Email: thomasf9@illinois.edu
Research Interests
- New Media and Digital Generosity
- Film Theory, with a focus on Third and Fourth Cinema
- Indigenous Representation in Film
- Media and Sociology: Representation, Exploitation, and Labor
- Intersectional Approaches to Media Studies (race, class, gender, sexuality)
- Critical Theory and Media鈥檚 Impact on Empathy and Social Responsibility
Recent Publications/Presentations
- “Children of the Corn Sweats” (film in development)
- Recipie for Revenge (2024): Director of Photography
- 鈥淚ndigenous Voices Reshaping Cinema: Native American Representation in Dances with Wolves (1990) and Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher (2021).鈥� Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal: McNair Special Issue 21, no. 3 (August 2023): 29鈥�45.
Academic Roles
Thomas is a Graduate Teaching Assistant and聽Graduate Student Representative for the Society of Cinema and Media Studies.聽He previously served as a TA for 鈥淏illy Wilder鈥檚 Hollywood,鈥� and was a Discussion Leader for 鈥淚ntroduction to Cinema鈥� and 鈥淚ntroduction to Television.鈥�
Awards and Honors
- Shriram Fellow, USC School of Cinematic Arts (2023鈥�2024)
- McNair Scholar, University of Oregon (2023)
- Cinema Studies Departmental Honors, University of Oregon (2023)
- New Century Scholar, All-USA Academic Team (2021)
- All-Oregon Academic Team (2021)
What Most People Don鈥檛 Know about Me
What most people don鈥檛 know about me is that my journey has taken me to some truly unexpected places鈥攂oth geographically and professionally. During my years in the retail construction industry, I worked across 44 U.S. states and two territories, which gave me a deep appreciation for the sheer variety of American life and landscapes. But one of the most surreal experiences came years later: I stood within a football field鈥檚 distance of Reactor #4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant鈥攁 place marked by tragedy, history, and myth. Just two days after that, I stood on the Potemkin Stairs in Odesa, the exact location where Sergei Eisenstein shot his iconic montage sequence. That moment was a strange and moving collision of history, media, and memory鈥攐ne that reminded me why I鈥檓 drawn to cinema and its ability to shape how we understand the world.
Related Links
- (video essay web series)