Screen Studies: Graduate and alumni profiles
Gary Simmons
Postgraduate Diploma (Cinema Studies) 1997
MA (Cinema Studies) 2003-present
Current position: Education Programmer, Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI)
After completing his Arts degree, Gary gained 20 years of experience teaching in secondary schools. For 'intrinsic reasons' he completed a postgraduate diploma in 1997 and says 'My love of cinema was the main motivation for returning to full-time study after such a long break'.
Following that, he had a year's stint teaching at a college in Singapore before returning to work as an Education Programmer for ACMI at Federation Square. Combining his passion for film and teaching, his job entails giving, lectures to students and teachers who are exploring the moving image in all its forms in their classrooms.
He also writes film related articles for Australian Screen Education and is currently writing study guides on VCE English film texts such as Gattaca, Breaker Morant and The Third Man. Gary found that the rigor of research and writing during his studies has helped in the preparation of lectures and articles: 'My study encourages me to find different ways of looking at films (eg. Feminist, psychoanalytic, Marxist)'.
Gary has begun studying for his Masters in Cinema Studies to 'give me skills in film theory and help me distill this theory for my target audience to make it accessible'.
2004 Profile