Visiting Professor of Art History Scott MacDonald presented “Binghamton Babylon: Voices from the Cinema Department, 1967-1977” on Oct. 21 at Binghamton University as part of the Harpur College Dean’s Speakers Series.
He discussed his book Binghamton Babylon, published last month by SUNY Press. The book documents the emergence of the cinema department at the State University of New York at Binghamton (now Binghamton University) from 1967 to 1977, a time the book’s publisher called a crucial time in the history of cinema studies.
He also discussed some of the films he saw in 1972 at the SUNY Binghamton Cinema Department. With his talk, MacDonald showed some of those films including Serene Velocity by Ernie Gehr, Soft Rain by Ken Jacobs, Barn Rushes by Larry Gottheim and The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes by Stan Brakhage.
MacDonald also met with resident fellows at the UnionDocs Collaborative and made presentations in New York City recently. Three presentations were at Anthology Film Archives and a fourth was at Light Industry where attendees included May graduates Jonah Feitelson, Maggie Haag, Kaye Kagaoan and Teddy Altman.
