PaceDocs Bee Aware Production
A Show of Resiliency
After much hard work, dedication, and anticipation, Pace University’s documentary film team—PaceDocs—premiered Bee Aware, a film focusing on the environmental threats facing one of the most important pollinators for humankind. The film aptly debuted online on Earth Day, April 22, and spotlights the vital role bees play in our food supply, their importance to the environment, and some of the challenges facing the insect and the environment. It was followed by a virtual Q&A with the filmmakers via Zoom.
Initially, the popular class taught by Maria Luskay, EdD— consisting of 20 Pace graduate and undergraduate students from around the country—was set to embark on a trip to Paris, France, in spring 2020 to highlight the rooftop bees that survived the historic fire at the Cathedral of Notre Dame. However, as the global pandemic halted all international travel, and the University immediately pivoted to a remote learning format, so did the team, working quickly to create another plan.
Entirely produced and edited during the pandemic, the film was instead shot on location at bee farms throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
It was a long process and a testament to the resilience and perseverance of all involved. Although the course officially ended in May 2020, students continued to dedicate their time and passion to the project throughout the summer and then into the fall semester, connecting with as many beekeepers as they could. They learned how to edit virtually as a team, not only mastering Zoom but discovering that a gaming app called Discord was better suited for making live edits, and in the process, their discovery served as a model for film editors experiencing similar difficulties.
“In an extraordinary, exemplary way, our student filmmakers demonstrated what we mean by a Pace Path experience— they faced real-world obstacles, devised creative solutions to problems, and produced this sweet-as-honey documentary,” said Dean Tresmaine R. Grimes.
MCVA Professor Produces Film on Silence
Associate Professor of Media, Communications, and Visual Arts Allen Oren, MS has highlighted the beauty of quiet and “meaningful silences” in our world in his latest documentary, A Day in the Life of Silence. Premiering in New York City on March 9 on WNYE and later shown on public television nationally, the film guides viewers around the globe with beautiful images and quotes related to the importance of silence, and, appropriately, it consists of little to no audio.
📚 9 Must-reads by Dyson Faculty
📖 A New History of Tudor England: Essays for Students, Teachers, and Workers
Daniel Bender, PhD, associate professor, English and modern language studies
An exploration of the struggle of students, teachers, and workers with the Tudor legacies of education and labor.
📖 Political Minefields: The Struggle Against Automated Killing
Matthew Bolton, PhD, associate professor, political science
A political history of explosive traps and the telling of stories of people affected by the explosive legacies of war through a travelogue of the world’s minefields and ordnance dumps.
📖 Imagining Disarmament, Enchanting International Relations
Matthew Bolton, PhD, associate professor, political science
An examination of the role of myth, narrative, discourse, and ritual in global politics.
📖 Whisper Down the Lane: A Novel
Clay McCleod Chapman, adjunct professor, playwriting, Actors Studio MFA
A book about paranoia and what happens when we tell a white lie, only for that lie to take on a life of its own.
📖 Rachmaninoff Art Songs Arranged for Solo Piano
Lee Evans, EdD, professor, Pace School of Performing Arts
An amalgam of the vocal and piano accompaniment parts of the original Rachmaninoff songs upon which the volume is based.
📖 Latin America in the World: An Introduction
Antonia Garcia-Rodriguez, PhD, professor, modern languages and cultures
Daniel Greenberg, PhD, professor, history; director, Latina American studies
A volume of essays by acclaimed scholars of Latin American studies offering a fresh, comprehensive, multidisciplinary entry point to Latin America.
📖 Clive Bell and the Making of Modernism
Mark Hussey, PhD, distinguished professor, English
A biography on Clive Bell, an art critic instrumental in bringing modernist visual art to England and an outspoken pacifist before and during World War I.
📖 Wide Sargasso Sea at 50
Erica Johnson, PhD, (co-editor with Elaine Savory) professor, English
A revisitation of the ongoing impact of Jean Rhys’s groundbreaking novel on literature, culture, politics, and the arts.
📖 Soft Covers
Derek Stroup, lecturer, art
A collection of photographs with an essay by writer/curator Faheem Haider.
