Journalism and Media Production

Last night, we celebrated the retirement of Tim Kiska, our beloved professor of journalism whose long and illustrious career has included print journalism, television and radio broadcasting, podcasting, book authorship, and so much more. The full house included current and former students who came out to share the meaningful impact Dr. Kiska has had - and will continue to have - on their lives beyond UM-Dearborn.

Congratulations, Tim - you're irreplaceable we will miss you!

--the JuMP community

Congrats to JuMP student Benjamin Filler whose documentary short film Birding with Brian will screen at the Morton Theater in Athens, GA, on August 16th as part of the 2025 Athens Film Festival (8/14-8/17)!

https://athensfilm.com/events/documentary-shorts

Don't miss out next Wednesday! Come see the incredible films created by our talented students. The screening kicks off at 7pm at Phoenix Theatres State Wayne —you won't want to miss this night of creativity and passion on the big screen!

📽️ Next Week: Special Screening of UNION! 🎬

We’re excited to partner with Cinema Detroit to bring the critically acclaimed documentary UNION to U-Mich's Detroit Center! Join us for this powerful film, followed by a lively discussion about labor movements and the fight for workers' rights.

🗓️ Date: October 23
🕕 Time: 6:30PM
📍 Location: U-Mich Detroit Center

This is a screening you won’t want to miss—hope to see you there! 🎟️✨

JuMP students and alums making us proud with the end of year screening of student work at the Phoenix Theatre in Wayne and at the IFFY Film Festival in Ypsilanti! Congratulations to all of our amazing students 🎉

We're super excited for our students Aaron Vensko, Christina Townsend, Lillian Settles and former student Cortney Markham, whose film BECOMING MIGHTY screens today at Freep Film Festival as part of the Real Fresh program. We hope you can go and cheer them on! The screening is free!

Real Fresh University Showcase – Freep Film Festival About this program The Real Fresh program spotlights some of the best documentary work being done by students at area colleges and universities. This year’s collection of a dozen shorts includes a wide variety of filmmaking approaches — and an even wider range of topics, with collegiate filmmake...

Congratulations to students in JASS 315: Media Production for the Metro Community for their fantastic work creating documentaries about the Arab American community in Dearborn this semester!

They celebrated their achievements with a public screening at the Arab American National Museum last week, led by Prof. Adam Sekuler with mentorship from filmmaker-in-residence Moussa El Moussa.

With thanks to the UM Arts Initiative, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Arab American National Museum, and Center for Arab American Studies

Photos by Sarah Nesbitt

CBS Detroit was kind enough to invite me to talk about the late Norman Lear. Here it is. Hope you enjoy.
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/video/looking-back-at-the-life-norman-lear/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h&fbclid=IwAR3IKanwJ7x5CtnAqSA3Y3oBIYHWCaycumCO6CaQF3R8pD02wvRXW-Q_Kcs

Looking back at the life Norman Lear Screenwriter and producer Norman Lear has died at age 101. Tim Kiska, professor of communication at the University of Michigan Dearborn, joined CBS News Detroit to discuss Lear's legacy.

A wonderful write-up about our student's films, which screen next Thursday at Arab American National Museum. Hope you can join us!

https://umdearborn.edu/news/capturing-authentic-stories-arab-american-dearborn

Journalism and Media Production and the Center for Arab American Studies continue their presentation of recent works by Arab American filmmakers this week with a screening of Usama Alshaibi's Nice Bombs. Usama is an Iraqi-American whose films have received several grants from such organizations as the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, the Pl***oy Foundation, and the Creative Capital Foundation for the Arts. Our series is supported through University of Michigan's Arts Initiative and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.

We are screening his film Nice Bombs at the Arab American National Museum on Tuesday at 7PM. He will also be speaking about his artistic practice in CASL 1013 on Tuesday at 12:30PM.

Nice Bombs
Filmmaker Usama Alshaibi in attendance!

In Nice Bombs filmmaker Usama Alshaibi returns to Baghdad to reunite with his family after nearly 24 years. This documentary navigates through his unique relationship to an Iraq that is much different than the country of his childhood. Usama captures the conflicting reactions to the conditions of life in Baghdad. Through a wide range of opinions and experiences he provides a broad panorama of voices long neglected under Saddam’s regime. His cousin Tareef enters the room upon hearing an explosion. “It’s a bomb. A Nice Bomb,” he explains. The phrase is indicative of his family’s nonchalance about their situation. As one young boy put it, “We’re Iraqis. It’s normal.” With humor and resilience Nice Bombs explores Usama’s dual role as both Iraqi and American.

The screening is free and open to the public! 7PM @ Arab American National Museum
13624 Michigan Ave Dearborn, MI 48126

Join us 7PM tomorrow night at Arab American National Museum for the first screening in our Arab American Perspectives program where filmmaker Jude Chehab will introduce her incredible film Q, which was just named on the of the best documentaries of the year by Vogue Magazine. The screening is free and open to the public.

More details here:
https://fb.me/e/3Nzwm0Aqm