Jacqueline Stewart, Director & President, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Receives SCMS Distinguished Career Award

Jacqueline Stewart, Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

logo, Society for Cinema and Media Studies

Award recognizes Stewart’s profound contributions to the field and celebrates her dedication to advancing film scholarship, education, & cultural preservation.

BOSTON, MA, UNITED STATES, February 14, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) proudly announces the recipient of its esteemed Distinguished Career Achievement Award: Jacqueline Stewart, Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. This prestigious accolade recognizes Stewart’s profound contributions to the field of cinema and media studies and celebrates her exceptional dedication to advancing film scholarship, education, and cultural preservation.

A luminary in her field, Jacqueline Stewart has significantly shaped the landscape of film studies and cultural preservation through her extensive research, curatorial work, and commitment to inclusivity in cinema. Her dedication to uncovering and showcasing marginalized narratives within the cinematic canon has been transformative, shedding light on the richness and diversity of film history that might otherwise have been overlooked. Her scholarly contributions include: groundbreaking work on the intersection of cinema’s rise with unprecedented African American migration in Migrating to the Movies: Cinema and Black Urban Modernity (University of California Press, 2005); collaborative, dedicated championing of the films and filmmakers of the L.A. Rebellion (L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema, University of California Press, 2015, with Allyson Nadia Field and Jan Christopher Horak); and her recent collection William Greaves: Filmmaking as Mission, (co-edited with Scott MacDonald) offering a comprehensive overview of William Greaves’ career and interventions as experimental filmmaker, documentarian, and television producer and co host of Black Journal (Columbia University Press, 2021)In 2015, she co-curated the five-disc set Pioneers of African American Cinema for Kino Lorber. In 2005, Stewart founded the South Side Home Movie Project, which received the 2023 Silver Light Award from the Association of Moving Image Archivists for outstanding professional achievement in the field of moving image preservation and archives.

We celebrate such scholarly contributions with Professor Stewart’s impactful tenure as a professor and scholar. Her teaching journey began at the University of Chicago in 1999, followed by a transition to an associate professorship at Northwestern University. Returning to the University of Chicago in 2013, she continued to inspire and educate students in film studies, and served as Director of the Arts + Public Life initiative and the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry. She is chair of the National Film Preservation Board (NFPB), where she has led the drafting of reports on diversity, equity, and inclusion on the National Film Registry and in the film archival profession. Stewart was named a 2021 MacArthur Fellow and she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2018. She has served on the Boards of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) and the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA).

Stewart’s leadership at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has been characterized by innovation and a steadfast commitment to preserving the art of cinema. She previously served as the museum’s Chief Artistic and Programming Officer and is currently the Director and President. Under her direction, the museum has flourished as a hub for cinematic exploration, showcasing diverse perspectives and engaging audiences worldwide. As host of “Silent Sunday Nights” on Turner Classic Movies since 2019, Stewart has introduced new audiences to this foundational period in film history.

Jacqueline Stewart’s commitment to fostering a more inclusive and diverse cinematic narrative has been an inspiration to scholars, filmmakers, and audiences alike. Her tireless efforts to amplify underrepresented voices in film align seamlessly with SCMS’s mission to promote inclusivity and diversity within the world of cinema and media studies.

“Jacqueline Stewart’s commitment to fostering a more inclusive and diverse cinematic narrative has been an inspiration to scholars, filmmakers, and audiences alike,” remarked Victoria E. Johnson, President of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. “Her tireless efforts to amplify underrepresented voices in film align seamlessly with SCMS’s mission to promote inclusivity and diversity within the world of cinema and media studies.”

The special event honoring Jacqueline Stewart will take place at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies 65th Annual Conference in Boston, MA, on Friday, March 15, where she will be celebrated for her remarkable achievements and unwavering dedication to advancing the study and appreciation of cinema.

About the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS): The Society for Cinema and Media Studies is the leading scholarly organization in the United States dedicated to promoting a broad understanding of film, television, and related media through research and teaching grounded in the contemporary humanities tradition.

About Jacqueline Stewart: Jacqueline Stewart is a scholar, educator, programmer, author, film archivist, and host of “Silent Sunday Nights” on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). She currently serves as Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Renowned for her work in film studies and cultural preservation, her extensive research and advocacy for inclusivity in cinema have earned her widespread recognition and acclaim in the field.

Leslie LeMond
Society for Cinema and Media Studies
[email protected]
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram