Dr. Carole Martin and Dr. Louie Dean Valencia awarded grants for upcoming International Film Festival & Symposium on Celebrity: Between Fame and Infamy

Dr. Carole Martin and Dr. Louie Dean Valencia, History Department, were awarded a Pragda Spanish Film Club grant and an Albertine Cinémathèque Festival grant for the upcoming International Film Festival & Symposium on Celebrity: Between Fame and Infamy, to be held at Texas State University from February 22 to March 8, 2024. To explore the topic of celebrity as a phenomenon that is both century-old and ultra-contemporary, both glamorous and ominous, the festival will include two weeks of concurrent screenings from Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Great-Britain, Italy, Morocco, Spain, and the United States. It will culminate in a symposium dedicated to the trans-disciplinary discussion of featured or related works. Five themes will structure the festival's program and conversation: "From Celebrity to Icon To Genius" with works centered on musicians, "Celebrity and Image-Making" focused on the queen effect, "Celebrity and the Mainstreaming of Subcultures" with a focus on the transgender community, "Mapping Celebrity: Places of Visibility, Overexposure, Underexposure" with an interest in spatial differentiation, and “Celebrity and the Vicarious Life” aimed at influence and hyper-consumerism.