Directed by William A. Wellman (United States, 1931, 83 minutes, b/w)
Starring James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods

Two young hoodlums seek fame and fortune in the Chicago Underworld in this classic American gangster film. An early soundie based on an unpublished novel by two former street thugs turned screenwriters, the film earned an Oscar nomination for “Best Writing,” and was widely admired for its knowledgeable depiction of the practical mechanics of Prohibition Era bootlegging.

Directed by Jason Osder (United States, 2013, 88 minutes, b/w and color)
Starring Birdie Africa, Ramona Africa, Wilson Goode

This multiple award-winning documentary presents a history of the tragic conflict between the City of Philadelphia and the Black Liberation organization, MOVE in the mid-1980s. The Variety reviewer said, “The brilliantly edited tapestry of actions and reactions exposes a pattern of prejudice and fear capable of infinitely repeating itself.”

Jason Osder teaches documentary filmmaking at the George Washington University. He is also coauthor of the filmmaking guide, Final Cut Pro Workflows: The Independent Studio Handbook (2007).

Sponsored in conjunction with UAlbany’s School of Criminal Justice’s Civility, Surveillance, and Public Spaces Film Series

Directed by Tanya Hamilton (United States, 2010, 90 minutes, color)
Starring Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Jamara Griffin

A finalist for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, NIGHT CATCHES US is a powerful evocation of the American inner city in 1976. A former Black Panther returns to his old Philadelphia neighborhood, where he confronts the unresolved problems of his past. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said, “Tanya Hamilton's first feature as a director, is something to cherish…. She lets her mesmerizing movie sneak up on you and seep in until you feel it in your bones.”

Tanya Hamilton, director and screenwriter, is a former Fellow at the Sundance Screenwriter and Filmmaker Lab, and was honored for Outstanding Achievement By a Woman in the Film Industry by the Alliance of Women Film Journalists in 2010.

Ron Simons, producer of Night Catches Us, is also a three-time Tony Award winning Broadway producer for A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Best Musical, 2014), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Best Play, 2013) and Porgy & Bess (Best Revival, 2012).

Sponsored in conjunction with UAlbany’s School of Criminal Justice’s Civility, Surveillance, and Public Spaces Film Series

Directed by William Wyler (United States, 1939, 104 minutes, b/w)
Starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven

This adaptation of Emily Brontë’s tempestuous romance—one of the most enduring classics of English literature—received eight Academy Award nominations, including one for “Best Picture” in a year considered by many critics to be the most competitive in American film history.

Shown in association with the March 10 appearance of award-winning fiction writer Caryl Phillips, who reimagines elements of Wuthering Heights in his new novel, The Lost Child (2015).
(See Visiting Writer Series Listing)

Directed by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan, 2004, 141 minutes, color, in Japanese with English subtitles)
Starring Yûya Yagira, Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura

Barely into his teens, performer Yûya Yagira won the Best Actor award at Cannes for his portrayal of a boy who raises his young siblings in a Tokyo apartment after their mother abandons them. Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune called the film, “one of those special movies that can give us a new way of seeing.”

A former flying ace with the French Foreign Legion during World War I, director William Wellman used his familiarity with aviation to craft this silent film about two fighter pilots in love with the same woman. The first Oscar-winner for Best Picture, and the only silent to win an Oscar prior to THE ARTIST in 2011, the film dazzled contemporary audiences with its innovative flying footage and aerial combat scenes.

William Wellman, Jr. is the author of Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel (2015), a biography of his father, director William A. Wellman, a giant of the motion picture industry from the Silent Era to the 1950s. Wellman’s 82 films include history’s first Academy Award winner for Best Picture, WINGS (1927), as well as such iconic films as A STAR IS BORN (1937), THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943), and THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY (1954). Drawing on his father’s unpublished letters, diaries, notes and unfinished autobiography, the new book offers the first full portrait of the man. A notable character actor in his own right, Wellman Jr. is also the author of The Man and His Wings (2006), about the making of his father’s silent masterpiece.