麻豆影院

Visiting Professor of Critical Media Practices 鈥⑻齈ioneer of Documentary Film Theory

鈥淚鈥檓 not the kind of professor who likes to make clones,鈥� Bill Nichols says about his teaching style.

Students, though, can be forgiven if they are eager to follow in his footsteps. Nichols, as a grad student in the 1970s, was part of the birth of modern film studies and literally wrote the book on documentary film studies. He鈥檚 taught film classes for decades and not only mentors students, but also professional documentary filmmakers.

鈥淒ocumentaries get us to think and feel about something in an accessible way.鈥�

-Bill Nichols

Now, as a visiting professor in the Department of Critical Media Practices, he鈥檚 excited to be part of one of the nation鈥檚 first academic programs centered around documentaries and storytelling. 听鈥淚t鈥檚 a chance to use what has become my focal point to help build and launch a new program,鈥� he explains. As the Department of Critical Media Practices听grows, he predicts, student work will be the program鈥檚 calling card.鈥� And that鈥檚 why Nichols is excited: his favorite part of teaching film is helping students discover their own voice and perspective.

Nichols has studied film since the 1960s when, as a graduate student interested in political issues, he was drawn to the political dimension of documentaries. 鈥淭he documentaries in the 鈥�60s that were about political issues, about Vietnam, about the draft, about liberation struggles, about Cuba, were like 鈥榦h my God, I didn鈥檛 know film could do this,鈥� because I鈥檇 never seen anything like it before,鈥� he remembers.

In 1991, he pioneered documentary film studies with听Representing Reality, the first book to apply film studies methods to documentary films. Today he continues to teach, serve on film festival juries and advise filmmakers. He appreciates that documentaries鈥攅ven while using the same entertaining elements as fiction films鈥攄on鈥檛 just entertain audiences, 鈥渂ut get us to think and feel about something in an accessible way.鈥�