Fatimah Tobing RonyAssociate Professor, Film & Media Studies |
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Research Interests |
documentary and ethnographic film, transnational cinema, postcolonial studies, Indonesian studies, feminist film theory, visual studies | |
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Academic Distinctions | Katherine S. Kovaks Book Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Film and Media Studies from the Society of Cinema Studies for THE THIRD EYE: RACE, CINEMA, AND ETHNOGRAPHIC SPECTACLE; Frances Blanshard Fellowship Fund Prize for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in the History of Art, Yale University; Finalist, Screenplay Competition, New York Asian American Film Festival, 2006; First Prize, Narrative: University of Oregon Queer Film Festival, 2002; Special Jury Fiction Award: Universidad de Artes, Ciencias y Comunicación, Santiago, Chile 2001; The Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Asian Pacific American Student Film, 2000; Kodak Emerging Filmmakers Award, Cannes Film Festival 2000; Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Asian Pacific American Student Film, 1998; Kodak Emerging Filmmakers Award, Cannes Film Festival 1998; Honorable Mention, 1995 Chicago Asian American Film Festival; Arthur B. Graves Prize for Best Essay in Art, Williams College; Karl E. Weston Prize for Distinction in Art, Williams College | |
| Appointments | University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellowship | |
| Publications |
BOOKS The Third Eye: Race, Cinema, and Ethnographic Spectacle (Duke University Press, 1996). ARTICLES "The Photogenic Cannot Be Tamed: Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson's ‘Trance and Dance in Bali’" Discourse 28.1 (Winter 2006): 5-27. “Notes from Jakarta,” Filmmaker Magazine (Winter 2005). “Notes from Jakarta,” In Focus (October 2005). Review of Jane M. Gaines’ Fire and Desire: Mixed Race Movies in the Silent Era, Film Quarterly 57.1 (Fall 2003). “The Quick and the Dead: Surrealism and the Found Ethnographic Footage Films of Bontoc Eulogy and Mother Dao: The Turtlelike,” Camera Obscura 18.1 (2003). “What You Don’t Know, But You Know,” Like Mangoes in July: The Work of Richard Fung (Toronto: The Images Festival and Insomniac Press, 2002). “King Kong and the Monster in Ethnographic Cinema,” The Horror Reader, ed. Ken Gelder (Routledge, 2000). "Nanook of the North: The Politics of Taxidermy and Romantic Ethnography," The Birth of Whiteness: Race and the Emergence of United States Film, ed. Daniel Bernardi, (Rutgers University Press, 1996). "The Fence at the Fair," Emergences 5 (1995). Interview with filmmaker Kayo Hatta, The Independent (March 1994). "Victor Masayesva, Jr. and the Politics of Imagining Indians," Film Quarterly (Winter 1994). "Image Sovereignty," Afterimage (February 1994). "'We Must First See Ourselves': Documentary Subversions in Contemporary African-American Women's Photography," catalogue essay for Personal Narratives: Women Photographers of Color, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (September 1993). "Those Who Squat, Those Who Sit: The Iconography of Race in the Films of Félix-Louis Regnault," Camera Obscura 28 (January 1992). "Troubleshooters" (essay on ethnographic cinema), Artforum (September l99l). Review of Bernardo Bertolucci's film, The Last Emperor, Film Quarterly (Winter l989). FILMS Director: CHANTS OF LOTUS (Perempuan Punya Cerita) 2008 (35 mm, 120 minutes, Feature) Dramatic feature film co-directed with Nia Dinata, Lasja Susatyo, and Upi, weaving together four stories about women and sexuality in Indonesia. Produced by Nia diNata. Trailer in Indonesian: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEp_J4eseQg&feature=related Released for major theatrical exhibition in Indonesia, January 2008 Closing Film, Jakarta International Film Festival 16 December 2007 The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival 4 May 2008 The Q! Film Festival, Jakarta, Indonesia 14 August 2008 The US ASEAN Film and Photography Festival, Washington, DC 28 September 2008 Freer Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Pusan International Film Festival, Pusan, Korea 9 October 2008 Hawaii International Film Festival, Honolulu, Hawaii 15 October 2008 Film and Video Center, UC Irvine, Irvine, California 26 March 2009 Asian American Film Festival, Claremont Colleges, Claremont, California 29 April 2009 Udine Far East Film Festival, Udine, Italy April-May 2009 Centre of South East Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, London, United Kingdom 12 June 2009 Taliesin Arts Centre Cinema, Swansea University, Wales, United Kingdom, 11 September 2009 Director: A BRIEF STUDY OF MOTION AND STILLNESS 2006 (Digital video, 5 minutes) An experimental short featuring the collaboration of choreographer/dancer Caitlyn Carradine and fashion/design by Carol Young http://www.undesigned.com/Collection/Index.html Writer: GRACIE MAKES A MOVIE 2006 Narrative screenplay about a filmmaker who flees family problems by running away to her grandmother’s village in Sumatra, Indonesia Finalist, Asian Cinevision Screenplay Competition, New York Asian Film Festival July 2006 Producer, Director, Writer: TREASURE 2003 (Digital video, 2 minutes) Experimental video about a woman who is trapped in the cellar of her mind Past/Forward Fundraiser, Visual Communications, Los Angeles 25 October 2003 New York Asian American International Film Festival 17 July 2004 The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival 30 April 2004 The San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival 16 March 2005 Producer: PERFECT GIRL 2003 (Digital video, 10 minutes) San Diego Asian American International Film Festival, California October 2003 New York Asian American International Film Festival June 2003 The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival May 2003 Chicago Asian American Film Festival March 2003 Producer, Co-Director, Writer: JAROCHO ELEGUA 2002 (16mm., 4 minutes) Vanguard Records Music Video for the band Quetzal Co-Producer: FINDING FIRE UNDER MY GRANDMA’S FINGERNAILS 2001 (Digital video, 25 minutes) What would you do if you couldn’t find your mother’s birthplace on a map? This documentary is about the filmmaker’s search to understand through his grandmother’s life the secrets of his Japanese-American past. Award: UCLA Spotlight Award Winner 2000 Film Festivals and Screenings: New York Asian American International Film Festival 28 August 2001 Directors Guild of America, Los Angeles, CA 13 June 2001 Silverlake Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA September 2001 Director, Producer, Writer, Editor: EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN 2000 (16mm., 26 minutes) Distributed by Frameline A drama about a young woman who must come to terms with her love for her best friend, and her relationship with the man who raised her. Shot mostly hand held, using real people and fictional characters who live in downtown Los Angeles, in particular the gay Asian Pacific communities of the city, this film was a collaboration with many Los Angeles-based actors, artists, and musicians. Award, Directors Guild of America 2000 Student Film First Prize, Narrative: University of Oregon Queer Film Festival, 2002 Special Jury Fiction Award: Universidad de Artes, Ciencias y Comunicación, Santiago, Chile Finalist, NextFrame International Film and Video Festival 2001 Kodak National Student Film Competition, 2nd place, Fort Lauderdale Film Festival Film Festivals and Screenings: Women in Film, Images Cinema 10 March 2006 Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts Cine las Americas, Austin, Texas 13 April 2002 Women in the Director’s Chair 15 March 2002 Hawaii International Film Festival 5 November 2001 24th Mill Valley International Film Festival, Mill Valley, California 4-14 October 2001 San Diego Asian American International Film Festival, California 27-30 September 2001 NextFrame International Film Festival, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 31 August 2001 New York Asian American International Film Festival 27 August 2001 The 25th San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival 20 June 2001 Annual Lehigh Valley Pride Film Festival, Pennsylvania 13 June 2001 2001 Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival 29 May 2001 The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival 21 May 2001 Emerging Filmmakers Showcase, Cannes Film Festival 14 May 2001 Cannes, France Library of Congress Asian Pacific American Heritage Event 4 May 2001 The 43rd Rochester International Film Festival 3 May 2001 The NewFilmmakers Series, Anthology Film Archives, 25 April 2001 New York, New York ReelWorld FilmFestival, Toronto, Canada 8-9 April 2001 Sixth Annual Directors Guild of America Student Film Awards, 14 November 2000 Los Angeles, California Director, Producer, Writer, Editor: DEMON LOVER 1998 (16mm., 15 minutes) Dramatic narrative set in the La Brea Tar Pits and the oil refineries of Los Angeles about a Native Hawaiian woman torn between her Chinese lover and her mother. A film about the demons of myth, land, and origins. Award, Directors Guild of America 1998 Student Film Film Festivals and Screenings: Sedona Film Festival, Sedona, Arizona March 2000 Film Fest, Sombras Electricas, El Teatro Campesino, San Juan Bautista, CA 9 October 1999 Emerging Filmmakers Showcase, Cannes Film Festival 17 May 1999 Cannes, France Asian Pacific Film Festival 26 May 1999 Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Los Angeles Asian Pacific American Film Festival 16 May 1999 Los Angeles, California Women in the Directors Chair Film Festival 28 March 1999 Chicago, Illinois Directors Guild of America Awards, Los Angeles, California 9 November 1998 Asian American International Film Festival 1 August 1998 Florence Gould Hall, New York City California School of the Arts, Valencia, California 17 March 1998 Director, Producer, Writer, Editor: CONCRETE RIVER 1997 (16mm., 12 minutes) Experimental narrative based on a local legend about a young woman's journey to the Los Angeles River to uncover the mytstery of her mother's suicide Film Festivals and Screenings: 13th Annual Film Arts Festival of Independent Cinema 8 November 1997 The Roxie, San Francisco, California Asian American International Film Festival 26 August 1997 Florence Gould Hall, New York City Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film & Video Festival 18 May 1997 Laemmle's Music Hall Theatre, Los Angeles "Los Angeles Landscapes: Asian American Women in Film and Video," 16 January 1997 Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles Director, Producer, Writer, Editor: ON CANNIBALISM 1994 (3/4", 6 minutes, 30 seconds) Distributed by Women Make Movies and Center for Asian American Media Experimental documentary which looks at King Kong, travel, museums, early cinema, and the history of anthropology, intertwined with personal narrative about race and identity in the U.S. Honorable Mention, 1995 Chicago Asian American Film Festival Film and Video Festivals: “Kanohi ki te Kanohi/Face to Face” program, the Kodak Theatre, Production Village 19 June 1998 Freemans Bay, Auckland, New Zealand "Women Make Movies Retrospective," the Knitting Factory, New York 31 July 1997 Robert Flaherty Seminar for Independent Video and Cinema, "The Camera 5-10 August 1995 Reframed: Technology and Interpretation," Wells College, Aurora, New York Los Angeles International Asian Pacific Film & Video Festival 3 June 1995 Asian CineVision's 1995 (13th) Annual VIDEOSCAPE: May 1995 An Asian American Video Showcase, New York City Out of Bounds, Women of Color Film and Video Festival, UC Santa Cruz 29 April 1995 1995 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival 2-9 March 1995 Xth Black International Cinema Festival, Chicago, New York City, February-May 1995 Los Angeles, Berlin, Germany (February-May 1995) The Second Annual Fall Asian Pacific American Coalition in Cinema, 2 December 1994 Theatre, & Television Video Festival, UCLA, Los Angeles The 1994 Dallas Video Festival 10-15 November 1994 Act of Video Festival, DCTV, New York City 1, 2, 8, & 9 November 1994 Femannale Film Festival, Cologne, Germany October 1994 Rio CineFest, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil August 1994 Museum Exhibitions of On Cannibalism: “Old New Technologies,” Williams College Museum of Art 20 April-21 July 2002 Williamstown, Massachusetts "Women Make Movies Retrospective," The Museum of Modern Art, New York 27 May 1997 "Private TV, Public Living Rooms," LA Freewaves, the Museum of Contemporary 9-11 August 1996 Art, Los Angeles, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art "Tourism: Into the 21st Century," Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions June 1995 "Memory/Spirit/Border: Women of Color Film and Video," Pacific Film Archive, April 1995 University of California at Berkeley "Asian Pacific American Women in Film and Behind the Scenes," 15 October 1994 Smithsonian Event at the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum "Visible Differences" show, The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, U.K. October 1994 "Hybrid Identities" show, The Center for Photography, Woodstock, New York Fall 1994 "Courage" video program, 23 September-31 December 1994 The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City |
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| Grant | Rockefeller Fellowship in Media Arts, 2005; Berlin Talent Campus, the Berlin Film Festival, 2005; UCI Center for Translation and Writing Awards; ABC/Disney Talent Development Award of Creative Excellence 2004; University of California Institute for Research in the Arts; CORCL UC Irvine Grant; 1999-2000 Faculty Career Development Award; UC Irvine School of Humanities Research and Travel Awards; UCLA Colin Higgins Directing Award; Women in Film "Banana Republic" Dare to Dream Award; Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department Artist-In-the-Community Grant ; Jim Morrison Film Award for Promising Student in the UCLA Directing program; Julian B. Ely Award in Documentary Film from the UCLA Directing Program; Institute for American Cultures Grant, UCLA Asian American Studies; The Getty Center for the History of Art and Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship (declined); American Association of University Women Fellowship; Samuel H. Kress Travel Fellowship in the History of Art; The Yale Center for International and Area Studies Grant; Smithsonian Institution Graduate Student Fellowship; Mellon-West European Studies Grant-In-Aid-of-Research, Council for European Studies Fellowship, and Yale Council for European Studies Grant-In-Aid of Research; Italian Foreign Ministry Scholarship to study language; Il Giornalino Scholarship and Weston Prize, Middlebury College; DAAD Scholarship and Yale History of Art Department Fellowship; COTI Scholarship to study in Salatiga, Indonesia; Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research on modern Indonesian culture and literature in Yogyakarta, Indonesia | |
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Professional Societies |
Society for Cinema and Media Studies International Association of Art Critics Film Independent Visual Communications |
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| Graduate Programs |
Visual Studies |
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| Link to this profile | http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=5589 | |
| Last updated | 10/08/2009 | |