Film and Media Studies alum Kate Saccone '13 has contributed a chapter to Doing Digital Film History: Concepts, Tools, Practices (De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2024), a new book examining how digital technologies have transformed film historical research and teaching practices.
In her chapter "(Re)Visioning Women's Film History: The Women Film Pioneers Project and Digital Curatorial-Editorial Labor," Saccone draws on her decade-long experience as project manager of the Women Film Pioneers Project (WFPP) to explore how digital platforms have revolutionized the presentation and preservation of historical film scholarship.
Saccone examines WFPP's evolution from a planned print publication to an open-access digital resource, analyzing how editorial practices have expanded in the digital era. "WFPP has come a long way since [Film and Media Studies Professor] Jane M. Gaines began collecting names—and there is always more to do," she writes, highlighting the project's growth from a names archive to a comprehensive digital platform for film history research.
Currently a PhD student at the University of Amsterdam specialized in silent film and feminist practice and theory, Saccone continues to serve as project manager and editor of WFPP, a digital public platform hosted by Columbia University Libraries that promotes research into women's roles in early cinema. The project has become an essential resource for scholars studying women's contributions to silent film.
Doing Digital Film History: Concepts, Tools, Practices is edited by Sarah-Mai Dang, Tim van der Heijden, and Christian Gosvig Olesen. The volume brings together scholars exploring how computational approaches and digital tools have changed the way film history is researched, analyzed, and disseminated.
