Jon Cavallero is Professor of Rhetoric, Film, and Screen Studies at Bates College and the Founding Director of the Bates Film Festival. Under his leadership, the Bates Film Festival has grown into a regionally respected, bi-annual event. In just four iterations, the festival has screened over 100 films originating from 6 different continents and welcomed over 60 guest filmmakers, including John Turturro, Chris Cooper, and John Sayles. Cavallero has also authored two books: Hollywood’s Italian American Filmmakers: Capra, Scorsese, Savoca, Coppola, and Tarantino (University of Illinois Press, 2011) and Television Directors, Race, and Gender: Written Out of the Story (Routledge, 2024). He is the co-editor of Italian American Review’s special issue on “Italian Americans and Television,” and his essays have appeared in numerous journals including Cinema Journal/The Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Journal of Film and Video, The Journal of Popular Culture, MELUS, and The Journal of Popular Film & Television. Cavallero currently sits on the editorial boards of Journal of Film and Video and Diasporic Italy. At Bates, he teaches courses on US and global media with a particular focus on the representation of race, ethnicity, and gender. Cavallero previously taught at the University of Arkansas, Penn State University and Indiana University – Bloomington, where he was a two-time recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award. He earned his B.A. from Georgetown University, his M.A. from Penn State University, and his Ph.D. from Indiana University – Bloomington. He lives in Yarmouth, Maine with his family.