Call for Graduate Student Film Programmers

An audience watching THE TRIAL in the Alice Cinema at Yale.
May 9, 2024

The Whitney Humanities Center is seeking graduate student film programmers for the upcoming (2024–25) academic year for Films at the Whitney. 

Inaugurated in 2009, Films at the Whitney is an integral part of the dynamic film culture at Yale, supporting screenings of Hollywood and world cinema classics, documentaries, and other cinematically, culturally, and artistically significant films. 

The selection committee welcomes proposals from graduate students within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Proposals may be submitted by individual graduate students or by a team of two (and no more than two). Each program of up to five films will take place across one semester. Applicants should propose a coherent series that is distinctive and unique yet realizable in terms of resources (e.g., screening spaces and print/DCP accessibility) and funds (i.e., generally within the standard range of costs to put on a film screening). The series should have a thread that unites the different films; the series might be a filmmaker retrospective, or it might be organized around a theme, motif, technique, or political, social, and/or cultural formation. 

Proposals should include the following:

  • A program description explaining the topic/through line, its significance and potential audience, and its contribution to the Yale community’s goals of research and teaching; 
  • A list of five films, with synopsis, year, runtime, format (print or DCP), distributor, and country; 
  • A short bio that includes email, department, status in the Ph.D. program, and relevant programming or curatorial experience.

The committee will select two proposals, one for each semester; selected students will be paid for their labor. The graduate student programmers will work closely with FAS manager of film programming, Marc Francis, in consultation with WHC deputy director, Diane Berrett Brown, and with logistical support from the WHC staff.

Please send proposals to Marc Francis (marc.francis@yale.edu) by Friday, May 31, 2024. The selected proposals will be announced via email to all applicants, by June 20.