When Jeanette Buck, former assistant professor and director of the Honors Tutorial College in Film, stopped teaching at Ohio University, her position opened up and needed to be filled.
After performing a nationwide search, Steve Ross, director of the School of Film, narrowed his choice to one candidate.
Pearl Gluck, an independent filmmaker based in New York, was busy outlining her next script about a college professor moving to a new town at the time she discovered the job opportunity.
“The faculty here at Ohio University, especially here within the School of Film, are remarkable,” Gluck said. “Athens is, not surprisingly, a lovely town, and I’m so glad that everyone here has been able to welcome me and accept me here so gratefully.”
Ross hired Gluck as a visiting professor in the School of Film at the beginning of the semester. A visiting professor’s contract typically lasts between one and three years, he said.
Gluck has been teaching second-year production courses that focus on the graduate students’ thesis projects. She also co-teaches an acting course with Shelley Delaney, an associate professor of theater, and will be overseeing a film criticism course during Spring Semester.
As a filmmaker, Gluck has made documentary features such as Divan, which is about a quest for a Hungarian couch that Hasidic rabbis slept on. She has also authored narrative stories such as Where is Joel Baum?, which is about an accident that leads to unexpected consequences in the home of a Hasidic rabbi in Brooklyn, N.Y. Currently, she is working on finishing a documentary about The Archives of Historical and Ethnographic Yiddish Memories.
A Brooklyn native, Gluck was born into a Hasidic section of town, where she learned Yiddish as her first language. She became inspired to pursue filmmaking by her father, who Gluck said was often attached to his Super 8mm camera. Gluck said she likes to believe her father had the capability to become a filmmaker as well.
A majority of Gluck’s works focus on Jewish heritage. Gluck said she hopes she can inspire her students to look for their passions within themselves and their work.
“I encourage my students to find their messages, to tell their stories, and that’s what I try to do in my classes,” she said.
Chris Iacofano, the executive director of the Athena Cinema, said there will be a showcasing of Gluck’s talents at the theater. They are slated to show in January, although the date is still tentative.
Gluck’s tenure as a visiting professor could last between one and three years, Ross said.
“When it comes to film, it’s hard to go wrong here at Ohio University, particularly with the faculty,” Gluck said.
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