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Eight years of service recognized: Peter Rist 

Although the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema Awards Evening is dedicated to student recognition, Graduate Program Director Thomas Waugh took time out at the beginning of the evening to honour his colleague Peter Rist (at right).

Rist is completing his third term as Chair of the department. “We’re all a little vague on when he began his first term. But he has served as Chair for eight of the last fifteen years,” said Waugh, who acknowledged Rist’s evident passion for cinema.

“He started out as an engineer, but he saw the light and switched to film studies,” recalled Waugh. “He retains that interdisciplinary perspective.” Rist has published on Asian cinema, but is also knowledgeable about Latin American and Canadian film. He has led students on film study trips to Cuba and Burkina Faso.