Fun fact:  Peter Alilunas is a Cinema Studies assoc. professor, an assoc. department head, a recipient of the 2017 UO Ersted Award for Specialized Pedagogy—and he is a UO alum!

“I'm a University of Oregon graduate, class of 2006. There was no Cinema Studies department then, so I got an English degree with a certificate in Film Studies. It's a very happy coincidence that I'm a professor in our department now. It gives me a really helpful perspective to know that our students are learning the same cinema studies fundamentals that I did, often in the same spaces on campus. My Censorship and Exploitation Film courses are the two I look forward to the most every year, but I love them all. 

I’m excited for the start of a new academic year, seeing familiar students, meeting new ones, and watching our department continue to grow. As our new Associate Department Head, I'm excited to support our Cinema Studies students however I can, and see all the great things that await us this year.” 

What does Prof. Alilunas recommend watching on TV? “If you aren't watching RESERVATION DOGS, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS, and OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH, what are you even doing? And I will tell you to run, not walk, to catch up on what was the best show on television before it recently ended, BETTER CALL SAUL.”  

I'm an adult film historian with interests in technology and regulation. How, when, and where adult films have played, and how they have been regulated, interest me a great deal and are the focus of my research. Adult films are part of film history and can and should be studied and understood just like any other kind of moving image. Part of my longterm work is just to normalize that process. I'm the author of SMUTTY LITTLE MOVIES: THE CREATION AND REGULATION OF ADULT VIDEO (2016) and am working now on a new book that traces the pre-history of adult material online, leading up to the internet as we understand it today.