Shari Rothfarb Mekonen
Professor
Deputy Chairperson
Media Arts and Technology
EMAIL: smekonen@bmcc.cuny.edu
Office: S-622D
Office Hours:
Phone: +1 (212) 220-8102
Professor and award-winning filmmaker Shari Rothfarb Mekonen is Deputy Chair of BMCC’s Media Arts and Technology Department. She teaches VAT 171: Remote Production/Video Editing I, VAT 271: Remote Production/Video Editing II and MES 153: Scriptwriting at BMCC, and produces her own film projects.
These include the documentary 400 MILES TO FREEDOM, a 2012 documentary that received positive reviews in City Arts, New York’s Review of Culture, IndieWire, and other publications; premiered at the NY Jewish Film Festival, Lincoln Center; and has screened at numerous international festivals and other venues including the Africa World Documentary Film Festival and the Toronto, San Francisco, Zagreb, Miami, Palm Beach, and Jerusalem Jewish Film Festivals. 400 MILES TO FREEDOM received a Platinum REMI Award at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, and is distributed by 7th Art Releasing.
Professor Mekonen is also the director of the short films FUR (Filmmaker Magazine Audience Award, and Best Director Award, Columbia Film Festival, Director’sGuild of America) and OCEAN AVENUE (Best Film Award, Columbia Film Festival, Director’s Guild of America), featured in numerous international festivals including the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival, Alcala Shorts Film Festival, Spain, Athens International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Shorts Film Festival and Women in the Director’s Chair. Her art and video work has been featured in the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Jewish Museum, NY, and other museums and galleries in the U.S. and in Europe. Professor Mekonen is currently completing THE SEA IS MY BROTHER, a 12-hour documentary, and is in production on HEROES (working title), a feature length documentary.
She attended the Whitney Independent Study Program and holds a B.F.A. in Fine Art from Cooper Union and an M.F.A. with honors in Film from Columbia University.
Expertise
Degrees
- M.F.A. Columbia University School of the Arts, Film,
- B.F.A. Cooper Union, Fine Art,
Courses Taught
- This course focuses on writing treatments and scripts for the screen and video. Students learn the basics of visualizing narratives in 3-act structure; how to identify fiction and non-fiction genres; how to create character and story; how to research and write treatments and outlines; how to write single-column screenplays for narratives and two-column scripts for documentary scripts; and how to give and receive critiques on script work. Throughout, students will develop the basic skills necessary to write and revise scripts for upper-level VAT production classes and beyond.
- This course teaches students how to conceptualize, shoot and edit a video project. The use of digital cameras as well as lighting and audio instruments on location will be covered. Students will learn pre-production planning, crew protocols and directing skills as they shoot an original project. The fundamentals of post production techniques, from basic editing to final mastering, are taught in a state-of-the-art digital editing lab.
Prerequisite: VAT 100 and MES 153
Corequisite: MES 152
