The Crank's Mission

The UCLA Film & TV Archive is one of the biggest assets at UCLA. While containing one of the largest film and media collections in the United States, the UCLA archive has an abundance of films sitting on shelves that rarely—if ever—get shown. In an effort to share the Archive’s rich collection with the UCLA community, The Crank film society runs weekly film screenings that draw from the Archive’s holdings. Based in the Cinema and Media Studies division of the School of Theater, Film, and TV, The Crank is a graduate student organization and class that provides students with practical programming experience. Students curate quarterly film series, research and write detailed program notes, and provide short introductions for each screening. The Crank promises to show films that are either not widely available on video or are such spectacular specimens of nitrate and celluloid that to merely see them on a television set would be a crime both to the student of film and to the canon of film history. We at The Crank believe in watching film on film! We are devoted to cultivating a thriving new generation of filmmakers, film critics, and film lovers. Our faculty advisor is Professor Janet Bergstrom. The Crank is made possible with the generous support of The Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media, and The UCLA Film and Television Archive.

Crank Members

Crank Co-Presidents Jason Gendler, Clifford Hilo

Crank Vice-President Ben Sher

Treasurer Crank Andy Woods

Crank Secretary Bryan Hartzheim

Publicity Cranks Beth Hanna, Mila Zuo, Garrett Jones, and Arminder Randhawa

Program Note Editor Cranks Brian Hu, Mary Samuelson, and Chris Carloy

Usher Crank Harrison Gish

Website Crank Kristy Norindr

Crank Ex-Officio Daniel Steinhart