Nico Baumbach holds a Ph.D. in Literature from Duke University. His research and teaching focus on critical theory, film theory, documentary, and the intersection of aesthetic and political philosophy. full profile 

Jane M. Gaines is Professor of Film, Columbia University, and Professor Emerita of Literature and English, Duke University who in 2018 received the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Distinguished Career Award and in 2021 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Stockholm, Sweden. full profile 

Racquel Gates is the author of Double Negative: The Black image and Popular Culture. Her research focuses on Black film and media, reality television, and popular culture more broadly. full profile 

Ron Gregg writes and teaches about queer cinema (both Hollywood and experimental), classical and contemporary Hollywood, and the impact of globalization and digital technology on recent Hollywood film. full profile 

Annette Insdorf is the author of Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes; Intimations: The Cinema of Wojciech Has; Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski; Francois Truffaut; Philip Kaufman, and the landmark study, Indelible Shadows: Fil full profile 

Rob King is a film historian with interests in American genre cinema, popular culture, and social history. Much of his work has been on comedy. full profile 

Richard Peña has been at Columbia since 1989, becoming full time in 1996 and being named Professor of Professional Practice in 2003. full profile 

James Schamus is an award-winning screenwriter (The Ice Storm), producer (Brokeback Mountain), director (Indignation), and former CEO of Focus Features. Recent credits include The Assistant, Driveways, Adam, and the limited series Somos. full profile 

Loren-Paul Caplin has written scripts for many of the major studios (Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros.), Hollywood producers and Independent producers, including Laura Ziskin, Joe Roth, Robert Harris, Ben Barenholtz, and Ira Deutchman. full profile 

Caryn James is a film critic for BBC Culture, and a regular contributor on film and television to The Wall Street Journal and The Hollywood Reporter.  She was previously a film critic and chief television critic for The New York Times and has appeared on CBS S full profile 

Ying Zhu is a faculty at the City University of New York and the Hong Kong Baptist University. full profile