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The seventh Faculty Pub Night of the 2026-27 season features Jessica Livinstone and Mischa Livingston (School of Film and Television). They will discuss their recent publication, "No-Nonsense Filmmaking."

About Faculty Pub Night

Students, staff, faculty, alumni, and members of the public are all invited to the 2026-27 series of Faculty Pub Night at the William H. Hannon Library. Eight LMU professors are selected annually to discuss their latest publication or project in a comfortable setting and format that welcomes diverse perspectives for an inclusive conversation aimed to educate the entire community. All Faculty Pub Nights are free and open to the public.

About the Authors' Work

No-Nonsense Filmmaking is an open educational resource (OER) textbook uniquely designed for student filmmakers who have a story to tell. It is a starting point for discussing the creative filmmaking process and the foundational knowledge essential to asking the right questions. No-Nonsense Filmmaking guides students through the key choices professionals make while providing comprehensive technical information. From inception of ideas to shot design to modes of storytelling, this text demystifies complex concepts and makes film production accessible to all. 

The work contributes to the field by filling a genuine gap. No comparable textbook exists that serves this dual creative-technical purpose with an inclusive lens. It is designed to inspire students who have historically not seen themselves represented in filmmaking to recognize that the camera, and the stories told through it, belong to them too. 

As an OER, this book is truly accessible to all at zero cost and aligns with the open-access values of library collections and scholarly resources, democratizing knowledge in the same spirit. With its focus on social justice and inclusive voice, No-Nonsense Filmmaking puts learners, and their individual journeys, first.

About the Authors

Jessica Livingstone has over 25 years of experience in the documentary field, fostering opportunities for collaboration, social justice, community activism, and outreach. Ever a student of the human condition, her creative work is exploratory in nature, looking at the complexities of different cultural narratives, from the Lakota of North Dakota (Lakota Media Project) to families living with Autism in Chicago (Chicago Television Network) to the local Chinese population of Alhambra, California (Portico Research). She has a long history of volunteering with programs based on media and social change.  

After completing her studies in Chicago, she worked with the Chicago Television Network (CTVN) on grant writing, taught filmmaking to inner city youth, and worked with the SNOW City Arts Foundation at Chicago's Rush Hospital. Filmmaking has served as a gateway to teaching, leading her to academic positions at various institutions, including most recently Loyola Marymount University. 

Mischa Livingstone is an independent filmmaker and editor whose work has been added to the Smithsonian permanent collection and screened at festivals worldwide, including the Berlin International Film Festival and Sundance. Having emigrated from Scotland to Israel as a child, then relocating to the US to study film at UCLA, his work explores identity and belonging across an array of mediums.  

His creative work involves collaborations in documentary (“The Key from Spain: The Songs and Stories of Flory Jagoda”), theatre (“I Wish My Life Was an RPG – Experiences of a Female Black Nerd”), and an array of films and music videos.  He has taught in the Production Department of the School of Film & Television at LMU for over 10 years. 

Read more about Mischa on his website.

About the William H. Hannon Library

The William H. Hannon Library fosters excellence in academic achievement through an array of distinctive services that enable learners to feed their curiosity, experience new worlds, develop their ideas, inform their decision-making, and inspire others. More information can be found at http://library.lmu.edu

For more information about this event, contact the Outreach and Engagement team at the William H. Hannon library via email at library.outreach@lmu.edu or call 310-338-5234.