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On behalf of the SCMS Board of Directors, our new Executive Director, our staff, the Montreal Host Committee, and the volunteers and consultants who have worked assiduously on the conference, I extend our best wishes to you for a productive and fun conference. Special thanks to the Host Committee, chaired by Haidee Wasson, for designing special events to further engage you in your time in the city. The conference location, the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, is a landmark of this great city with a rich history as one of Canada’s railroad hotels. Queen Elizabeth II stayed here, as did India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, China’s Zhao Ziyang, and South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, among other dignitaries. John Lennon and Yoko Ono are perhaps the most famous couple to lay their heads on Fairmont QE’s pillows. In 1969 Lennon and Ono staged a “bed-in” here, where Lennon also wrote his anti-war anthem, “Give Peace a Chance.” Please note that tours of their suite (1742) will be available during your stay. On a different front, no matter what the weather might be like, make sure to take the elevator down to the plaza underneath the Fairmont, which offers an impressive array of eateries and boutiques, handy for a quick meal or some shopping or, if time allows, for more general flâneurie. I also want to warmly welcome SCMS’s newly appointed Executive Director, Jill Simpson. The hiring of an Executive Director came after long preparation by the SCMS Board to meet a central goal of the Society’s strategic plan: to update its administrative structure to accord with those of other learned societies and to have consistent leadership through the changes that each election brings in board membership. The search committee selected Jill from a large national pool of applicants and after several rounds of interviews. An alumna of Radio-TV-Film and Journalism at the University of Oklahoma, she comes to us more recently from her previous job as Director of the Oklahoma Film and Music Office and, before that, from working in Hollywood. Jill is a strong leader and advocate for the arts, bringing to SCMS extensive experience in film, TV, music, and new media. She will help to shape the future of the Society. We are thrilled that she has joined us and will be introducing her to you at a number of events at the Montreal Conference. We know that she is looking forward to meeting our members in person—please feel free to introduce yourself to her. Huge thanks once again to the members of the search committee—Steven Cohan (chair), Patrice Petro, Jim Castonguay, Jane Dye, Leslie LeMond, and Vicki Sturtevant—for helping to achieve this milestone for the Society. This year, we are happy to announce that you elected several new members to the board—Amanda Klein as Treasurer, and as board members, Mary Beltrán and Mary Desjardins. Election results in 2015 for the President, Secretary, and two board members will bring additional colleagues on to the board. As the cycle goes, this means that several board members will be stepping down. Chris Holmlund’s six-year term as President-Elect, President, and Past President, will soon be ending. She has been an amazing leader, colleague, and friend in each of the phases of the presidency, working with the best interests of the Society and its membership in mind, while sharing her wisdom with fellow board members. In his capacity as Secretary, Corey Creekmur has been a wordsmith extraordinaire as he has wrestled with documenting sometimes epic meetings—a talent that the Society has very much appreciated. Board member Haidee Wasson spearheaded the “Fieldnotes” project—an oral history of field pioneers in film, television, and new media—as part of her legacy to SCMS and the discipline. Sean Griffin, who agreed with good humor to begin each meeting with a song, has been liaison to the SCMS Scholarly Interest Groups, a position that requires substantial commitment to the sub-groups that are part of SCMS’s lifeblood. As Graduate Student Organization Representative, Lindsay Giggey has been a pleasure to work with and has avidly pursued the interests of her fellow graduate students in SCMS. Finally, Jane Dye, who has worked in the Home Office for sixteen years as Administrative Coordinator, retires this year. As she is recipient of the 2015 Service Award, we will have the opportunity to recognize the enormous contributions she has made to the membership and board at the Award’s 2 Ceremony. SCMS has benefitted so greatly from having had all of these individuals in its administration. I am extremely grateful for everything they have done and I know I speak for those remaining on the board when I say they will be sorely missed. Speaking of endings, this is my last year as SCMS President. As both President-Elect and President, I have learned much more about the field of film and media studies—a field I thought I already knew well—than I could ever have imagined, gaining an expansive view of the innovative and increasingly diverse work being done in relation to multiple media. I have had the opportunity to meet old and new members alike at the conference and the privilege of honoring colleagues at the annual Awards Ceremony for their extraordinary achievements in the field. These have been among the most exciting and rewarding aspects of the position for me. At the same time, serving on the Board with a talented and wonderful group of colleagues and SCMS staff members has been another true highlight of the experience. Along with our members, their dedication and good will make the SCMS world go round. As I become Past President, I look forward to continuing to serve SCMS and to enthusiastically welcome Steve Cohan as he steps into the Presidency. In closing, this letter would not be complete without thanking Jane Dye, Leslie LeMond, Debbie Rush, Ron Evans, and Aviva Dove-Viebahn for lending their expertise so generously to the betterment of the Society and its service to its members. Sincerely, Barbara Klinger President, SCMS 3 Welcome! Bienvenue! As Chair of this year’s Program Committee, I want to welcome you all to Montreal, a bustling cosmopolitan city well worth visiting despite the potential for cold weather at this time of year. As you can tell from the program, though, you will have keen competition with sightseeing. This year we had a record number of submissions, and given the very high caliber of your proposals, we consequently also have a record number of panels and workshops. We are bursting at the seams at the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, making use of every conference room made available to us, large and small, from early morning until early evening. If you should find yourself in a room that seems too large or small, I hope that the quality and diversity of topics and the variety of methodological approaches as they represent exciting new work in cinema and media studies will engage you beyond your surroundings. Additionally, I’d like to invite graduate students to attend the various social events and workshops that their representative on the Board, Lindsay Giggey, has planned for them, new members to attend the orientation meeting on Thursday, and all members to attend the business meeting, awards ceremony, and reception on Friday. And don’t forget to look for the times when your SIGs and caucuses are meeting and sponsoring panels. Still wondering if there is enough to do? The Host Committee has arranged two exciting off-site events: “Satosphere,” a 20 minute showcasing of a 360-degree spherical screen with 157 audio speakers (on Friday evening) and “Experiments in 3D,” a showing of Norman McLaren’s restored shorts, along with a documentary about his musical compositions (on Saturday evening). Each event is not too far from the hotel, and you will find much more information about each inside the program. A big thanks to Haidee Wasson in her capacity as Host Committee Chair and to the people who worked on her committee, notably Luca Caminati and Marc Steinberg, as well as Charles Acland, Anthony Kinik, Krista Lynes, Katie Russell, Masha Salazkina, and Tom Waugh. For their work on this committee, Haidee and I also wish to express our special debt of gratitude to Beatrice Bartolome, Philip Keidl, Kester Dyer, Alison Loader, and Zach Melzer.