One of the reasons Graham Paull ’20 decided to study abroad in Prague was the city’s rich cinematic history, and he’s been watching a lot of the Czech directors Vera Chytilova, Jan Nemec, and Milos Forman, among others. Paull majors in cinema and media studies, and creative writing. Here's some of what he has to say about his abiding love for film.
How did you land on a cinema major?
I chose cinema studies because I've always watched a ton of movies and really craved a formal education on the history and theory. I also want to be one of those people who has an encyclopedic knowledge of films and directors, where if someone mentions a movie I have either seen it, or something else, by the same director. It also doesn't hurt that I would like to be a screenwriter, and one of my goals for abroad was to finish a full screenplay. It's coming along quite slowly though, so who knows if I will put a check mark next to to it on my mental bulletin board.
What has been your most significant take-away thus far in your cinema studies?
I think the biggest takeaway thus far has to be variety, variety, variety. There is such an amazingly broad cinematic world out there that it would feel silly to limit myself to a genre or area of film. I think the department is really great at introducing films that aren't the typical Film History 101 movies, which has been extremely valuable.
By the time you graduate from Hamilton, what do you hope you have accomplished?
All I really want by the time I graduate is to be content with my time spent. I don't have any real to-do list items, so I don't think I can be all that specific. I do hope to leave a lasting impact on the comedy and music scenes here, but I'm not sure what that would look like. For music I have a radio show as well as doing concert and event planning for WHCL (the College radio station). For comedy I write for The Duel Observer and perform stand-up, as well as having a comedy talk show. I'm also trying to host different special comedy events next semester with more of a performance vibe than stand-up. And I am in a band called Grime Time.
