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Film Critic Mark J. Huisman Donates Papers to Columbia’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library
NEW YORK, September 6, 2006 Mark J. Huisman, film critic, producer, and recipient of the first undergraduate film studies degree at Columbia has donated a collection of manuscripts, personal papers, films, and memorabilia to Columbia’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Huisman’s writing has appeared in The Village Voice, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Nation, The Advocate, Out and other publications. He was the founding arts editor of LGNY (now Gay City News) and a contributing editor for public policy to The Independent Film and Video Monthly. Huisman won Vice Versa Awards for excellence in the gay and lesbian press in 1998 and 1999. His work has frequently focused on gay and lesbian cinema and minority representation in mass media.
Films produced by Huisman, which include The Incredibly True Adventures of 2 Girls in Love, have appeared at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals. He founded The Vito Russo Award, a completion grant which is awarded annually by The New York International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (The New Festival) and which has aided the production of a dozen landmark independent films, including The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye), Treyf (Alysia Lebow and Cynthia Medansky), Trembling Before G-d (Sandi DuBowski) and Brother to Brother (Rodney Evans), all of which received their world premieres at Sundance.
“I’m delighted with the addition of Mark Huisman’s considerable collection of papers to the Columbia Library,” said Richard Peña, director of the New York Film Festival and a film studies professor at Columbia. “Huisman was there, as a critic as well as a participant, during the era in which the American independent cinema emerged as a cultural force. His papers will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in alternative film practice, distribution and exhibition, and especially for studies of gay and lesbian media.”
The Mark J. Huisman Papers comprise 30 linear feet of materials, including taped interviews with prominent film industry figures, manuscript drafts and published works, production notes and records, syllabi, academic writing, video tapes, film stills, books, periodicals, personal and professional correspondence, and memorabilia.
Huisman’s first website, a resource for international travelers with an interest in world cinema, will launch later this year. Huisman is currently completing an MFA in film, with a concentration in screenwriting, at Columbia’s School of the Arts.
When organized and processed, the collection will be available for use. For further information, call the RBML at 212-854-5153.
Columbia University Libraries is one of the top ten academic library systems in the nation, with 9.2 million volumes, over 65,650 serials, as well as extensive collections of electronic resources, manuscripts, rare books, microforms, and other nonprint formats. The collections and services are organized into 25 libraries, supporting specific academic or professional disciplines. Columbia Libraries employs more than 400 professional and support staff to assist faculty, students, and researchers in their academic endeavors. The Libraries’ website at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/ is a gateway to its print and electronic collections and to its services.
The Rare Book & Manuscript Library owns over 500,000 rare books in some 20 book collections and almost 28 million manuscripts in nearly 3,000 separate manuscript collections. It is particularly strong in English and American literature and history, classical authors, children's literature, education, mathematics and astronomy, economics and banking, photography, the history of printing, New York City politics, librarianship, and the performing arts. Individual collections are as eclectic as they are extensive. For more information, please see: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/rbml/index.html.
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