February
February 10 (Friday): THE BLING RING
Film screening — 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Sofia Coppola (United States, 2013, 90 minutes, color & b/w)
Starring Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, Claire Julian, Taissa Farmiga

Inspired by actual events, the film tells the story of a group of fame- and fashion-obsessed teenagers who use the Internet to track celebrities’ whereabouts in order to rob their homes. Directed by Oscar award-winning director Sofia Coppola, it is based on the Vanity Fair article “The Suspects Wore Louboutins” (which was later expanded into the book The Bling Ring) by Nancy Jo Sales. Salon.com called the film “Brilliant. Highly addictive.”
Note: Nancy Jo Sales will appear at the Writers Institute on Thursday, February 16. (see Visiting Writers Series listing)

February 17 (Friday):  WITHIN OUR GATES
Film screening — 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Oscar Micheaux (United States, 1920, 79 minutes, b/w, silent)
Starring Evelyn Preer, Flo Clements, James D. Ruffin

This film is pioneering African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux’s response to D. W. Griffith’s 1915 racist film THE BIRTH OF A NATION, and the earliest surviving feature by an African-American director. An educated black woman with a shocking past dedicates herself to helping a near bankrupt school for impoverished black youths. The New Yorker’s Richard Brody said, “Micheaux’s narrative manner is as daring as his subject matter, with bold flashbacks and interpolations amplifying the story.”

February 24 (Friday): SACCO AND VANZETTI 
Film screening with commentary by director Peter Miller and film editor Amy Linton — 7:00 p.m. [note early start time], Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Peter Miller (United States, 2006, 80 minutes, color)

This documentary, winner of the American Historical Association’s best film award, tells the story of two Italian politically radical immigrants charged with the 1920 robbery of a Massachusetts shoe factory and the murder of two of its employees. As it recounts their trials, public protests, and appeals on their behalf the film offers insights into present-day issues of civil liberties and immigrant rights. Ken Burns called it “A wonderful film, as timeless as the struggle for human justice, as relevant as today’s headlines.”

Peter Miller is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose films include the theatrically-released A.K.A. DOC POMUS, JEWS AND BASEBALL, and SACCO AND VANZETTI. He has directed numerous documentaries for PBS and has been a producer for documentaries by Ken Burns and Lynn Novak including THE WAR and JAZZ, and the Peabody Award-winning FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT.

Amy Linton has edited numerous award-winning films including Julie Dash’s DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST, a Sundance winner that was selected for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. She has worked on dozens of documentaries, feature films, and music videos in her 25-year career.

Sponsored in conjunction with UAlbany’s School of Criminal Justice’s Justice & Multiculturalism in the 21st Century: Crime, Justice, and Public Memory Film Series

March
March 3 (Friday): HIS GIRL FRIDAY
Pre-screening talk with Rosemary Armao, Marion Roach Smith, Casey Seiler
and Lydia Kulbida about the challenges facing women in journalism — 7:30 p.m.
Film screening — 8:00 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Howard Hawks (United States, 1940, 92 minutes, b/w)
Starring Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy

A newspaper editor uses every trick he can think of to stop his top reporter—and ex-wife—from quitting journalism and hopping a train to Albany to marry another man with the intention of settling into a new life as a housewife. This fast-paced comedy with overlapping dialogue was adapted by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur from their  Broadway hit The Front Page. Chicago Reader reviewer Dave Kehr described Cary Grant’s performance as “…truly virtuoso— stunning technique applied to the most challenging material.” The American Film Institute ranked His Girl Friday at #19 in its list of the best American comedies of all time. Quentin Tarantino credits the film with teaching him to write dialogue. 

A new high-definition digital restoration of His Girl Friday will be shown.

Lydia Kulbida, prominent Capital Region broadcast journalist, co-anchors News10ABC at 4pm with Elisa Streeter and Chief Meteorologist Steve Caporizzo, and also co-anchors News10ABC at 6pm and FOX23 News at 10pm with John Gray.

Rosemary Armao, a star of WAMC’s “The Roundtable,” is the Director of the Journalism Program at the University at Albany. She is a former Executive Director of Investigative Reporters and Editors and former President of the Journalism and Women Symposium. 

Marion Roach Smith is the author of four mass-market books. A former staffer at The New York Times, she has been a commentator on NPR’s All Things Considered and a talk show host on Sirius Satellite Radio. She currently teaches writing online and serves as a working member of the Friends of The New York State Writers Institute.

Casey Seiler is the Times Union state editor and columnist, and previously served as the paper’s entertainment editor.

March 10 (Friday): SEARCH AND DESTROY
Film screening — 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by David Salle (United States, 1995, 90 minutes, color)
Starring Griffin Dunne, Dennis Hopper, Jason Ferraro, Ethan Hawke, Illeana Douglas

A two-bit entertainment promotor with dreams of becoming a movie producer attempts to raise cash for his first project in this satire of the hustling and big money of Hollywood. Produced by Martin Scorsese, with renowned painter David Salle making his directorial debut, and an impressive cast, the film is an adaption of Howard Korder’s 1990 play.
Note: David Salle will appear at the Writers Institute on March 23 as part of The Creative Life Series (see Visiting Writers listing)

March 24 (Friday):  LACOMBE, LUCIEN
Film screening — 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Louis Malle (France, 1974, 138 minutes, color, in French with English subtitles)
Starring Pierre Blaise, Aurore Clément, Holger Löwenadler

A young man in Nazi-occupied France, whose father is a prisoner of war in Germany, attempts to join the French Resistance. Turned downed because of his age he becomes a member of the Gestopo. His life becomes more complicated when he falls in love with the daughter of a Jewish tailor.

April
April 7 (Friday): THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION
Film screening with commentary by director Stanley Nelson and producer Marcia Smith — 7:00 p.m. [note early start time], Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Stanley Nelson (United States, 2015, 115 minutes, color and b/w)

This feature length documentary explores the remarkable history of the Black Panther Party, its formation and ultimate downfall, and its cultural and political significance to the broader American culture. Nikki Baughan of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, called the film “Compelling and incisive,” and said, “The most shocking aspect…is how painfully relevant its message still is.” The film premiered at Sundance, aired on PBS, and received awards for Best Documentary from the Image Awards and the National Board of Review.

Photo by Sam Aleshinloye

Stanley Nelson is an Emmy Award-wining documentary filmmaker and recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in 2014. Nelson’s other films include FREEDOM RIDERS, JONESTOWN: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PEOPLE’S TEMPLE, and THE MURDER OF EMMETT TILL, among others.

Marcia Smith, president of Firelight Media, has written numerous films for PBS, including WOUNDED KNEE, JONESTOWN: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF PEOPLE'S TEMPLE, MARCUS GARVEY: LOOK FOR ME IN THE WHIRLWIND, and THE MURDER OF EMMETT TILL. She has garnered every major award in television.
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Sponsored in conjunction with UAlbany’s School of Criminal Justice’s Justice & Multiculturalism in the 21st Century: Crime, Justice, and Public Memory Film Series

April 21 (Friday): TABU
Film Screening — 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Miguel Gomes (Portugal, 2012, 118 minutes, b/w, in Portuguese with English subtitles)
Starring Teresa Madruga, Isabel Muñoz Cardoso, Laura Soveral

A retired woman helps find a man who has a secret connection with her recently deceased neighbor.  Richard Brody, in a The New Yorker review called the film “…one of the most original and inventive—as well as trenchantly political and painfully romantic—movies of recent years.” A love story and an exploration of Portugal’s colonial past, TABU received numerous awards including the Alfred Bauer Award and FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival.

April 28 (Friday):  MOTHER
Film screening — 7:30 p.m., Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Bong Joon-ho (South Korea, 2009, 128 minutes, color, in Korean with English subtitles)
Starring Hye-ja Kim, Bin Won, Ku Jin

A mother attempts to solve the brutal murder of a young girl for which her mentally challenged son has been accused. This labyrinthine and deceptive film received critical praise for South Korean director Bong Joon-ho and won a number of international film festival awards including the Asian Film Award for  Best Actress (Hye-ja Kim), Best Film, and Best Screenplay.

May
May 5 (Friday):  THE DANISH GIRL
Film screening with commentary by David Ebershoff — 7:00 p.m. [note early start time],
Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, Downtown Campus

Directed by Tom Hooper (UK/US/Belgium/Denmark/Germany, 2015, 119 minutes, color)
Starring Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander

Based on David Ebershoff’s novel, the film follows the lives of husband and wife Danish artists Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener as they struggle with Lili’s groundbreaking gender transformation from a man to a woman. The film received four Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Supporting Actress (Alicia Vikander). Rex Reed of the New York Observer called Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of the transgender protagonist, “an act of heroism…. the performance of the year.”

Photo by Peter Ross

David Ebershoff is the author of the novel The Danish Girl (2000), which was an international bestseller, a New York Times Notable Book, and winner of the Lambda Award for Transgender Fiction. He is also the author of the story collection The Rose City (2001), and the novels Pasadena (2002, and The 19th Wife (2008), a #1 bestseller that was adapted for a television movie. Ebershoff is also one of the most acclaimed literary editors in American publishing having worked with notable authors Adam Johnson, Imbolo Mbue, Gary Shteyngart, Billy Collins, and many others. Read more