Cinema Studies director explains love of film, Philly

"I think the reason why I'm so committed to [my job] is because education is about following your passion," Tim Corrigan, the director of Cinema Studies at Penn, says from his Narberth, Pa., home phone.

"At some point, you have to turn your passion into a profession, and if you can do that," he says, "you're a really lucky person, and I was really lucky enough to do that."

Fifty-three-year-old Corrigan began his education and interest in film at the University of Notre Dame. He earned a master's degree in the arts at the University of Leeds and his Ph.D. in Literature at Emory University, all the while nurturing his passion for cinema.

Corrigan's film interest was most enhanced by his post-doctoral work in Paris. There, he was also lucky enough to meet his wife, Marcia Ferguson, who teaches acting in the Theater Arts department at Penn.

With Ferguson, Corrigan has three teenagers who all love movies. Regarding this, he says, "You can imagine what we talk about at the dinner table."

Corrigan is also extensively traveled and has lived in many cities, including Tokyo, Rome, Amsterdam and London. Through his travels, Corrigan says he feels that he developed his strongest interest in film.

"I think the world is such a fantastic, interesting place, and there's nothing like encountering all these different cultures," he says.

Corrigan took that fascination with the world with him as he took over Penn's Cinema Studies department last June. He quickly turned the program, which included a popular minor, into a department with a dozen declared majors.

Some of these students are set to join a "Penn mafia in Hollywood" -- the collection of Penn alums actively working on film projects. Corrigan's passion for film is something that he sees in students who pursue film careers.

Even as some of his students head to Los Angeles, though, Corrigan sees the broader aspects of a Cinema Studies education.

"I don't see ourselves as a vocational program ... I think of this having much broader reach," he said.

Yet Corrigan knows that many up-and-coming filmmakers will emerge from the newly formed department. For example, rising senior Josh Gorin recently won a major prize at the Ivy League film festival.

But Corrigan says he'd prefer the film studies experience to be comparable to what one should take out of a History or English major -- "thinking, reading, researching and so forth."

It's common for members of other departments, such as English, French and Italian studies, to also teach Cinema studies. Corrigan himself began as a Literature professor. Since they established the major, the department has expanded. Now, with two more full-time faculty members, the core department has tripled in size.

"I expect it to grow quite quickly," Corrigan says. "I hope it does. As it grows we want to be sure that it grows not simply because it's a popular subject but because students see it as a very good major, a strong major, a demanding major, a rigorous major, but [still] an exciting one."

All this expansion requires more space, or at least better facilities than Bennett Hall -- which is currently being renovated. "My vision of the future," Corrigan says, "would be that somewhere down the line, Cinema Studies would have space like Kelly Writers House."

He loves Philly for its restaurants, manageability of scale and its proximity to New York -- but nothing compares to Paris. It's in the city of Philadelphia, though, where Corrigan is able to continue his passion, and therefore says he can see himself staying there indefinitely.

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