journal of film and video 78.2 features material to engage readers interested in documentary filmmaking, labor dynamics, and free speech. The issue opens with Nick Smith's “Sharing Stories: Melinda Levin Receives UFVA Life Member Award,” which offers an overview of Levin's filmmaking philosophy and contributions as a documentarian. “A Selection from Award-Winning UFVA Films (2022–2023),” curated by Michelle Glaros and written by Jena Burchick, Mark Burchick, and Adam Schwartz, describes the subject-centered process of their work making Ora Et Labora (2023), which brings audiences into the world of St. Joseph's Abbey, a monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts. A five-minute excerpt conveys the film's beauty and its sensitive depiction of the religious community whose practices have included traditional monastic-style beer brewing.“Asanghadithar: Spotlighting Women's Community and Labor Rights Protest in Malayalam Cinema” by Malavika Ajikumar and Ajanta Sircar considers the Malayalam-language anthology film Freedom Fight (2022). Focusing on the Asanghadithar segment by Kunjila Mascillamani, the article shows how the semi-fictional narrative in Asanghadithar illuminates the determination of the women's rights movement in the Indian state of Kerala. “The Relevance of the FCC in Contemporary Media Culture” by Judith Clemens-Smucker and Christopher Toula analyzes the evolving technological and cultural contexts of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States. The article clarifies that the FCC remains a key communications institution because it continues to be seen as a concern by one segment of American society. The research also reveals that government actions in 2025 removed the FCC's nonpartisan mandate and put decisions about content regulation, broadcast licensing, and other aspects of national communication in the hands of administrators who serve at the will of the president.The issue concludes with reviews of The Female Avenger, Women's Anger and Rape-Revenge Film and Television by Margrethe Bruun Vaage, Filming Death: End-of-Life Documentary Cinema by Outi Hakola, Queer for Fear: Horror Film and the Queer Spectator by Heather O. Petrocelli, and The Sinful Maternal: Motherhood in Possession Films by Lauren Rocha.
Cynthia Baron (Thu,) studied this question.