Jasmyn R. Castro
Ph.D Student - Cinema and Media Studies
Jasmyn R. Castro’s dissertation investigates the activist roots of African Americans in highly skilled technical trades within the film and television industry, focusing on two key historical moments: the experiences of Black film projectionist unions and African American television broadcasters before 1980. By examining how systemic race- and gender-based employment discrimination, gatekeeping, and nepotism shaped these professions, her research aims to reveal how these barriers continue to influence Black representation in the majority of technical film and television unions today. Through this historical lens, her work underscores the enduring struggle for equity in media production and highlights the resilience of African Americans in challenging structural inequities.
Research Interests
Access, Archival film studies, Home Movies, African American women’s history, African American studies, Black film and television history, Black public affairs television, Labor Unions, Film & Television industry labor, Digital storytelling, Documentary history
Selected accomplishments and professional work
Castro, Jasmyn R. “A License to Project: Black Female Projectionists and ‘Men’s Work’ in the US Women’s Army Corps.” Feminist Media Histories 11, no. 2 (April 1, 2025): 9–24.
Castro, Jasmyn R. “Black Home Movies: Time to Represent.” Essay. In Screening Race in American Nontheatrical Film, edited by Marsha Gordon and Allyson Nadia Field, 372–78. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019.
The Kemp R. Niver Scholarship in Film History (UCLA TFT Cinema & Media Studies, 2022)
Melinda T. Szaloky Scholar (UCLA TFT Cinema & Media Studies, 2021)
Fred W. Thorp Fellowship (UCLA TFT Cinema & Media Studies, 2021)
Education
M.A., Moving Image Archiving and Preservation, NYU Tisch School of the Arts
B.A., Film and Women’s Studies, SUNY Empire State College
A.A., Film and Television Production, RCC: Toronto Film School
