Coming fall of 2014, Michigan State University will offer a film major.
And Josh Yumibe is playing a big role in bringing it into the limelight.
“It makes complete sense to develop the major at this point in time,” said Joshua Yumibe, director and assistant professor of film studies. “There’s a strong interest in studying and producing film in Michigan, so I think having a film major here, at one of the flagship universities in the state, is essential.”
And it’s essential in East Lansing, he says.
“With the East Lansing Film Festival that goes on annually and the Lansing Film Festival, it’s clear that there is a community of people interested in film and I think there’s room to expand that,” he said.
MSU has roots in film, too.
The Film Studies Program offers a film collective screening every Thursday in B122 Wells Hall. Yumibe said multiple programs and events are in the works and scheduled to premiere during the 2014-15 school year.
“MSU has a long heritage of teaching and studying film that goes back several decades,” Yumibe said. “It’s always been a part of the curriculum in different places, so centralizing that in a new major will lead to new developments in what students are learning about film.”
Aside from working to develop the new major, which will be offered through the English Department, Yumibe encourages his students to study the beginning of cinema and analyze its development. Outside of the classroom, his research focuses on the history of color in film, film history and film theory.