The Commencement website is now live! All students who will be walking this May will need to RSVP and request tickets for their guests, up to 4 guests per graduate to attend the ceremony. Please visit https://webster.edu/commencement/index.php to RSVP and learn more.

School of Communications Commencement Schedule:

8:30-10:30 a.m., Friday, May 13, 2022
Loretto Hilton
Main ceremony for all undergraduates
(no guests)

5:30-7:30 p.m., Friday, May 13, 2022
Grant Gymnasium
Undergraduate and graduate students

If you are a School of Communications student who wishes to walk early in this year’s ceremony, please contact Susan Napoleon at susannapoleon19@webster.edu or 314.264.7154.

The Student Showcase returns to Webster's School of Communications to celebrate the conclusion of this year's Media Academy! Free to attend.

The Student Showcase returns to Webster's School of Communications to celebrate this year's Media Academy!

Nominated students in the School of Communications at Webster University will showcase their work and projects including video games, photos, recordings, films, and more. Leading communications professionals and alumni will be in attendance to offer feedback, network with students, and offer career advice. Students will have the opportunity to present their most accomplished work.

Current students, faculty and staff, professionals in the communications field, and the public are welcome to attend.

This event will take place in the West Lobby of the Sverdrup building.

Students, please register on Handshake: https://webster.joinhandshake.com/events/998727/share_preview

For staff, faculty, and all others, please register on Eventbrite:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/media-academy-2022-student-showcase-tickets-289882304777

2022 Media Academy Speaker Series: Bayram Annakov, CEO & Founder of App in the Air

Bayram Annakov created App in the Air with one mission – to seamlessly transform travel for frequent fliers everywhere through gamification.

He comes to Webster University's School of Communications to share his experience with current students, alumni, faculty, and staff on his unique take on gamification in app design.

Bayram created App in the Air with one mission – to seamlessly transform travel for frequent fliers everywhere. After watching Up in the Air, the famed 2009 George Clooney film, inspiration struck and Bayram set out to address the issues of a very specific group, the million-miler traveler – hence, App in the Air’s concept (and name) was born.

This is a hybrid event and registration is FREE

In person registration (In Sverdrup Room 117): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/media-academy-speakers-series-2022-bayram-annakov-tickets-292485300407

Zoom Webinar registration: https://webster-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UTpUW4OMTLKx2ITxKpXT1A

2022 Media Academy Speaker Series: Drew Jordan, Motion Design and Graphics for the New York Times

Engage in a live presentation and Q&A session with Pulitzer Prize winning Webster University School of Communications Alum, Drew Jordan.

Motion graphics and animation are having an increasingly varied role in our media landscape. From news video units to documentary features, motion design and data visualization is playing a bigger role than ever in how we understand information driven content. Open-source reporting is just one of many outlets that is taking advantage of these visual tools. Drew will talk about what led him from Webster University (05) to his current role on the New York Times' Visual Investigation Team as their graphics editor where he works with creative visuals to support this newer form of journalism.

This is a hybrid event and registration is free.

In person registration (In Sverdrup Room 112): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/media-academy-2022-speaker-series-drew-jordan-tickets-290572659647

Zoom Webinar registration: https://webster-edu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_riMnFWGMTLq4QW6q90GdDw

Dorothy Dandridge plays the title character in this film adaptation of the modernized Broadway musical of the Bizet opera Carmen, which 1943 production had book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. The film continues Broadway’s all-Black cast, and Ms. Dandridge found herself with an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her efforts here, marking the first time a Black actor had appeared in a category as lead and only the third time a Black actor had received such a mention in any category. Co-starring civil rights icon Harry Belafonte, who had appeared as the principal to Dandridge’s elementary school teacher in Bright Road one year prior.

Carmen Jones is available to rent digitally on most platforms for $3-4.

With a free post-film discussion on July 1 at 7:00 p.m. from Renee Thomas-Woods, Associate Professor of Communication and Mass Communication at St. Louis Community College, where she enjoys teaching Film Appreciation and Black Cinema.

Register for the Zoom event here.

The presentation will take place on Tuesday, June 8th at 3:15PM CST. That portion is approx. 40 minutes. We will then open it up for a 40-45 minute LIVE discussion, so the entire presentation will be 3:15PM-4:45PM CST.

REGISTER HERE

The below filmmakers are featured in the presentation:

Enrico Casarosa / Director, LUCA

Andrea Warren / Producer, LUCA

Daniela Strijleva / Production Designer, LUCA

Mike Venturini / Animation Supervisor, LUCA

The below filmmakers will be participating in the LIVE Q&A:

Enrico Casarosa / Director, LUCA

Daniela Strijleva / Production Designer, LUCA

Mike Venturini / Animation Supervisor, LUCA

Paprika (Satoshi Kon, 2006, Japan, 91 minutes)

Capping off Kon’s incredible and all-too-short career, Paprika follows the title character, a mysterious red-haired woman who is able to enter people’s dreams via a new and unregulated device called the DC Mini. Paprika is the dream persona of Dr. Atsuko Chiba, who works at the Foundation for Psychiatric Research alongside the inventor of the DC Mini, Kosaku Tokita, and the plot takes off when three DC Minis are stolen. Here Kon is at the height of his visual inventiveness, and with film programmers seeing opportunity after the success of Hayao Miyazaki’s recent movies in the West, it was given berths in prestigious international film festivals (including Venice and New York) before receiving a nationwide release in America in 2007.

Paprika is available to watch for free to current Webster University students, faculty, and staff through the Webster U. library here. Alternatively, it can be rented digitally on most platforms for $3-4.

With a free post-film discussion on May 27 at 7:00 p.m. from Justin Sevakis, anime professional of 22 years and CEO of production company MediaOCD.

Register for this event here.

Tokyo Godfathers (Satoshi Kon, 2003, Japan, 92 minutes)

In a plot that will be familiar to those who have seen anything from the John Ford classic Western 3 Godfathers to the 80s comedy Three Men & a Baby to 2002’s animated feature Ice Age, Tokyo Godfathers finds a homeless trio discovering a baby in the trash and struggling to take care of it as they search for its mother. Our rascally crew of unintended caretakers include cranky alcoholic Gin, moody teenager Miyuki, and optimistic trans woman Hana. Tokyo Godfathers shows Kon’s range as a filmmaker, here aided in the story department by co-screenwriter Keiko Nobumoto of Cowboy Bebop fame.

Tokyo Godfathers is available to watch for free with many public library cards through Hoopla (subject to change). Alternatively, it can be rented digitally on most platforms for $3-5.

With a free post-film discussion on May 20 at 7:00 p.m. from Ethan Halker, animator and animation critic at ZekeFilm.org.

Register for this event here.

Millennium Actress (Satoshi Kon, 2001, Japan/South Korea, 87 minutes
A narrative that weaves together reality, memories, and movies, Millennium Actress recounts the life and career of an actress now in a state of reflection and reminiscence. Told through films within memories within a film, with a beautifully lucid blending of time and space, Kon’s sophomore feature manages to uphold the strengths in illusion and intricacy that he so notably established in his debut, but this time through the lens of romantic love and loss.

Millennium Actress is available to watch through streaming services Hoopla, Kanopy and Amazon Prime (subject to change). Alternatively, it can be rented digitally on most platforms for $2-4.

With a free post-film discussion on May 13 at 7:00 p.m. from Elsa Chanez, PhD student in Japanese language and literature at Washington University in St. Louis.

Register for this event HERE.

Dir: Grímur Hákonarson (2019)

In his first film since the international hit Rams, Icelandic director Grímur Hákonarson's The County finds us aligned with a headstrong farmer named Inga (Arndís Hrönn Egilsdóttir) who is finding herself at odds with the local co-op. Said co-op has mafia-like control over the local industry and serves as the only way for Inga to sell the products of her farm, or at least it is until she decides to try forging another path. Taking a tone that will be familiar to fans of 2018's Woman at War, The County is a socially-engaged dry comedy/drama from a recognizable voice of modern cinema.

Rent the film HERE ($10 for seven days)

Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon, 1997, Japan, 81 minutes)
Serving as Kon’s enthralling debut feature and also his best known, Perfect Blue is a staple in popular culture and a stunning cinematic feat in psychological horror. Based loosely on the novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis, protagonist Mima struggles to determine her place in the entertainment industry, differentiate realities, and preserve her own sanity and safety in this thriller. Employing unreliable narration and a compelling female lead, Perfect Blue put Kon on the map and gave way to critical praise that would stand out across his entire body of work.

Perfect Blue is available to watch for free with many public library cards through Hoopla (subject to change). Alternatively, it can be rented digitally on most platforms for $2-4.

With a free post-film discussion on May 6 at 7:00 p.m. from Adam Manfredi, PhD candidate in Japanese literature and comparative literature at Washington University in St. Louis.

Register for the Zoom event HERE.

The final film in the Gates of Hell trilogy, The House by the Cemetery finds young marrieds Norman (Paolo Malco) and Lucy (Catriona MacColl, who appears in all three Gates of Hell films), young son in tow, leaving New York City for a creepy manor called Oak Mansion in the town of New Whitby. As with the cemetery of City of the Living Dead and the hotel in The Beyond, Norman and Lucy unwittingly find themselves on the site of a suicide, and its cursed past may have made it another of the seven gates of hell.

The House by the Cemetery is available to watch through numerous subscription-based streaming services, including Shudder (subject to change; see full list of options here). It can also be rented digitally on most platforms for $2-4.

With a free post-film discussion on April 22 at 7:00 p.m. from Aaron AuBuchon, Associate Dean of the School of Communications at Webster University.

Register for the Zoom event here.

16 April - July 2021
Virtual Reception for the Photographers Friday, 16 April, 5-6 pm

Reception link for the reception is here

(Lucio Fulci, 1981, Italy/USA, 87 minutes)

Second in the Gates of Hell trilogy and, alongside Zombie, one of the films most responsible for Fulci’s reputation, The Beyond is lifted by unusually strong production and sound design, used in the service of surrealist flourishes, more fun eye trauma and surprisingly vocal tarantulas. Here our gateway to hell comes in the form of the Seven Doors Hotel just outside of New Orleans, newly inherited by an unsuspecting young woman named Liza (Catriona MacColl of City of the Living Dead). Hoping to turn the hotel into a success, Liza inadvertently allows for the gates to open, thus resulting in strange occurrences in and around her property.

The Beyond is available to watch through numerous subscription-based streaming services, including Shudder (subject to change; see full list of options here). Alternatively, it can be rented digitally on most platforms for $3-4.

With a free post-film discussion on April 15 at 7:00 p.m. from Andy Triefenbach, Owner & Editor-In-Chief of DestroytheBrain.com; Creator & Programmer of Late Nite Grindhouse.

Register for the event here.

AES Presents this virtual concert led by Webster alum, Nathan Rauscher.

The concert will consist of new music by Nathan Rauscher

The event will begin at 7:30pm on April 9th

Tune into Facebook Live HERE