The Spring 2004 History Film Forum Schedule
Monday Nights 7:30 PM
New Science Library
Digital Workshop 4, LG 24
Sponsored by the History Graduate
Student Organization
All events are free and open to the public
 February 23, 2004
Gold Rush
Directed by Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin's 1925 silent classic about gold miners is filled with treasured comic moments including the teetering Klondike cabin and the dance of the dinner rolls. One of the American Film Institute's 100 best American films. |
 March 8,2004
Ararat
Acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan's look at the Armenian genocide is a film within a film. A modern day filmmaker makes a film about said topic and in the process is forced to examine his Armenian roots. One of the only major films ever to be made about the Armenian genocide.
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 March 22, 2004
Au Revoir Les Enfants
Directed by Louis Malle
French director Louis Malle's autobiographical tale about his childhood in a French boarding Catholic school. He befriends a young Jewish boy in hiding, only to experience heartbreak. |
March 29, 2004
Bringing Up Baby
Howard Hawks's 1938 screwball comedy stars Katherine Hepburn as an heiress attempting to win the heart of bookish zoologist Cary Grant. Also listed on The American Film Institute's list of 100 best American films.
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 April 19, 2004
Beijing Bicycle
This Chinese film from 2000 is a loose remake of the Italian neorealist classic The Bicycle Thief. A boy desperately needs a bike for his new job, but after acquiring the bike it is stolen. He goes on a quest to reclaim the bike and his livelihood. Winner of several international awards.
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April 26, 2004
All the King's Men
Robert Rossen's Academy Award winning adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer prize winning novel. The film details a corrupt politician's rise to power. The story is based on the life of Huey Long.
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 May 3, 2004
Double Indemnity
A classic film noir from director Billy Wilder. A vixen (Barbara Stanwyck) lures an insurance investigator into killing her husband to obtain his riches. This film contains all the hallmarks of this critical genre.
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SPRING 2003
February
12, 2003
Within Our Gates (1919)
Directed by Oscar Micheaux
This silent movie, lost
for seventy years, is the earliest surviving feature film directed
by an African-American. Within Our Gates is a powerful
response to D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915)
and the rising tide of racism in the United States during the post
World War I
era. The film explores themes such as lynching, black manhood,
the regionalism of racial prejudice in America, and black idealism. |
February
19, 2003
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow (2002)
Directed by Richard Wormser, Bill Jersey, and Sam Pollard
Discussion Leader: Prof. Amy Murrell
The four-part documentary
offers the first comprehensive look at the racial segregation
from the end of the civil war to the dawn of the modern civil rights
movement. Part 3:
Don't Shout Too Soon (1918-1940) and Part 4: Terror
and Triumph (1940-1954) will be shown, in coordination
with the Director Richard
Wormser's presentation on February 25.
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February
26, 2003
Salt
of the Earth(1953)
Directed by Herbert Biberman
Salt
of the Earth is based on the experiences of
New Mexico zinc miners during a strike against the Empire Zinc
Corporation. It approaches issues affecting Mexican-American labor.
This movie, made soon after the strike in New Mexico, was banned
during the McCarthy era for its alleged Communist perspective.
The general public could not see this film until it was rediscovered
in the 1960s.
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March 12, 2003
Modern Times (1936)
Directed by Charlie
Chaplin
This silent movie with
music and sound effects portrays Charlie Chaplin's final stand
against the synchronized sound film. Chaplin,
the Tramp, ridicules the modern mass production and its effects
on the workers. Set in the 1930s during the Great Depression
era, the film echoes common experience of people's daily
life at the time about unemployment, poverty, and hunger. "A
story of industry, of individual enterprise - humanity
crusading in the pursuit of happiness."
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March
26, 2003
*screening starts at 7:30 pm*
Broken
Blossoms(or The Yellow Man and the Girl)(1919)
Directed by D. W. Griffith
Discussion Leader: Prof. Vivien
Ng
Based on
the short story "The Chink and the Child" by Thomas Burke, Broken
Blossoms tells the story of the relationship between a Chinese
missionary and a working class girl in the London slums and the
catastrophe that follows. Some consider this movie Griffith's
own response to critics of The Birth of a Nation.
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Upcoming Films for April
April 2, 2003
I Am Cuba (1964)
Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov
Discussion Leader: Professor Nadieszda Kizenko
A Soviet-Cuban co-production,
I Am Cuba tells the story of Cuban resistance to American
imperialism. In addition to the films beautiful cinematography,
the movie has deep historical interest. Not only an example
of anti-American propaganda and cross-Atlantic cooperation,
I am Cuba is also an outstanding example of Socialist
Realist film-making.
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April 9, 2003
Three Caballeros
(1945)
Directed by Norman Ferguson
The Three
Caballeros is a Walt Disney animated film produced during
the Second World War. Donald Duck’s birthday present is
a tour of Latin America hosted by his friends Jose Carioca and
Panchito. It was an attempt to educate the audience about Latin
America and to promote cooperation between America and the countries
“south of the border.” In it a glimpse into war-time
film making, and American interests in Latin America.
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April23, 2003
Metropolis
(1927)
Directed by Fritz Lang
*rescheduled*
Friz Lang, the innovative
director of M and Fury, explores the ramifications of industrial
society in this early science-fiction masterpiece. The city
of Metropolis in 2026 is divided between the privileged elite,
the masses of dehumanized workers, and the machines that define
the workers’ lives. Metropolis was not the first
science fiction film (it was preceded by Trip to the Moon),
but it was the first science fiction film made on a grand scale.
Metropolis reveals the power of science fiction to
explore issues of class, technology, and industrialization.
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April 30, 2003
Triumph of the Will
(1934)
Directed by Leni Riefenstahl
This famous documentary
film recorded the sixth Nazi Party Conference in Nuremberg.
While covering the events of the conference, Triumph of
the Will sets its focus around the figure of Adolf Hitler.
The director Leni Riefenstahl, criticized for helping create
the aura of the Fuehrer, viewed her film as an expression of
her art and not an accurate representation of her personal ideals.
Triumph of the Will remains a powerful example of film
propaganda and a gateway into understanding the mobilizing force
of fascism.
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