Email: thomasf9@illinois.edu
Research Interests
- New Media and Digital Generosity
- Film Theory, with a focus on Third and Fourth Cinema
- Indigenous Representation in Film
- Media and Sociology: Representation, Exploitation, and Labor
- Intersectional Approaches to Media Studies (race, class, gender, sexuality)
- Critical Theory and Media’s Impact on Empathy and Social Responsibility
Recent Publications/Presentations
- “Children of the Corn Sweats” (film in development)
- Recipie for Revenge (2024): Director of Photography
- “Indigenous Voices Reshaping Cinema: Native American Representation in Dances with Wolves (1990) and Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher (2021).” Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal: McNair Special Issue 21, no. 3 (August 2023): 29–45. https://doi.org/10.5399/uo/ourj.
Academic Roles
Thomas is a Graduate Teaching Assistant and Graduate Student Representative for the Society of Cinema and Media Studies. He previously served as a TA for “Billy Wilder’s Hollywood,” and was a Discussion Leader for “Introduction to Cinema” and “Introduction to Television.”
Awards and Honors
- Shriram Fellow, USC School of Cinematic Arts (2023–2024)
- McNair Scholar, University of Oregon (2023)
- Cinema Studies Departmental Honors, University of Oregon (2023)
- New Century Scholar, All-USA Academic Team (2021)
- All-Oregon Academic Team (2021)
What Most People Don’t Know about Me
What most people don’t know about me is that my journey has taken me to some truly unexpected places—both geographically and professionally. During my years in the retail construction industry, I worked across 44 U.S. states and two territories, which gave me a deep appreciation for the sheer variety of American life and landscapes. But one of the most surreal experiences came years later: I stood within a football field’s distance of Reactor #4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant—a place marked by tragedy, history, and myth. Just two days after that, I stood on the Potemkin Stairs in Odesa, the exact location where Sergei Eisenstein shot his iconic montage sequence. That moment was a strange and moving collision of history, media, and memory—one that reminded me why I’m drawn to cinema and its ability to shape how we understand the world.
Related Links
- Portfolio
- CV
- iMDB
- Tom Talks Film (video essay web series)