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IU Cinema President’s Choice series celebrates new School of Art and Design, architecture program

Aug 18, 2017

In this year’s President’s Choice series at Indiana University Cinema, viewers can join IU President Michael A. McRobbie in celebrating the new School of Art and Design, its Master of Architecture degree and the school’s recent move into Kirkwood Hall.

IU President McRobbie speaks before a curtain at IU Cinema
Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie speaks at event at IU Cinema in 2015.Photo by James Brosher, IU Communications

“The four films chosen for the President’s Choice series reflect the innovation, ingenuity and inquiry that are at the center of the creative visual arts culture of our new School of Art and Design,” McRobbie said. “The themes of architecture, beauty and design present in the films also celebrate IU’s recently established architecture degree program, which will prepare students to be the inventors, designers and architects of the future and contribute to economic development in the state, nation and world. The new school and degree also further IU’s efforts to foster a culture of building and making.”

The School of Art and Design, which has recently moved into the newly renovated Kirkwood Hall, was established in 2016 and welcomed its first students last year. The school will offer a new Master of Architecture degree program with classes taught in Bloomington and Columbus starting in the fall of 2018.

“The faculty and staff of the School of Art and Design are excited to have such an impressive series highlighted in our honor,” said Peg Faimon, founding dean of the School of Art and Design. “These four innovative films demonstrate the beauty and transformational impact of art, design and architecture in our daily lives. We are thankful to the president and the IU Cinema for making these films accessible to our university community.”

Jon Vickers, founding director of IU Cinema, is excited about the opportunity to honor IU’s most recently established school as well as share McRobbie’s appreciation for international and foreign-language films with this year’s series. In particular, Vickers is most looking forward to “Berlin: Symphony of a Great City,” not only because of the innovative film’s look at the design of one of Germany’s great cities, but also because the evening will truly be an IU event.

“We’re showing a film print from IU Libraries Moving Image Archive and having the score performed by Craig Davis, a doctoral student in the IU Jacobs School of Music,” Vickers said. “So, it is very much an IU-based program. It will be a unique experience.”

The silent, semidocumentary film presents one day in the life of Berlin as a city, capturing the rhythm of the time through visual and abstract impressions.

“It’s one of the early city-symphony films, and it became an influential model for better-know montage films like ‘Man With a Movie Camera,’” Vickers said.

“Berlin: Symphony of a Great City” is a good example of the president’s taste and extensive knowledge of cinema.

“He has a pretty broad knowledge of film history, which sometimes embarrassingly points to gaps in my own,” Vickers said.

It’s McRobbie’s love of film that inspired the start of the President’s Choice series in the first year of IU Cinema’s existence in 2011.

Danny Glover
Actor, producer and humanitarian Danny Glover will give a lecture Sept. 17 at IU Cinema as part of the Jorgensen Guest Filmmaker Series. Glover’s career spans more than 35 years and includes classics like “The Color Purple” and “Lethal Weapon.”

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Actor and producer Danny Glover is one of several nationally acclaimed cinematic names to speak this fall at Indiana University Cinema through its Jorgensen Guest Filmmaker Series.

“Danny Glover has long championed small films that he believes in, both as an actor and as a producer,” said Jon Vickers, IU Cinema director. “This visit is a unique opportunity to celebrate his socially and artistically important, lesser-known work.”

Glover’s career spans more than 35 years and includes classics like “The Color Purple” and “Lethal Weapon.” Recently, he has been a supporter of the 2017 film “The Good Catholic,” which will be released in September with Glover in a supporting role. Most of “The Good Catholic” was filmed in Bloomington, and the film will be screened here in September.

While at IU, Glover will introduce a film that he has selected to screen at IU Cinema. He will announce the film from the stage.

Before becoming an actor, Glover was a cinephile; what he learned in foreign language films influenced his acting. Since he helped produce the 1990 film “To Sleep With Anger” for director and former IU Cinema guest Charles Burnett, Glover has produced more than 40 films.

Another Jorgensen series highlight is IU alumnus Bruce Joel Rubin, who in 1990 won an Academy Award for his original screenplay for “Ghost,” which was also nominated for Best Picture.

Rubin has written several other screenplays, including “Jacobs Ladder,” “Deep Impact,” “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and “My Life,” which he also directed. Rubin will be present at screenings of “My Life” and “Ghost.”

Dee Rees
Writer/director Dee Rees will appear Nov. 16 at IU Cinema. Her film “Mudbound” premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to great acclaim.

Fall 2017 Jorgensen Guest Filmmakers

Jorgensen Guest Filmmaker Programs at IU Cinema are free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but seating is limited. Further details will be updated on the IU Cinema website closer to each event. The Jorgensen Guest Filmmaker Series is made possible thanks to the Ove W Jorgensen Foundation. Tickets to film screenings are $4, unless otherwise noted.

  • Megan Griffiths, 3 p.m. Sept. 1 – Working in film and television, Griffiths recently directed two episodes of the Duplass Brothers Productions’ HBO anthology series “Room 104.” In addition to her Jorgensen lecture, Griffiths is scheduled to be at three film screenings: her film “The Off Hours,” at 7 p.m. Aug. 31; her film “Eden,” which won an award at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival, at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 1; and the 2011 film directed by Lynne Ramsay, “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” at 9:30 p.m. Sept. 1.
  • Danny Glover, 1 p.m. Sept. 17 – In addition to his talk, Glover will introduce a film that he has selected to screen at 3 p.m. Sept. 17. He will also be present at the screening of “The Good Catholic” at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 17 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
  • Bruce Joel Rubin, 3 p.m. Oct. 2 – Rubin, an IU alumnus, writer, director and producer, will be present for two screenings in addition to his talk: “My Life” at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1 and “Ghost” at 7 p.m. Oct. 2.
  • Eliza Hittman, 3 p.m. Oct. 13 – An IU alumna, Hittman is an award-winning filmmaker whose most recent feature, “Beach Rats,” won the 2017 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award for U.S. Dramatic Feature. Hittman is also scheduled to be at three film screenings:  ”It Felt Like Love,” her feature-film debut, at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 13; her film “Beach Rats” at 7 p.m. Oct. 12; and her husband Scott Cummings’ “Buffalo Juggalos and Other Short Films” at 9:30 p.m. Oct. 13.
  • Dee Rees, 3 p.m. Nov. 16 – Rees is a writer/director whose film “Mudbound” premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to great acclaim and will be available on Netflix. In addition to her Jorgensen lecture, Rees is scheduled to be at two film screenings: “Mudbound” at 6 p.m. Nov. 16 and “Pariah” at 9:30 p.m. Nov. 16.

President’s Choice Film Series

Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie has selected four highly acclaimed films highlighting the profound ability of art, architecture and design to affect how we perceive and experience the world and explore the complexities of the creative process. The series pays homage to IU Bloomington’s new School of Art and Design, as well as the new Master of Architecture degree program in the school and the school’s move to the newly renovated Kirkwood Hall.

  • “The Fountainhead,” 7 p.m. Aug. 21 – The film is based on the iconic novel by Ayn Rand, a controversial 20th-century writer and philosopher of “objectivism.”
  • “Berlin: Symphony of a Great City,” 3 p.m. Oct. 8 – The silent film will feature live piano accompaniment by Craig Davis, a doctoral student in the IU Jacobs School of Music.
  • “Russian Ark,” 7 p.m. Oct. 16 – In Russian and Persian with English subtitles.
  • “Last Year at Marienbad,” 7 p.m. Dec. 4 – In French with English subtitles.
Eliza Hittman
IU alumna Eliza Hittman will speak Oct. 13 at IU Cinema. Her most recent feature, “Beach Rats,” won the 2017 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award for U.S. Dramatic Feature.Photo by Tom LeGoff

Other highlights

IU Cinema will also host several other notable visitors as part of its fall 2017 schedule, including:

  • Kogonada, 6:30 p.m. Sept. 15 – Video essayist Kogonada will screen his directorial debut, “Columbus,” which is set and was filmed in Columbus, Ind. Kogonada has been noted by Filmmaker Magazine as one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”
  • George Takei, 3 p.m. Sept. 19 – The actor and activist will be at the screening of “To Be Takei,” a 2014 documentary directed by Jennifer M. Kroot that takes a humorous and poignant  look at the life of the “Star Trek” actor, who spent four years in a U.S. internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II. All tickets have been distributed for this screening. IU Cinema will recognize a standby line at 2 p.m. Sept. 19 and seat patrons as space is available. Patrons with tickets must be seated by 2:55 p.m. to be guaranteed a seat.
  • Glenn Gass, 7 p.m. Sept. 25 – The rock historian and IU Provost Professor of Music is scheduled to introduce “Love & Mercy,” which chronicles the life of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson. Gass will conclude the evening with a question-and-answer session following the film.
  • Harriet Newman Leve, 3 p.m. Oct. 9 – A producer and IU alumna, Leve will be present for the screening of the 1951 film “An American in Paris.” The musical won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography. This screening is sponsored by the Department of Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance and IU Cinema. Leve is a producer who helped bring “An American in Paris” to Broadway.
  • Charles Fairbanks, 3 p.m. Oct. 27 – Writer and director Fairbanks will be present for the screening of his documentary “The Modern Jungle.” The film is in Spanish with English subtitles.
  • Guillermo Escalón, 7 p.m. Oct. 27 – Director Escalón will be present for the screening of his documentary “Cárcel de Arboles” (“Prison of Trees”). The film is in Spanish with English subtitles.
  • “The Scar of Shame” with live musical score, 7 p.m. Nov. 4 – “The Scar of Shame/Renèe Baker Project” is a commissioned world premiere of a Renèe Baker score for the 1927 race film “The Scar of Shame”; the score will be performed by students from the IU Jacobs School of Music. The Black Film Center/Archive at IU is home to a collection of papers and scores from composer and arranger Phil Moore, whose work inspired Baker’s score.
  • Dorothy Vogel, 3 p.m. Nov. 12 – New York-based collector Dorothy Vogel and her late husband, Herb, are featured prominently in the award-winning “Herb & Dorothy.” The film tells the incredible story of a New York City postal clerk and a librarian who built one of the country’s most important collections of contemporary art and then gave it away to museums. A post-screening discussion with Vogel will follow the film.
  • Kristin Hahn, 7 p.m. Nov. 13 – Producer Hahn is scheduled to present for the screening of “Tumbledown.” Hahn has served as executive producer or producer for “Cake,” “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” “The Switch” and “The Departed.”
  • Michael Uslan, 6:30 p.m. Dec. 3 – The IU alumnus will present “Swamp Thing,” which was the first film he produced before bringing the “Batman” franchise back to the big screen in 1989. “Swamp Thing,” directed by Wes Craven, is celebrating its 35th anniversary.

Ticket information

Tickets are now available online for all fall events, unless otherwise noted in the program booklet. A surcharge of $1 per ticket applies to online orders. IU Cinema seats 260, so patrons are encouraged to obtain tickets in advance. For detailed information or to make inquiries by phone, call 812-855-1103.

Visit the IU Cinema website

“The series is here to honor his commitment to the arts and IU Cinema and honor his deep love of film,” Vickers said. “It’s also easy for us to commit to this series because we have complete trust in his tastes.”

This semester’s series is supported in part by the Grafton Trout Fund, an IU Cinema programming endowment created by Laura C. Trout in honor of her husband.

Films in the Fall 2017 President’s Choice series are:

  • “The Fountainhead,” 7 p.m. Aug. 21 – The film is based on the iconic novel by Ayn Rand, a controversial 20th-century writer and philosopher of “objectivism.”
  • “Berlin: Symphony of a Great City,” 3 p.m. Oct. 8 – The silent film will feature live piano accompaniment by Craig Davis, a doctoral student in the IU Jacobs School of Music.
  • “Russian Ark,” 7 p.m. Oct. 16 – In Russian and Persian with English subtitles.
  • “Last Year at Marienbad,” 7 p.m. Dec. 4 – In French with English subtitles.

Author

IU Newsroom

Mary Keck

Communications Manager, Public Safety

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