Film Studies

Dr. Douglas C. Beckwith was a lawyer, comedy writer, cinephile, and pioneer of online learning. Dr. Beckwith grew up in Albion, NE and attended the University of Nebraska, where he received his B.A. in English in 1973. His passion for film blossomed at UNL, and he was especially influenced by English professor emerita June Perry Levine, who taught the university’s first film studies course in 1970 and founded of the Film Studies program.

​Albanian-born Iris Elezi studied film theory and criticism, anthropology and women’s studies at UNL before completing her film production studies at the Tisch School of the Arts (NYU) in 2001. Her editing and directing skills on the award-winning six-part documentary series Under Construction (2007) resulted in the series being chosen for the “Films That Matter” selection for the episode Disposable Heroes.

Rebecca Jacobson is the public outreach coordinator for the National Institute of Science and Technology in Boulder, Colorado. Rebecca graduated from the University of Nebraska with degrees in English and Film Studies. While earning her degree, she began working as an intern at Nebraska Public Media, leading to a career in journalism covering science and technology. She has been a science writer and journalist for PBS, JILA, and the City of Denver.

After a Rocky Mountain upbringing in Cody, Wyoming, Will Fech received a BA in English and Film Studies from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (2008), an MLitt in European Cinema from the University of Glasgow (2011), and an MA in English from Oregon State University (2013). Presently he is a Ph.D. candidate in Film and Moving Image Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, where he healthily obsesses over global art film, exhibition, and pedagogy.

Molly Merrell graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in December 2004 with a degree in English. Currently, she is the Locations Coordinator for the FOX drama Shots Fired and will be doubling up to prepare for the second season of Cinemax's new hit, Outcast.