AJ Christian, Assoc. Professor of Communication Studies  and Spencer Parsons  Assoc. Professor, Head of Production  will discuss mental health and harm reduction in production.

Thursday, March 9, 2023 | 7:00pm

Aymar Jean “AJ” Christian is an associate professor of communication studies at Northwestern University. His research focuses on the political economy of legacy and new media, cultural studies and community-based research. He published his first book, Open TV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web Television, on New York University Press in 2018, and is currently writing his second book, Open Systems, which explores how to repair systemic harm and discrimination in media, technology and research. His scholarship has been published in numerous academic journals, including theInternational Journal of Communication, Television & New Media, Social Media & Society, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, among other journals and edited collections. More bout Dr. Christian at https://communication.northwestern.edu/faculty/aymar-jean-christian/.)

Spencer Parsons‘s latest feature film, Saturday Morning Massacre, premiered at the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival, and was awarded Best Feature at the 2012 Minneapolis Underground Film Festival. His previous feature, I’ll Come Running (2008) played numerous festivals, has screened on the Sundance Channel and is distributed by IFC. His award-winning short films include Chainsaw Found Jesus (2011), Once and Future Asshole (2005), Resolution (2002), and A Common Confuxion (1999). Parsons served as senior programmer for Cinematexas International Short Film Festival in Austin, Texas , from 2000-2003, and continued as a board member and curator-at-large until 2007. He has curated programs of films for the Thessaloniki Film Festival (Greece), L’Alternativa (Spain), Rooftop Films (Brooklyn, NY), Exploding Cinema (London), Fusebox Festival (Austin, Texas) and for the Block Cinema at Northwestern.  (More about Professor Parsons at https://communication.northwestern.edu/faculty/spencer-parsons.html).