Episode 52: Reality Matters

In the depths of winter, we take you to warm, sunny Italy! Our intrepid host Chris Becker, apparently unsure how to order “pizza” in Italian, nonetheless bravely heads to Matera in order to talk with documentarians Chiara Ferrari and Quinn Winchell about cultural tourism in Matera (the setting for films from James Bond to Passion of the Christ). We then re-air the 2014 Fieldnotes segment with influential film scholar Thomas Elsaesser, who passed away in December, 2019. Finally, Michael and Chris banter about the year in media and politics, including the role of universities in social justice activism.