Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
@benjaminschultzfig.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies at Seattle University. Author of The Celluloid Specimen: Moving Image Research into Animal Life available from UC Press here:
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520342347/the-celluloid-specimen
https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520342347/the-celluloid-specimen
Pinned
The Celluloid Specimen
A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. In The Celluloid Specimen, ...
www.ucpress.edu
Obligatory book promotion post for the new platform. Check out my @ucpress.bsky.social book THE CELLULOID SPECIMEN: MOVING IMAGE RESEARCH INTO ANIMAL LIFE for free here:
www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520...
www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520...
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
The winners of last year's Capturing Ecology photography competition are truly amazing. You can see them all here:
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/capturing-ec...
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/capturing-ec...
January 22, 2026 at 5:54 PM
The winners of last year's Capturing Ecology photography competition are truly amazing. You can see them all here:
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/capturing-ec...
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/capturing-ec...
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
Just finished teaching this. The more I think about it, the more I really believe BoaN is a precursor to the fascist aesthetics of the Nazis. So much of the film is about the spectacle of orderly and anonymous white crowds moving in unison (juxtaposed to the "mob" of Black people).
A couple of thoughts about Birth of a Nation as I prepare to teach it again at the end of the week:
January 23, 2026 at 1:52 AM
Just finished teaching this. The more I think about it, the more I really believe BoaN is a precursor to the fascist aesthetics of the Nazis. So much of the film is about the spectacle of orderly and anonymous white crowds moving in unison (juxtaposed to the "mob" of Black people).
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
"The lies this administration is telling about Ms. Good aren’t those you deploy as part of a cover-up. They’re those you use when you want to show you can get away with anything. They’re a projection of power." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...
Opinion | I’ve Covered Police Abuse for 20 Years. What ICE Is Doing Is Different.
www.nytimes.com
January 23, 2026 at 4:01 AM
"The lies this administration is telling about Ms. Good aren’t those you deploy as part of a cover-up. They’re those you use when you want to show you can get away with anything. They’re a projection of power." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...
Just finished teaching this. The more I think about it, the more I really believe BoaN is a precursor to the fascist aesthetics of the Nazis. So much of the film is about the spectacle of orderly and anonymous white crowds moving in unison (juxtaposed to the "mob" of Black people).
A couple of thoughts about Birth of a Nation as I prepare to teach it again at the end of the week:
January 23, 2026 at 1:52 AM
Just finished teaching this. The more I think about it, the more I really believe BoaN is a precursor to the fascist aesthetics of the Nazis. So much of the film is about the spectacle of orderly and anonymous white crowds moving in unison (juxtaposed to the "mob" of Black people).
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
Trust my institution to be on the wrong side of any issue, even as we claim the pursuit of social justice as one of our main guiding principles.
seattlespectator.com/2026/01/21/b...
seattlespectator.com/2026/01/21/b...
Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility Invited to February Career Fair
Given the current political climate surrounding immigration, some students were surprised when Seattle University’s Crime and Justice Research Center made the decision to invite the United States Cust...
seattlespectator.com
January 22, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Trust my institution to be on the wrong side of any issue, even as we claim the pursuit of social justice as one of our main guiding principles.
seattlespectator.com/2026/01/21/b...
seattlespectator.com/2026/01/21/b...
Trust my institution to be on the wrong side of any issue, even as we claim the pursuit of social justice as one of our main guiding principles.
seattlespectator.com/2026/01/21/b...
seattlespectator.com/2026/01/21/b...
Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility Invited to February Career Fair
Given the current political climate surrounding immigration, some students were surprised when Seattle University’s Crime and Justice Research Center made the decision to invite the United States Cust...
seattlespectator.com
January 22, 2026 at 7:18 PM
Trust my institution to be on the wrong side of any issue, even as we claim the pursuit of social justice as one of our main guiding principles.
seattlespectator.com/2026/01/21/b...
seattlespectator.com/2026/01/21/b...
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
"A real-time oral history of the ICE assault on Minnesota." 🔥 @usefulnoise.bsky.social
racketmn.com/voices-of-th...
racketmn.com/voices-of-th...
Voices of the MN Occupation - Racket
A real-time oral history of the ICE assault on Minnesota
racketmn.com
January 22, 2026 at 6:56 PM
"A real-time oral history of the ICE assault on Minnesota." 🔥 @usefulnoise.bsky.social
racketmn.com/voices-of-th...
racketmn.com/voices-of-th...
The winners of last year's Capturing Ecology photography competition are truly amazing. You can see them all here:
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/capturing-ec...
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/capturing-ec...
January 22, 2026 at 5:54 PM
The winners of last year's Capturing Ecology photography competition are truly amazing. You can see them all here:
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/capturing-ec...
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/capturing-ec...
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
Since we're all talking about tool use by animals, here's a picture from 2012 of a brown bear using a rock to exfoliate.
January 20, 2026 at 12:51 AM
Since we're all talking about tool use by animals, here's a picture from 2012 of a brown bear using a rock to exfoliate.
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
Me and this bear have the same skincare routine.
Since we're all talking about tool use by animals, here's a picture from 2012 of a brown bear using a rock to exfoliate.
January 20, 2026 at 4:22 AM
Me and this bear have the same skincare routine.
A couple of thoughts about Birth of a Nation as I prepare to teach it again at the end of the week:
January 20, 2026 at 5:06 AM
A couple of thoughts about Birth of a Nation as I prepare to teach it again at the end of the week:
Since we're all talking about tool use by animals, here's a picture from 2012 of a brown bear using a rock to exfoliate.
January 20, 2026 at 12:51 AM
Since we're all talking about tool use by animals, here's a picture from 2012 of a brown bear using a rock to exfoliate.
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
Rereading @allyfield.bsky.social's piece again. It's just so wonderful! Thinking of screening Laughing Gas (1907) this time around as well. Alongside Something Good--Negro Kiss, it's a film that shows how racial images were *contested* in early cinema, rather than being monolithic.
January 19, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Rereading @allyfield.bsky.social's piece again. It's just so wonderful! Thinking of screening Laughing Gas (1907) this time around as well. Alongside Something Good--Negro Kiss, it's a film that shows how racial images were *contested* in early cinema, rather than being monolithic.
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
This is the second (of two!) issue of the Deadlands for which I was guest editor for fiction! Stories by Alan Fisher, Marischa Pichette, Dmitri Akers, Jeremy Morris, Joe Koch, Aliya Whiteley, and Sadoeuphemist, and with another lovely, stark cover from @carlydraws.bsky.social
January 20, 2026 at 12:17 AM
This is the second (of two!) issue of the Deadlands for which I was guest editor for fiction! Stories by Alan Fisher, Marischa Pichette, Dmitri Akers, Jeremy Morris, Joe Koch, Aliya Whiteley, and Sadoeuphemist, and with another lovely, stark cover from @carlydraws.bsky.social
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
CFP for the @nontheatricalscms.bsky.social SIG's Student Essay Award! Click the link to read the full description. Be sure to send to your colleagues and students!
amianet.org/wp-content/u...
amianet.org/wp-content/u...
amianet.org
January 19, 2026 at 8:25 PM
CFP for the @nontheatricalscms.bsky.social SIG's Student Essay Award! Click the link to read the full description. Be sure to send to your colleagues and students!
amianet.org/wp-content/u...
amianet.org/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
Good.
if you prefer getting freaky to a free collection of public domain films maintained by wikipedia editors, perhaps consider "wikiflix and chill" wikiflix.toolforge.org#/
January 19, 2026 at 11:48 PM
Good.
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
It's a problem that actual elected officials post on social media as if they are powerless observers and commentators.
January 19, 2026 at 10:14 PM
It's a problem that actual elected officials post on social media as if they are powerless observers and commentators.
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
What all this self-pitying sludge about ICE agents feeling depressed and scared is forcing into our collective forebrain is the knowledge that our culture has placed a premium not just on creating classes of men who kill and torture at will, but on forcing the rest of us to love them at gunpoint.
January 19, 2026 at 12:44 AM
What all this self-pitying sludge about ICE agents feeling depressed and scared is forcing into our collective forebrain is the knowledge that our culture has placed a premium not just on creating classes of men who kill and torture at will, but on forcing the rest of us to love them at gunpoint.
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
These are tumultuous, pivotal times for US higher ed. I’ve thought repeatedly abt how much I hope that, this admissions season, candidates will choose schools that embody the values they want to define a better future world. The prestige factory institutions have exemplified moral bankruptcy.
January 18, 2026 at 9:31 PM
These are tumultuous, pivotal times for US higher ed. I’ve thought repeatedly abt how much I hope that, this admissions season, candidates will choose schools that embody the values they want to define a better future world. The prestige factory institutions have exemplified moral bankruptcy.
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
I am exhausted
January 19, 2026 at 9:41 PM
I am exhausted
CFP for the @nontheatricalscms.bsky.social SIG's Student Essay Award! Click the link to read the full description. Be sure to send to your colleagues and students!
amianet.org/wp-content/u...
amianet.org/wp-content/u...
amianet.org
January 19, 2026 at 8:25 PM
CFP for the @nontheatricalscms.bsky.social SIG's Student Essay Award! Click the link to read the full description. Be sure to send to your colleagues and students!
amianet.org/wp-content/u...
amianet.org/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
Charles Burnett’s masterpiece captures the trials, fragile joys, and tenacious humor of Black working-class life in 1970s Los Angeles.
The new restoration of KILLER OF SHEEP (1977) is now streaming on Kino Film Collection: knlor.com/4qZtU7p
The new restoration of KILLER OF SHEEP (1977) is now streaming on Kino Film Collection: knlor.com/4qZtU7p
January 19, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Charles Burnett’s masterpiece captures the trials, fragile joys, and tenacious humor of Black working-class life in 1970s Los Angeles.
The new restoration of KILLER OF SHEEP (1977) is now streaming on Kino Film Collection: knlor.com/4qZtU7p
The new restoration of KILLER OF SHEEP (1977) is now streaming on Kino Film Collection: knlor.com/4qZtU7p
Rereading @allyfield.bsky.social's piece again. It's just so wonderful! Thinking of screening Laughing Gas (1907) this time around as well. Alongside Something Good--Negro Kiss, it's a film that shows how racial images were *contested* in early cinema, rather than being monolithic.
January 19, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Rereading @allyfield.bsky.social's piece again. It's just so wonderful! Thinking of screening Laughing Gas (1907) this time around as well. Alongside Something Good--Negro Kiss, it's a film that shows how racial images were *contested* in early cinema, rather than being monolithic.
Reposted by Benjamín Schultz-Figueroa
I love @palestinespace.bsky.social so much. The auto-generated English captions on this YouTube video seems pretty good, if you're interested in learning more:
youtu.be/zAJSOWoRgDM?...
youtu.be/zAJSOWoRgDM?...
January 19, 2026 at 4:43 PM
I love @palestinespace.bsky.social so much. The auto-generated English captions on this YouTube video seems pretty good, if you're interested in learning more:
youtu.be/zAJSOWoRgDM?...
youtu.be/zAJSOWoRgDM?...