Co-Founder Women Make Movies
- Sheila Paige, Filmmaker, Co-Founder Women Make Movies
- Sandra Schulberg, President, IndieCollect, and Founder of Independent Film Project*
- DeeDee Halleck, Media Activist, Filmmaker, and Co-Founder, Paper Tiger Television
11:30 a.m.–12:50 p.m.
Panel 3: Activist Media
- JT Takagi, Filmmaker and Executive Director, Third World Newsreel
- Cyrille Phipps, Filmmaker, Associate Professor of Film, Marymount Manhattan College and Co-Founder, Black Planet Productions
- Bev Grant, Photographer, Songwriter, Filmmaker, and member of New York Newsreel
- Christine Burrill, Cinematographer, Filmmaker, and Member, Women’s Film Project / International Women’s Film Project
1:00–3:00 p.m.
Lunch
The Aula. Follow signs and student helpers; see campus map in program.
3:10–4:30 p.m.
Panel 4: Programming and Curating
- Monica Freeman, Filmmaker and Programmer, Sojourner Truth Festival
- Sara Chapman, Executive Director, Media Burn
- Duana Butler ’91, Filmmaker and Producer, Arts Administrator
4:40–6:00 p.m.
Panel 5: Experimental Women
- M.M. Serra, Filmmaker, Curator, Film Professor, New School, and Executive Director, Film-Makers’ Cooperative, 1993–2023
- Lynne Sachs, Filmmaker, Poet, and Educator
- Abigail Child, Filmmaker and Professor Emeritus of Film/Media at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Peggy Ahwesh, Filmmaker and Professor Emeritus, Film and Electronic Arts, Bard College
Day Three, Saturday, February 28, 2025
9:30 a.m.
Doors Open
Coffee will be served.
9:45–11:30 a.m.
Closing Roundtable: Reactivating Independent Media Histories
Moderator, Alex Juhasz, Filmmaker, Founder of VHS Activism Archive and Distinguished Professor of Film at Brooklyn College, CUNY
As the closing event of this symposium, we want to invite representatives from each panel, along with members of local media organizations active in Poughkeepsie and the greater Hudson Valley today, to engage in an intergenerational conversation about how alternative media can be reactivated, whether by means of recirculation, preservation, knowledge transfer, the building of new artistic and political networks, or any other means.
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Brunch
12:30 p.m.
NYC LaGuardia shuttle departs
12:30–2:00 p.m.
Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) Workshop: Introduction to Personal Collection Preservation
- Mona Jiménez, Audiovisual Preservation Exchange, Community Archiving Workshops and Former Director, MIAP
- Juana Suárez, Associate Professor, NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Director, MIAP
- NYU MIAP Graduate Students
NYU’s Moving Image Archiving and Preservation program’s faculty and graduate students present a workshop on preserving personal film and video collections, focusing on first steps, internal assessments, and further resources. This workshop may be of interest to those starting work on preserving personal collections or to those with extant archival relationships with additional work or ephemera that may still need care. This workshop is also available to those currently working with analog media who are curious about future potential preservation needs.