Meet Anna Feder our newest member of the VMA team

Hello! I am the program coordinator, a brand new position in Visual Media Arts. I should start by telling you a bit about my background. I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in film analysis and technique from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. I had a program on WMUA, the campus radio station for two years and served for a year as the photo editor for the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, our campus newspaper. In addition, I served as president of our student film society. After graduation I taught digital photography, radio and television broadcasting, and video production in a residential high school. I taught an introductory video production course at Newbury College and will be teaching a film promotion course at the New England Institute of Art in the spring.

I have worked on film festivals in various capacities for a decade starting as marketing, press relations, and grant coordinator for the UMass Multicultural Film Festival. I volunteered as a projection assistant for three years on the Newport International Film Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. I worked for three years on the Northampton Independent Film Festival as Assistant Director, programming, managing submissions and screenings, writing program copy, site managing and projecting. I am currently going into my fourth season as the director of the Boston Underground Film Festival, a four day festival screening thought provoking, boundary pushing work from all over the world at various venues in Harvard Square.

My position here at Emerson will involve overseeing internships, coordinating the LA Film Festival, and assisting students with getting exposure for their work. I will be holding weekly office hours for students looking to create a strategy for applying to film festivals, entering competitions, and creating press materials. I have hit the ground running and am working to overhaul the website and include a wealth of practical resources for students. I have gathered information on area festivals, student film festivals, competitions, networking sites, and volunteer opportunities. I want to keep students abreast of the opportunities that are out there for them to share their work, meet professionals in their field, and prepare themselves for a career.