Films about historical events have enormous power to affect us, both to enlighten and to mislead. Historical films are perennially popular, often because they tell history through individual lives, because they invent characters and add personal, emotional drama to events that we want to learn about. Those same fictionalizing qualities make them great tools for […]
Eddie Anderson, the Black Film Star Created by Radio
by Kathryn Fuller-Seeley In December 1939 Academy Award nominated, African American actress Hattie McDaniel was barred from attending the premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta, Georgia because of her race Just four months later, a quite different scenario played out in New York City. In April 1940, the first elaborate premiere of a Hollywood […]
Dazed and Confused (Dir: Linklater, 1993)
by Ashley Garcia Borrowing its title from Led Zeppelin’s first album, Richard Linklater’s classic film Dazed and Confused continues to resonate with filmgoers and critics decades after its release. This September marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of Linklater’s cult hit and the overwhelming surge of Dazed and Confused viewing parties along with its re-release in theaters […]
The Miseducation of Cameron Post (Dir: Desiree Akhavan, 2018)
by Chris Babits The culture wars have roared back to life in recent years, with the practice of “conversion therapy” taking center stage. Fourteen states have banned gender identity therapies and sexual orientation change efforts on minors. At this critical moment comes Desiree Akhavan’s “The Miseducation of Cameron Post,” a film based on the young […]
Of How a Hopi Ancient Word Became a Famous Experimental Film
by Montserrat Madariaga The theater is at its full capacity. The musicians are in place as the orchestra conductor starts to wave his arms in time with the image on the screen. There, little red dots emerge from a black background. They slowly widen and turn into capital letters: The word KOYAANISQATSI takes over. Keyboard […]
Faces of Migration: Moi, Un Noir
MOI, UN NOIR Tuesday Feb. 20 | 7 p.m. CLA 1.302B Public parking: Brazos Garage, 210 E. MLK Blvd Winner of the prestigious Prix Louis Delluc in 1958, MOI, UN NOIR marked Jean Rouch’s break with traditional ethnography, and his embrace of the collaborative and improvisatory strategies he called “shared ethnography” and “ethnofiction.” “The film […]
Faces of Migration: Take Out
TAKE OUT Tue. Feb. 6 | 7:00pm CLA 1.302E (Glickman Conference Center) Public parking: Brazos Garage, 210 E. MLK Blvd. From directors Sean Baker (“Tangerine,” “The Florida Project”) and Shih-Ching Tsou, “Take Out” is a day-in-the-life of Ming Ding, an illegal Chinese immigrant working as a deliveryman for a Chinese take-out shop in New York […]
Nature Boy, 30 for 30 (directed by Rory Karpf, 2017)
By Christopher Babits Growing up, I enjoyed going over to my Uncle Glenn’s house on Saturdays. In the afternoons, he and my Uncle Jeff would tune trucks and fix lawn mowers, rototillers, and other machinery. I was too young to fix anything, but I wasn’t there to help my blue-collar uncles with these tasks. I […]
A View From the Bridge (Directed by Sidney Lumet, 1962)
By Yael Schacher A View from the Bridge is the story of an Italian American longshoreman named Eddie who informs on two of his wife’s relatives, illegal immigrants Marco and Rodolpho, in order to prevent Rodolpho from marrying his niece, Catherine. Critics of the film, and of the play by Arthur Miller on which it […]
Victoria & Abdul: Simulacra & Simulation
by Gajendra Singh University of Exeter Posted in partnership with the History Department at the University of Exeter and The Imperial and Global Forum. One of the earliest films to be shot and then screened throughout India were scenes from the Delhi Durbar between December 29, 1902 and January 10, 1903 The Imperial Durbar, created to celebrate […]