CMI Summer in Hong Kong Instructors

Jacob Kaltenbach (Ph.D., Cardiff) is coordinator of the CMI Summer in Hong Kong and adjunct Associate Professor in the Creative Media Institute at New Mexico State University. His teaching and research interests include film narrative, international animation history, relationships between creative media and urban space, and cultural perspectives on the city. Jacob has previously lived and worked in Beijing and Hong Kong. He has administered educational and outreach programs for the University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies, and has previously taught for the University of Colorado at Denver, China Agriculture University in Beijing, the Open University (UK), and the University of Nottingham (UK), among other institutions. Jacob is co-teaching CMI398 and ENGL427.

Kwanshun Sherwin Lau (M.F.A., Florida State) is a full-time faculty member in the Creative Media Institute. He has written, directed, and produced numerous short films. He is also an experienced sound designer, film editor, and cinematographer. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Texas, with a background in psychology, marketing, and music, he studied at Washington University in St. Louis and later in Florida State University's Graduate Film Program. As a filmmaker, Sherwin creates engaging stories to which audiences can quickly connect, and brings his strengths of creativity, collaboration, and dedication to the team. He has worked in various capacities on more than one hundred short films and several low-budget features. Sherwin is teaching CMI318.

Devin D. O’Leary is film editor of the Weekly Alibi in Albuquerque, N.M., a position he has held full-time for nearly 15 years. Over that time, he has seen and reviewed hundreds of films and interviewed a wide array of writers, directors and actors—from John Woo and Woody Allen to Robert Rodriguez, from Nicolas Cage to Kermit the Frog. National magazines including The Independent Film and Video Monthly and The Utne Reader as well as regional newspapers like C-Ville Weekly and the Detroit Metro Times have published his articles. His reviews have also been broadcast regularly on television and radio. He founded and curated the annual Alibi Short Film Fiesta (which for ten years provided a showcase for homegrown New Mexico filmmakers), moderated a monthly indie/foreign film discussion group for the Madstone Theater chain, and is now booker and host for a bimonthly series of midnight movie screenings at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque—introducing viewers to new and classic cult films from around the globe, with a frequent focus on Hong Kong. Devin has also worked in Hollywood and New Mexico as a screenwriter and actor. Devin is co-teaching CMI398 and ENGL427.

Guest Lecturers (partial list)

Jonathan Benson, documentary filmmaker and Director, Creative Media Institute for Film and Digital Arts at New Mexico State University: oversight for program, including post-production after students return to the NMSU campus.

Peter Benz, Assistant Professor, Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University: Hong Kong’s “visual identity” and architecture

Michael Wong, filmmaker