Nitzan Ben Shaul (PhD), Professor of Film and Television
Born 31.1.1957
A. EDUCATION
Tel-Aviv University: Film and Television, BFA (1984); General History, BA (1984)
New York University: Cinema Studies, MA (1986); Cinema Studies, PhD (1993)
Title of Doctoral dissertation: Expressions of the `Siege Syndrome' in Israeli Films, supervised by NYU Professors Annette Michelson and William G. Simon.
Curriculum Vitae
Nitzan Ben Shaul (PhD), Professor of Film and Television
Born 31.1.1957
A. EDUCATION
Tel-Aviv University: Film and Television, BFA (1984); General History, BA (1984)
New York University: Cinema Studies, MA (1986); Cinema Studies, PhD (1993)
Title of Doctoral dissertation: Expressions of the `Siege Syndrome' in Israeli Films, supervised by NYU Professors Annette Michelson and William G. Simon.
B. ACADEMIC AND OTHER POSITIONS
Academic positions
Israel National Council for Higher Education (MALAG): Chair: Committee for B.Ed. in film – Vizo College, Haifa (2009-2013); Chair: Committee for MA/MFA in film – Sapir College, Shderot (2010-2012); Chair: Committee for B.Ed./M. F.A. Film Program – Beit Berl College (2012); Chair of Ad Hoc professional Committee for Associate professor in documentary filmmaking (Beit Berl); Reviewer for Ad Hoc professional Committee for full professor (Sapir college); Reviewer for Ad Hoc professional Committee for Associate professor (Open University of Israel, Department of Literature, language, and the Arts (28.10.23); Chair of Ad Hoc professional Committee for Associate professor- creator- in digital art interaction (Shenkar College, department of digital media production design) – issued letters requesting professional file reviews; chaired three discussions with committee members; drafted a recommendation for promotion letter on behalf of committee.
Other positions
Reviewer of Bezalel Academy of Arts, Jerusalem, and the Department of Screen based arts request to open an M.F.A. degree program; Reviewer of Open University, Ra'anana, Israel, department of Film and Television request to open a B.A. degree program.
Academic positions
Tel Aviv University: Film and Television Department: Instructor (1990 – 95); Instructor Dr (1995-97); Guest Lecturer (1997-99); Lecturer (1999-2001); Senior Lecturer (2001-07); Tenured (2004); Associate Professor (2007-2012); Full Professor (2012 -); Founder and former Head of the Digital Media 4-year course of study towards BA/MFA degrees (2016 -2023)
Other positions
Institute for Internet Studies: Academic Committee Member (2004 -); Member of post-doc Tel Aviv University Committee (2019).
Academic positions
Faculty of Arts: Chair of Ad Hoc professional Committee for Senior Lecturer with Tenure Proceedings (2009); Chair of Ad Hoc professional Committee for Lecturer Proceedings (2009); Chair of Ad Hoc professional Committee for Senior Lecturer with Tenure Proceedings (2012-13); Chair of Ad Hoc professional Committee for Full Professor proceedings (2018-2022);Member of Ad Hoc professional Committee for Full Professor Proceedings (2018-22); Chair of Ad Hoc professional Committee for Associate professor proceedings (2016); Head of Doctoral Research Committee (2014 – 2017)
Other positions
Faculty Teaching Committee Member (2000-2001); Assistant Dean for Student Services (2004-2006); Member of Doctoral Research Committee (2008-2012); Scholarship Committee (2008- 2013); candidate for Dean(2011). Member of the committee for assessing practical art research in the faculty of Arts (presented Howard Gardner’s “Problem-Solving in the Arts and Sciences” within a Zoom meeting of the committee (Nov. 2. 2021).
Academic positions
Tel Aviv University, Film and Television Department: Acting Head of Dept. (2001-2002); MFA Program Head (2000-2001); Teaching Committee Head (2003); Student Advisor (1996-2000); Established a "media lab" at the Department (2001); Initiation and Supervision of cluster of courses on cognitive film studies (together with professors, Yeshayahu Shen, Zohar Eitan, and Dr. Ronen Sadka 2012 -).
Academic positions
Steve Tisch School of Film and Television: Founder and former Head of the Digital Media 4-year course of study towards BA/MFA degrees (2016 - 2023); Member of Teaching Committee (2014- 2023). Designed a videogame specialization track within the digital media program I headed (2023).
C. Awards and Fellowships
NDS and Partner Institute for Internet Studies: "Internet Video Services Impact on Video Consumers". Principal Investigator, granted 20,000 USD (2008)
TAU Fund for Applied Research: "Model and Platform for Authoring Hyper-Narrative Interactive Movies (HNIM)". Principal Investigator, granted 60,000 USD out of 100,000 USD with 40K postponed due to the fall of Bernei Madoff (2008)
Berkeley Video and Film Festival, "Grand Festival Experimental Award" for the interactive movie Turbulence (September 2010)
Israel Science Foundation (ISF), Winner of a four-year Personal Research Grants Program, Averaging circa 50K per year (application No. 2113/22). First year research concluded (2023); second year research (2024) approved for funding by ISF.
D. RESEARCH AREAS
Cognitive study of film; cinematic narratives; digital media; videogames and cinema; Israeli cinema; TV news; globalization; Suspense Structures in Movies; VR and Video games; Complex Narration in Contemporary cinema; Film Space vs. Interactive Space in Videogames; Audiovisual Interactive narration in films and video games; Siege Mentality in Israeli Films; Optional Thinking and close mindedness in narrative movies; Theory of film and television.
Sabbaticals
New York University: Cinema Studies Dept. (hosted by Professor Annette Michelson, 2003).
University of California at Berkeley: Cinema Studies Dept. (hosted by Professor Tony Kaes, 2010).
Venice International University: Globalization Program, (hosted by Professor Luca Pes, 2012).
Tufts University: Film and Media Dept. (hosted by Associate professor Tasha Oren, Head of Dept. and Professor Samuel W. Thomas, Dean of Academic Affairs, School of Arts and Sciences (2023).
Forthcoming (August 1 2024 to jan. 31, 2025)
Brandeis University, Schusterman Center (hosted by Professor Alexander kaye, center director)
INVITED PRESENTATIONS
Faculty of Film Studies Colloquium, Yale University, US: "The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict on Film (2001)
Kosmorama seminar on "Cinema in the Middle East" held by the Danish Center for Culture and Development, University of Copenhagen, Denmark: "Siege Mentality in Israeli Films" (2006)
Second Locarno Film Festival Academy, Locarno Film Festival, Locarno, Switzerland: "Introducing the next phase of storytelling in the interactive multimedia world" (2011)
International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED2011), Valencia, Spain: Optional Thinking Development through Branching Narrative Interactive Movie Workshops (BNIMW) Among Youth in Situations of Risk and Distress” (with Irit Numa, 2011).
Mostra International de Filmes Interativos, Brasilia, Brazil: "A New Interactive Film Model" (2011)
Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture: "Interactive Cinema" (2012)
Filmatic Festival, University of California, San Diego (UCSD)Turbulence (2014).
Keele, U.K., department of Film Studies “Figurations of Siege mentality in Israeli Films", February 2018
https://www.facebook.com/events/281189679080201/
UNSAM University, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Campus Miguelete, February 2018
March 2023,”presentation of Turbulence in respect of Optional Thinking at the research unit, Institut de Recherche sur le Cinéma et l’Audiovisuel (IRCAV), in the Sorbonne Nouvelle University.
forthcoming March 19-26, 2024’”presentation of Turbulence interactive movie, and viewers’ participation” at the research unit, Institut de Recherche sur le Cinéma et l’Audiovisuel (IRCAV), in the Sorbonne Nouvelle University.
EDITORSHIP
Ben Shaul, N., Gertz, N., Zanger, A., Ne’eman, J. (eds.), Special Issue, Israeli Cinema, Shofar, Vol. 24, No. 1, fall 2005
Ben Shaul, N., Dossier Editor: Morphing Realities: The Current Inscription of the Real in Film and Television, Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media, 49-1, Spring 2008
Ben Shaul, N., Member of the editorial board of Jewish Film & New Media: An International Journal, (2012-2014)
ORGANIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
6th-13th Tel Aviv Bi-annual International Conference on Cinema Studies, steering and program Committee; panel chair. Paper presentation (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018,2023).
4th International Conference on Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI2011), Madrid, Spain, International scientific advisory board (2011).
"How Movies Move Us" International Conference, Tel Aviv University, Israel, steering and program committee (2012).
Films in Venice and Filming Venice summer School, Venice International University (VIU), Scientific Committee (2018-2023).
International Conference "Adventures in Cinema Studies in Memory of Professor Annette Michelson, Tel Aviv University, Steve Tisch School of Film and Television (May 2019).
REVIEWER AS ACADEMIC REFEREE : International Communication Association; Israel Communication Association; National Identities Journal; Shofar Journal (2023); New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia Journal (2023);Minerva Foundation, Vienna Science and Technology Fund; Rodopi publishers, Israel Studies Review Journal, Berghahn Publishers; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC);Reviewer of over 10 PhD theses (TAU Humanities Faculty; Culture School; TAU Faculty of Arts: Steve Tisch School of Film & Television studies; and the Interdisciplinary Program at TAU’s Faculty of Arts.
ACADEMY MEMBERSHIPS
Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image (SCSMI), USA (2007- )
PhD/MA/POST-DOC SUPERVISOR
PhD: Gabi Aharoni Yunes (with Prof. Raanan Rein), Tel Aviv University (PhD Granted 2012 ); Orit Fussfeld Cohen, Tel Aviv University (PhD Granted 2013); Michal Pick-Hamou, Tel Aviv University (PhD Granted 2014); Anat Biger, Tel Aviv University (PhD Granted 2016); Irit Numa, Tel Aviv University (PhD granted 2016); Ronen Gil, Tel Aviv University ( PhD granted 2020); Dor Yaccobi (with Prof. Architect Eran Newman), Tel Aviv University( PhD Granted 2023); Orit Fussfeld Cohen, Tel Aviv University (PhD Granted 2013);;Yair Dash, Tel Aviv University (2018 -); Itsik Rosen, Tel Aviv University(2017-); Alexey Izmalkov, Tel Aviv University (2023- (with Prof. mark Lipowetsky).
MA Thesis Supervisor: Alexei Ismalkov, Tel Aviv University (MA granted 2021);
Kelly Goldstein (Tel Aviv University (2022- )
Post-Doc: Omri Ruah-Midbar, Tel Aviv University (2007)
EXAMPLES OF LEADERSHIP IN INDUSTRIAL INNOVATION
InSplit Systems Ltd., Founder (established in 2008). The company dealt with technological solutions for interactive videos that enable personal or crowd participation in movies, TV shows and web videos in real-time. Technology and site name assigned to IMOVI Ltd. in 2012; Inventions, Inc. Exhibition at Jerusalem’s Bloomfield Science Museum, selected for exhibition as one of Israel's 45 top inventions for the model and technology of the interactive movie Turbulence. (December 2011).
Some Press coverage indicating leadership in industrial innovation appeared at:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1710021/turbulence-an-israeli-interactive-mov...
ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS
conferences: Dallas, Texas, US (1996), Chicago, IL, US (2000), Denver, Colorado, US (2002) paper presentations; Association for Israeli Studies (AIS) Conference, Boston, US, paper presentation (1996); 22nd and 23rd Annual Conference on Film and Literature, Tallahassee, Florida, US, paper presentations (1997, 1998); 49th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, San Francisco, US, paper presentation (1999); DAC (Digital Arts and Culture Conference), Melbourne, Australia, paper presentation (2003); 9th Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI), Navarra University, Pamplona, Spain, paper presentation (2004); The 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th. 10th, 11th, 13th Tel Aviv International Conference on Cinema Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel, co-organizer, panel chair, and paper presentations (2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2023); Digital Media and Art Association (iDMAa) conference, National University, San Diego, California, US, paper presentation (2006); Film and History League conferences: Dallas, Texas, US, (2006), San Francisco, US (2008), Seattle, US (2016) panel chair and paper presentations; Conference of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS), Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan, paper presentation (2007); InSea Conference, University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland, paper presentation (2010); Society for Cognitive Studies of the Moving Image (SCSMI) conferences: University of Wisconsin, Madison, US (2008), University of Copenhagen, Denmark (2009), University of Virginia Tech, Roanoke, Virginia, US (2010), ELTE University, Budapest, Hungary (2011), Berlin University of the Arts, Berlin, Germany (2013) , paper presentations; University of Mumbai, Kalina Campus, Mumbai, India, paper presentation (2017), O.P. Jindal Global University, New Delhi, India (2017);
2020 Paper presentation, “VR’s Uncanny Space” 2020 Screen Studies Conference; 2021 Keynote invited lecture “VR versus cinematic audiovisual narration, sense of presence and point of view”, Narrative, Media and Cognition VI conference: Reconfigurations: New Narrative Challenges of the Moving Image, Theatre and Film School of the Lisbon Polytechnic Institute, Portugal;
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JDUCF_c42RsHznei3CBL8jS6zjXCq0KZ/view?usp=sharing
March 2023,”presentation of Turbulence in respect of Optional Thinking at the research unit, Institut de Recherche sur le Cinéma et l’Audiovisuel (IRCAV), in the Sorbonne Nouvelle University.
forthcoming March 19-26, 2024’”presentation of Turbulence interactive movie, and viewers’ participation” at the research unit, Institut de Recherche sur le Cinéma et l’Audiovisuel (IRCAV), in the Sorbonne Nouvelle University.
(Forthcoming conference (paper accepted): International Conference “Learning, Life, Work, California Institute of Integral Studies, CIIS, San Francisco, June, 10-12 2024.
(Forthcoming IFM 2024 International virtual conference: Communities, Structures, Entanglements June, 12-14, 2024 (paper submitted: “Optional Thinking and Loop Disentanglement Strategies in Films and Videogames”).
2022 video and paper presentation, “The Drama-Driven Model of Interaction and Optional Thinking typed interactive epistemology in the Interactive Film Turbulence (Ben Shaul, 2009), IFM2022 Conference.
2022 panel Chair and paper presentation, international conference in Memory of film director Professor Judd Neeman;
Films in Venice and Filming Venice,
https://www.univiu.org/study/summer-schools/films-in-venice-and-filming-venice 2018- 2022 Editions
E. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS & MONOGRAPHS
1.Ben-Shaul, N. Mythical Expressions of Siege in Israeli Films, Lewiston, NY. Edwin Mellen Press, 1997
2. Ben-Shaul, N. Introduction to Film Theories, Dyonon, Tel Aviv University, 2000
3. Ben-Shaul, N. A Violent World: TV News Images of Middle Eastern Terror and War, Lanham, Madison, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006 currently working on an expanded and revised edition focusing on the current Israel Hamas War
4. Ben-Shaul, N. Film: The Key Concepts, Oxford, Berg Publishers, 2007
5. Ben-Shaul, N. Hyper-Narrative Interactive Cinema: Problems and Solutions, Amsterdam & New York, Rodopi, 2008
6. Ben-Shaul, N. Cinema of Choice: Optional Thinking and Narrative Movies, London & New York, Berghahn Publishers, 2012 hard copy publication (Published in Paperback, 2015). Translation into Hebrew rights purchased by Am Oved Publishers, 2018.
7. Translation into Hebrew of Cinema of Choice: Optional Thinking and Narrative Movies, Am Oved Publishers, 2021).
8. FILM PRODUCTION
Ben-Shaul, N. (Principal Investigator, Principal Scriptwriter, Co-Producer and Director): Turbulence: First Hyper-narrative Interactive Movie, TAU Fund for Applied Research, 2009, (83 minutes total)
PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS
1. Ben Shaul, N. "The Politics of the Author" Sratim No. 3, 1987 (pp. 28-29) (Hebrew)
2. Ben Shaul, N. "Siege" Sratim No. 4, 1989 (pp. 2-9) (Hebrew)
3. Ben Shaul, N. "To Write a Song before Going out to War" Moznaim, 1/63, 1993 pp. (36-38) (Hebrew)
4. Ben Shaul, N. "The Secret Relation between `Burekas` and `Personal` Israeli Films," Fictive Looks - On Israeli Cinema, Tel Aviv, Open University, 1998 (pp. 128-134) (Hebrew)
5. Ben Shaul, N. "Representation of Bereavement over Death in War in Israeli Films" Mifneh, 1999 (Hebrew)
6. Ben-Shaul, N. "Different yet Even: The Effacement of Power in Post-Structuralism - The Case of Seinfeld", Third Text 51, 2000, (pp. 75-85)
7. Ben-Shaul, N. "Three Film Versions: Three Periods in the Representation of the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict", Zmanim No. 75, 2001 (pp. 68-75) (Hebrew)
8. Ben-Shaul, N. "Outline of a Cognitive-Developmental Approach for Comprehending the Art of Cinema", the International Journal of Education & the Arts (IJEA), Volume 2, Number 6, 2001
9. Ben-Shaul, N. "Film Genres as Syndromes - The Genre of Siege", Assaph Kolnoa, D, No. 2, 2001 (pp. 97-120)
10. Ben-Shaul, N. "Racial Disharmony and Imagined Socialist Harmony in Tent City: Representation of Inter-ethnic Tensions in 1950s Israel", Motar, No. 10, 2002 (pp. 51-56) (Hebrew)
11. Ben-Shaul, N. "Book Review of Abstracting Reality: Art Communication, and Cognition in the Digital Age, by Mark J. P. Wolf", Film Quarterly, Vol. 55, # 4, 2002 (pp. 49-51)
12. Ben-Shaul, N. "Split Attention Problems in New Media", Filmartforum (FAF), Vol. 17, 2003 Ben-Shaul, N.
13. "Can Narrative Films go Interactive?" New Cinemas Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, 2004 (pp. 149-162)
14. Ben-Shaul, N. "Syndromic Analysis of Films as Historical Documents", in History and Memory – A Dangerous Relationship? Zalman Shazar History Center Publications, 2004 (pp. 55-72) (Hebrew)
15. Ben-Shaul, N. "Fellow Traveler: The Cinematic-Political Consciousness of Judd Ne’eman", Shofar, Volume 24, Number 1, fall 2005 (pp. 94-107)
16. Ben-Shaul, N. "TV News: Visual Ideological Frames and the Coverage of Terror Events", Third Text, 73, Volume 19, Issue 2, March 2005 (pp. 145-155)
17. Ben-Shaul, N. "The Euphoric Decade: Vulgar Poetics and Dishonesty in Post-1967 Israeli Films", Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, Volume 4, Number 2, July 2005 (pp. 233-243)
18. Ben-Shaul, N. "Interethnic tensions in a nation under siege", Kosmorama #237, 2006 (pp. 39-53) (Danish)
19. Ben-Shaul, N. "Israeli Persecution Films", in Traditions in World Cinema, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2006, New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press, 2006 (pp. 160-176)
20. Ben-Shaul, N. "Split Narrative Films and the Problem of Attention Engagement", Journal of the International Digital Media and Art Association (iDMAa), Vol. 4: number 2: Fall 2007 (pp.13-21)
21. Ben-Shaul, N. "Kippur", in North African and Middle Eastern Cinema, London: Wallflower Press (24 Frame Series), 2007 (pp. 213-223)
22. Ben-Shaul, N. Dossier Editor and Writing of Introduction: Morphing Realities: The Current Inscription of the Real in Film and Television, Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media 49-1, 2008
23. Ben Shaul, N. "Tensions between Ethnicity and National Culture and Their Expression in Israeli Films’ Articulation of Space," Israel: Studies in Zionism and the State of Israel, History, Society, Culture, No. 14, 2008 (pp. 151-166) (Hebrew)
24. Ben-Shaul, N. "Ideological Implications of Baudrillard’s Notion of Simulacra, CinemaScope Independent Film Journal, Year IV, Issue 10, January-June 2008 (pp. 1-6)
25. Ben-Shaul, N. "Israeli Films on War", IL cinema israeliano contemporaneo Nuovocinema (Italian Pesaro, 2009, N. 67 (pp. 147-167)
26. Ben Shaul, N. "Protest within a Bubble: Contemporary Israeli film’s relation to the Occupation, “in 40 Years of Occupation, Tel Aviv University, Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research, 2009 (pp. 157-163) Hebrew)
27. Ben-Shaul, N. "Disjointed Narratives in Contemporary Israeli Films", in Israeli Cinema- Identities in Motion, Austin, University of Texas Press, 2011 (pp. 113-120)
28. Ben Shaul, N., and Segelman, A., "Television under Siege", Jewish Quarterly: Contemporary Writing, Politics and Culture, No. 222, 2012, (pp. 44-48)
29. Ben Shaul, N. and Pick Hamou, M. "A Certain Tendency in Israeli Cinema", in Cinema: Made in The Middle East, Netherlands, LM Publishers (Forthcoming?)
30. Ben Shaul, N. "Laughter and the Status Quo- the TV Sitcom," in Comedy: from Aristophanes to Seinfeld Vol 2. Chapter 13, Open University of Israel, 2018 (pp. 295- 319) (Hebrew)
31. Benshaul, N. "Imagination vs. Orientation: Identifying the Role of Imagination and Orientation in Mixed Documentary and Live Action Cinematic and Virtual displays"(Submitted to Israel Science Foundation ISF, 2019).
32. Benshaul, N. “Optional Thinking (OT) Development and negative Stereotype change by Branching-Plot Film Workshops for Youngsters." (Submitted to Israel Science Foundation ISF, 2022), Winner of a four-year Personal Research Grants Program, Averaging circa 50K per year (application No. 2113/22).
33. Ben-Shaul, N. “The Drama-Driven Model of interaction and optional Thinking Epistemology in the Interactive Film Turbulence (Ben-Shaul, 2009), Interactive Film & Media Journal, 2(2), 2022).
34. Ben-Shaul, N. (PI) et al "Internet Video Services Impact on Video Consumers", The Institute for Internet Studies, TAU, 2009, (153 pages) Ben-Shaul, N. (Principal Inventor) et al.
35. Ben-Shaul, N. (Principal Inventor) et al. “System for generating an interactive or non-interactive Branching Movie Segment by Segment and Methods Useful in Conjunction Therewith”, Patent Application number: 12/936,824; Publication number: US 2011/0126106 A1; Publication Date: May 26, 2011; Filing date: Apr 7, 2009 (88 pp).
36. Ben-Shaul, N. (Principal Inventor) et al. "An Improved System for Generation of an Interactive or Non-Interactive Branching Movie Segment by Segment and Methods Useful in Conjunction Therewith" Provisional Patent Application No. 61/481,376, filed on May 2nd, 2011.
