6803 Dartmouth Ave, College Park MD 20740

davewilt55NOSPAM@gmail.com

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Education:

  • Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, December 1991. Department of Radio, Television and Film. Dissertation: "Stereotyped images of United States citizens in Mexican cinema, 1930-1990"

  • M.L.S., University of Maryland, College Park, May 1985. College of Library and Information Services.

  • M.A., University of Maryland, College Park, December 1980. Department of Communication Arts and Theatre. Thesis: "Driving the Rough Road : the Outlaw Couple in American Film"

  • B.A., University of Maryland, College Park, May 1977. Department of Speech and Dramatic Art. With Honors.

Books:

  • Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Films, 1939-1945 (1987) with Michael Shull

  • Hard Boiled in Hollywood: Five "Black Mask" Writers and the Movies (1991)

  • Hollywood War Films 1937-1945 (1996) with Michael Shull [paperback edition, summer 2006]

  • Encyclopedia of Physical Sciences and Engineering Information Sources (1996) co-editor

  • Mondo Macabro (Titan Books, 1997 [U.K.], published by St. Martin's Press in U.S., 1998)--contributor

  • Mexican Horror Cinema (Agrasánchez Film Archive, 1999)--contributor.

  • The Columbia Companion to American History on Film (Columbia University Press, 2004)--contributor.

  • The Mexican Filmography, 1916-2001 (McFarland and Company, 2004).[Paperback edition published, 2010]

  • Doing Their Bit: Wartime American Animated Films, 1939-1945 (revised and updated second edition, 2004, McFarland & Co.)

  • "El Santo: the Case of a Mexican Multi-media Idol." in Film and Comic Books (University Press of Mississippi, 2007).

  • "Based on a True Story: Reality-Based Mexican Exploitation Movies" in Latsploitation, Latin America, and Exploitation Cinema (Routledge, April 2009).

  • "The Black Typewriter: Who Wrote Film Noir?" in Companion to Film Noir (Blackwell, September 2013)

  • "Novelty Press Mobilizes Its Readers" and "How Comic Books Helped Boys and Girls Help Win the War" in The Ten Cent War (University Press of Mississippi, January 2017)

  • "Mexican James Bond Films" in Global James Bond: (Re)Imagining and Transplanting a Global Icon. (eds. Lisa Funnell, Klaus Dodds) Lanham, MD: Lexington Books (January 2024).

Conference Papers and Public Presentations

  • "The OCIAA and the Mexican Film Industry." Literature/Film Association Conference, June 1991.

  • "Hunters and the Hunted: Images of the U.S. Military and the Japanese Foe in Hollywood Film." Conference of Army Historians, June 1994. with Michael Shull.

  • "Popular Music and World War Two." World War Two Association Conference, May 1995.

  • "When the War is Over: Images of the Postwar World in Hollywood Films, 1942-45." Siena World War Two Conference, May 1995. with Michael Shull.

  • "Brown, Black and White: The Issue of Race in Mexican Cinema." Fifth Conference on Latin American Popular Culture, October 1996.

  • "Uncle Joe Joins the Family: Images of Soviet Russia in Hollywood Cinema during WWII." IAMHIST International Conference, July 1997.

  • "All We Want is the Oil: Rosa Blanca and Mexican Cinema Images of Foreign Oil Exploitation." 4th International Congress of the Americas, September 1999.

  • "How to Make a Monster: Indigenous Themes and Motifs in Mexican Fantasy Films." Society for Cinema Studies Conference, May 2001.

  • "Who Was That Masked Man?" Presentation at Albright College, 28 October 2003 as part of the "Mexico Illuminated" series.

  • "Mexico de mis horrores." Presentation at the "Futuro + Acá" conference, Mexico City, 26 November 2003.

  • Presenter, "A Series of Mexican Vintage Sci-Fi and Horror Films," part of "Viva Mexico Washington DC Celebrates" Series, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, July 2004.

  • Presenter, "Pest Fest" Film Festival, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, June-July 2006.

  • "Stay on the Farm! Perils of Migration in Mexican Cinema." Memories of Modernity: an International Conference on Hispanic Cinemas, Stony Brook Manhattan, November 2006.

  • "Based on A True Story: Mexican Cinema and Real Life." Latsploitation Workshop, University of Alberta, June 2007.

  • Presenter, "Summer Camp" Film Festival, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, June 2007.

  • Research and Program Assistance, PAF (Animation Festival) Olomouc, Czech Republic, December 2007.

  • Presenter, "Summer Camp" Film Festival, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, June 2008.

  • Presenter, "Summer Camp" Film Festival, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, June 2009.

  • "De tal palo, tal astilla: Journeys to and from the Mother Country." Geographical Imaginaries and Hispanic Film Conference, New Orleans, November 2009.

  • Guest presenter, Mexican Film section, RiverRun International Film Festival 2010, Winston-Salem, NC, April 2010.

  • Presenter, "Summer Camp" Film Festival, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, June 2010.

  • Presenter, "Summer Camp" Film Festival, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, June 2011.

  • Presenter, "Summer Camp" Film Festival, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, June 2012.

  • Guest presenter, "Citizen Kane"; "Reel Portraits" film series, National Portrait Gallery, June 2012.

  • Panelist, "La Pantalla Cómica" film series, Gala Hispanic Theatre, Washington DC, 12 October 2012.

  • "For All the World to See: International Literary Adaptations in Mexican Cinema During WWII." Literature/Film Association Annual Conference, York, PA. 13 October 2012.

  • "Nuyorican Cinema: Cine de Autoexilio." Congreso Internacional Hispanic Cinemas: En Transición, Universidad Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. 8 November 2012.

  • Presenter, "Summer Camp" Film Festival, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, June 2013.

  • Guest presenter, "Cinema South of the Border"; Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival, November 2014.

  • Guest presenter, "Days of Heaven"; Smithsonian American Art Museum, 19 May 2018.

  • Presenter, "The Exorcist's Power," Profs & Pints presentation, 8 October 2018.

  • Presenter, "The Exorcist's Power," Profs & Pints presentation, 21 October 2019. (encore presentation)

  • Presenter, "The Exorcist's Power," Profs & Pints presentation, 9 October 2020. (online pandemic version)

  • Presenter, "The Exorcist's Washington," GWU Museum "DC Mondays," 26 October 2020. (online pandemic version)

  • Presenter, "The Exorcist's Power," Profs & Pints presentation, 19 October 2021 (encore, encore version)

  • Presenter, "Lights, Santa, Action," Profs & Pints presentation, 14 December 2021

  • Guest, "Twitch of the Death Nerve" podcast, episode 21 (March 2022)

  • Presenter, "The Exorcist's Power," Profs & Pints presentation, 25 October 2022 (encore, encore, encore version)

  • Guest at Rotterdam International Film Festival premiere of "Los leprosos y el sexo," 2 February 2023.

  • Presenter at Festival de Trash-Mex, The Frida Cinema, Santa Ana, California, 20 May 2023.

  • "The Proletariat and the Mexican Revolution in Mexican Cinema," Images at Work: Labour and the Moving Image, King's College London, 22 June 2023.

  • Presenter, "The Exorcist's Power," Profs & Prints presentation, 16 October 2023 (6th annual show!)

Articles

  • "The Many Origins of El Santo" byNWR.com website, November 2023 (https://bynwr.com/posts/the-many-origins-of-el-santo)

  • "Where to begin with Mexican macabre cinema" BFI website article, June 2023 (https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-with-mexican-macabre-cinema)

  • Blu-ray and DVD reviews, Screem magazine 2011-2022

  • "Chulas fronteras"--National Film Registry essay .

  • "Vampires Over Istanbul, Tokyo and Mexico City" Screem #22 (Spring 2011)

  • "Women Rule, Men Drool: Matriarchal Societies on Film" Screem #20 (Spring 2010)

  • "The Weird World of Mexcinema" Screem #19 (Fall 2009)

  • "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" (retrospective review) Screem #18 (2009)

  • "Drawing the Line" (book review) Labor History 50/1 (February, 2009)

  • "Mexican Fantasy Films: The Best of the Rest" Screem #17 (2008).

  • "The Dracula Saga." Screem #16 (2008).

  • "The World of the Vampires." Screem #15 (2007).

  • "El Diablo Made Me Do It." Screem #14 (2007).

  • "Mexican Biker-Punk Films." Screem #13 (2006).

  • "The Other Salazar: Film Career of Alfredo Salazar." Screem #12 (2006)

  • "Hades--Vida después de la muerte." Screem #11 (2005)

  • "Contemporary Cinema" (book review) H-Film (March 1999) (originally published in Film & History)

  • "Poet of Civic Courage: the films of Franceso Rosi" (book review) H-Film (June 1998).

  • "Mexican Fantasy Films." Cinefantastique (May 1996).

  • "The Baron of Terror: Abel Salazar" Filmfax (Spring 1996)

  • "Los Vampiros." Imagi-Movies (Winter 1994)

  • "Cantinflas: Unknown Idol." The Big Reel (March 1994)

  • "The Western in Mexico." The Big Reel (September 1992)

  • "Beyond Infinity at Empire Pictures."Cinefantastique (March 1989)

  • "Earl Owensby, America's 3-D King." Cinefantastique (September 1983)

Miscellaneous

  • Audio commentary for Santo contra los jinetes del terror (Los leprosos y el sexo), La Mujer Murciélago, Sombra verde (aka Untouched), for Indicator Films Blu-ray releases (2024).

  • Video introductions for VCI Blu-rays, 2021-24: Night of the Bloody Apes/Doctor of Doom; El Santo Box Set; Mary, Mary Bloody Mary & Night of 1,000 Cats; El escapulario; Ladrón de cadáveres; Aztec Mummy Collection; Ensayo de un crimen; La sombra del caudillo, La Soldadera, El gangster, El rebozo de Soledad

  • Audio commentary for El espejo de la bruja, and liner notes on "Mexico Macabre" Blu-ray set from Indicator Films (2023).

  • Audio commentary El corazón y la espada Blu-ray from 3D Film Archive (2019).

  • Audio commentary Survive! Blu-Ray from Shout Factory (July 2018).

  • DVD liner notes for CasaNegra Entertainment DVDs (2007): El hombre y el monstruo, El grito de la muerte and (2006): El espejo de la bruja, El barón del terror, La maldición de la Llorona, Chabelo y Pepito contra los monstruos, Chabelo y Pepito detectives, Pepito y la lámpara maravillosa, El vampiro/El ataúd del vampiro, Misterios de ultratumba

  • DVD liner notes for BCI DVDs: Ladrones de tumbas, Cementerio del terror, Muñecos infernales, Horripilante bestia humana (2006).

  • DVD liner notes for The Santo Collection (2003).

  • Editor and publisher, THE MEXICAN FILM BULLETIN (1994-present)

  • Contributor or former contributor to: SCREEM, CINEFANTASTIQUE, FILM & HISTORY, LABOR HISTORY, FILMFAX, IMAGI-MOVIES, THE BIG REEL, SANTO STREET, SANTO SCENE and THE WASHINGTON POST

  • Peer reviewer (articles, book proposals) for Modern Languages Open (journal), Palgrave Macmillan, Taylor & Francis

Film, Video and Television Appearances

  • "The Wonder World of K. Gordon Murray in Colorscope" (2010): interviewee in documentary film.

  • "Santa Claus Conquers the Devil: A 50-Year Retrospective" (2009): interviewee in documentary film included on the MST3K Vol. XVI DVD.

  • "Mondo Macabro"--Mexican Horror Films episode (2002): talking head (can also be seen on the British DVD releases of "Alucarda" and "El vampiro"). A somewhat revised version of my interview can be seen on the USA release (on DVD) of "Alucarda."

  • "Cartoons Go to War" TV special (shown on A&E cable network, August 1995): consultant and talking head

Employment

Professorial Lecturer in Film Studies, George Washington University: 2008--present.

Previous positions:

  • Systems Librarian, Digital Systems & Stewardship, University of Maryland Libraries: December 2009-December 2022 (retired)

  • Head of Circulation & Serials, Engineering & Physical Sciences Library, University of Maryland Libraries : January 1986-December 2009. [Acting Head of EPSL, September 2005-October 2006]

  • Circulation Desk Supervisor, McKeldin Library, UMCP

  • Public Information Specialist, Food Safety & Quality Service, USDA

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant, Dept of Communication Arts and Theatre, Univ of MD

  • WMUC Radio: Sports Director, Special Programs Producer, Record Librarian, Disk Jockey, Sports Reporter/Play-by-play announcer, 1973-1980