Today is your last chance to see the excellent Jonathan VanBallenberghe documentary about the majestic moose. School of Media Arts professor Yuri Makino will also screen a work-in-progress focusing on underwater dolphin photography. Instead of the rain and gloom of Tucson, experience the wilds of Denali Park in Alaska, or the blue water of the Bahamas.
MOOSE and COMPANY
The Screening Room
127 E. Congress St.
Sunday, February 28 at 3:00pm
The title of her presentation is:
Showtime Thinks, Therefore I Am:
The Corporate Construction of “The Lesbian” on sho.com’s The L Word Site
Kelly Kessler, PhD
Monday March 1
5-6:30pm
Student Union Tucson Room
FREE and open to the public
Presented by the School of Media Arts Visiting Artists and Scholars Series, co-sponsored by the Hanson Film Institute, the UA Office of LGBTQ Affairs, the Institute for LGBT Studies, ASUA Pride Alliance, the Department of English, and the Department of Gender & Women's Studies.
The upcoming Tucson Cine Mexico 2010 is the front-page story in the “La Estrella” newspaper.
http://www.azstarnet.com/laestrella/ciudad/article_3fad5d63-0f6d-5ea7-95e4-654db6b6412d.html
There is also a feature article, written by Ernesto Portillo, the editor of the “La Estrella” newspaper, on a Tucson Cine Mexico 2010 visiting filmmaker, Natalia Almada.
http://azstarnet.com/laestrella/gente/article_0fb64107-ab09-5af4-9268-86f772397dd9.html
Our own Yuri Makino will be screening her nature film works this weekend at The Screening Room. She will be sharing the big screen with local filmmaker Jonathan VanBallenberghe.
MOOSE and COMPANY
The Screening Room
127 E. Congress St.
Saturday, February 27 at 7:00pm
and
Sunday, February 28 at 3:00pm
A $5 donation is suggested.
School of Media Arts student Jonathan Weber interned at both the NATPE conference and the Sundance Film Festival.
You can read more at his blog:
http://jonathanscottweber.wordpress.com/category/sundancenatpe/
Tucson Cine Mexico 2010 selected film ALAMAR has just been awarded the Rotterdam International Film Festival’s Tiger Award!
Alamar was also the opening night feature of the Generation section at the Berlin Film Festival.
Audiences in Tucson will have an opportunity to see this award winning film at Tucson Cine Mexico 2010.
ALAMAR
Friday, March 5, 8:30pm at Harkins Theatres Tucson Spectrum 18
School of Media Arts production lab coordinator, Dan Brock, developed CueTime software, used for sound editing on the major motion picture “Avatar.”
The “Avatar” film was recently awarded a Motion Picture Sound Editing (MPSE) Golden Reel for best music editing in feature film. This is the equivalent of an Oscar for music editing and is awarded by peers in the audio sector of the film industry.
To read more about this achievement please see ”The Hollywood Reporter” article:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/awards/news/e3i5a7bc96eb52f8d10b3311a9c1e3e24a9
“Avatar” has also been nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Score among its other achievements.
Congratulations to MARPL’s
Dan Brock!
FILM and TELEVISION DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
Do you have an idea that you think would make a great feature film or TV movie or series? Maybe you’ve read a book that you think would be perfect to adapt to film? Or maybe you know someone with an amazing true life story? In this workshop, you’ll learn what to do next: how to option rights, how to write a “treatment,” how to develop a visual, compelling story, and what to expect in the production development process. We’ll also unlock the mysteries of “coverage,” touch on what a development executive does, and preview some key “dos and don’ts” of pitching.
This workshop is open to students and members of the community. It’s open to people who dream of working on a TV/film project, and to people who already have – maybe as writers, producers, actors, or crew members. Everyone will learn something and nobody will be left behind.
Over the course of the weekend, you’ll learn through hands-on exercises, team presentations, and facilitator explanations and demonstrations. You’ll bring a story idea to work on at the workshop, and on the second day, you’ll experience an actual simulated development meeting about that idea. You will receive professional feedback from Ms. Soroko, gaining the benefit of her years as a development executive in L.A. in the film and television industry.
Besides having a good time and making new professional friends, you will emerge from this workshop with the tools to start developing your story into a more exciting, effective, and energized project – one that might just have a chance of developing into a produced motion picture or television series.
THE WORKSHOP LEADER: Lorna Soroko is former Vice President of Adam Productions, based first at Twentieth Century Fox and then at Warner Bros., where she was in charge of developing new television series and films. Prior to that, she was Vice President at Citadel Productions, where she worked on international co-productions. Ms. Soroko has writing and producing credits for shows on HBO, Fox, and Showtime; she is a member of the WGA; and she received a national Ace Award in the category of writing a movie or mini-series for a film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. She has guest-lectured for university film courses; written articles for the UCLA Entertainment Symposium; and has served as an Emmy Awards judge. Prior to working as a creative executive, Lorna practiced entertainment law in Los Angeles.
WHEN: Saturday & Sunday, March 6-7, 2010
Saturday: Noon - 5 pm, Sunday: Noon - 4 pm
WHERE: The University of Arizona, School of Media Arts
845 N. Park Avenue (Marshall Building), Second Floor
HOW TO APPLY:
If you’re interested in participating in the Film and Television Development Workshop, please submit your application by February 22, 2010 to be considered. This workshop will be kept small to provide individual attention, so space is limited. Applicants will be selected based on their readiness for the level of instruction being offered. There is no fee to apply. You’ll be notified of your acceptance by February 26, 2010.
To apply, please send the following:
1. Contact information (name, address, phone, email).
2. A one to three page synopsis of a feature film or television project that you would like to work on. This can be based on an original idea, a book, or a true life story.
3. A paragraph telling us why you want to take this workshop.
4. A brief statement providing your back- ground and experience in film/TV, if any, with a list of any other film/TV classes you’ve taken, and any work experience in the field. Prior experience is not required.
DROP OFF OR MAIL APPLICATION MATERIAL TO:
Hanson Film Institute c/o School of Media Arts The University of Arizona
845 N. Park Avenue Marshall Building, Room 220
PO Box 210158B
Tucson, Arizona 85721
OR EMAIL MATERIAL TO:
vwestove@email.arizona.edu
WORKSHOP FEE:
$95 non-students.
No charge for UA students (proof of student status required).
If you have completed an original screenplay and would like a professional, in-depth analysis, you can speak with the facilitator about her fee for this service.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Vicky Westover, Program Director
Hanson Film Institute
520-626-9825 or
vwestove@email.arizona.edu
Tucson Cine Mexico 2010
March 4-7, 2010
All Screenings Free and Open to the Public
Harkins Theatres Tucson Spectrum 18
5455 South Calle Santa Cruz
Sponsored by Cox and Harkins Theatres
Media Sponsors: Univision, 102.1 KCMT La Caliente and La Estrella
The University of Arizona’s Hanson Film Institute and The Consulate of Mexico in Tucson present Tucson Cine Mexico 2010, a festival of Mexican film. Tucson Cine Mexico 2010 is the most prominent film festival in the US focusing entirely on the work of Mexican directors, with each screening being the Arizona premiere.
Tucson Cine Mexico celebrates the best of Mexican Cinema with Award Winning Filmmakers and Films, a Party at The Tucson Museum of Art, and a partnership with Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna’s Ambulante Documentary Film Festival.
Thursday, March 4, 6 PM
El General/ The General
Harkins Theatres
In Person: director Natalia Almada
The past and the present collide as filmmaker Natalia Almada brings to lifeaudio recordings she inherited about her great-grandfather Plutarco Elias Calles, a revolutionary general who became president in 1924. In his time, Calles was called “El Bolshevique” and “El Jefe Maximo” (the foremost chief). Today, he is remembered as “el Quema-Curas” (priest –burner) and as a dictator who ruled through puppet presidents until he was exiled in 1936. Through his daughter’s recordings, EL GENERAL moves between the memories of a daughter grappling with history’s portrait of her father and the weight of his legacy on the country today. Time is blurred in this complex and visually arresting portrait of a family and country living under the shadows of the past.
8:30 PM
Tucson Cine Mexico Festival Opening Night Party
Tucson Museum of Art
140 N. Main Ave.
Beer, Tequila and Food!
with screening of the short documentary film
Tropico de Cancer
Minimal dialogue in Spanish with English subtitles
(Mexico, 2003, 53 min)
In collaboration with the Tucson Museum of Art
A poignant and powerful documentary, TROPICO DE CANCER is a meticulous account of the perilous conditions of a group of families living in the arid desert of San Luis Potosí in their quest for survival hunting animals to sell them on the highway. Both visually and narrative astonishing, the film is Eugenio Polgovsky¹s documentary debut which was screened in numerous film festivals around the world.
Friday, March 5, 6 PM
Voy a Explotar/ I’m Gonna Explore (Mexico, 2007, 105 min)
In Spanish with English Subtitles
Harkins Theatres
Roman, the son of a sleazy right-wing congressman, contributes to his high school talent show by attempting to hang himself on stage. Maru, from the other side of the tracks, is the only one who claps. They bond in detention, and after staging a mock abduction it’s off in a stolen Volkswagen with daddy’s gun to the end of the night. Two wonderfully fresh performances by Maria Deschamps and Juan Pablo de Santiago grace this engaging and often funny youth film. - The Film Society of Lincoln Center
8:30 PM
Alamar/To the Sea
In Spanish and Italian with English subtitles
(Mexico, 2009, 75 mins)
Harkins Theatres
Jorge and Roberta have been separated for several years. They simply come from opposite worlds: he likes an uncomplicated life in the jungle while she prefers a more urban existence. He is Mexican and she is Italian, and she has decided to return to Rome with their five-year-old son, Natan. But before they leave, Jorge wishes to take young Natan on a trip, hoping to teach him about his origins in Mexico...as father and son spend more time together, Natan begins a learning experience that will remain with him forever.
10 PM
Los Bastardos/ The Bastards
In Spanish and English with English subtitles
(Mexico, 2008, 90 min)
Harkins Theatres
A multiple award winner and 2008 Cannes Film Festival selection, Amat Escalante's Los Bastardos "looks and sounds very impressive" (Variety), and makes an indelibly disturbing impact.
Like the rest of the day-laboring migrant workers who gather together each morning on a southwestern American strip mall sidewalk, Jesus (Jesus Moises Rodriguez) and Fausto (Rubén Sosa) struggle to get ahead in El Norte. But when a callous gringo boss strands them in the middle of a community that exploits them one minute and insults them the next, the two young men cock their sawed off shotgun and calmly take a troubled housewife hostage in her own home.
Co-produced by Carlos Reygadas (Silent Light, Battle in Heaven), Los Bastardos plumbs the depths of human brutality with the same cool cinematic certitude as the work of Michael Haneke and Bruno Dumont.
Saturday, March 6, 6 PM
Cinco Dias Sin Nora/ Nora’s Will
In Spanish and Hebrew with English subtitles
(Mexico, 2008, 100 min)
Harkins Theatres
In Person, Director Mariana Chenillo
It may not sound like a comedy, but Chenillo loads the scenario with more Yiddishkeit than a gross of matzo, sure to elicit laughs and knowing nods throughout the Diaspora.- Variety
José learns that Nora, the woman he was married to for 30 years before divorcing, has committed suicide a few days before Passover. Forced to wait five days for the funeral, so that his son can arrive and the rabbi’s schedule can free up, José discovers that Nora left all of the food for a Passover dinner ready in her refrigerator. But Nora also left something else, a curious photograph that may unlock the mystery of her life and death for the family she left behind. – AFI Film Festival
8:30 PM
Arrancame la Vida/ Tear This Heart Out
In Spanish with English subtitles
(Mexico, 2009, 111 min)
Harkins Theatres
Arráncame la vida begins its journey during a transformative period in Mexican history. The Revolution of 1910 is over and the country’s rule is open to whatever politician had the audacity to grab it. Dominating men fight ruthlessly for control, manipulating and exploiting others to gain power. Growing up in 1930s Mexico, Catalina Guzmán knows little of the world beyond her father’s house, unaware of the political storm that looming over the whole country. General Andrés Ascensio is one of the iconic men who exemplifies the concept of Mexican machismo. He arrives unannounced into Catalina’s life, confidently seducing her into marriage. She follows him willingly, entranced by his power, wealth, sexuality and the escape he offers from her provincial life. She is pushed into the tedious existence of a politician’s wife, an endless series of state dinners, public speeches and social obligations. Despite her bravery and enduring spirit, Catalina is encaged by her marriage to Andrés until she meets the young and vibrant Carlos Vives. The handsome orchestra director provides Catalina with her greatest desire, her greatest love and her greatest tragedy. Most importantly, Carlos is the catalyst that transforms Catalina definitively and irrevocably. Based on the iconic novel by Ángeles Mastretta, Arráncame la vida is the story of a young woman searching for freedom and identity during Mexico’s defining era. -Cine Las Americas
Sunday, March 7, 2 PM
Tijuaneados Anonimos: Una Lagrima, Una Sonrisa/ Tijuanans Anonymous: A Teardrop, A Smile
In Spanish with English subtitles
(Mexico, 2009, 82 min)
Harkins Theatres
In person, co-director Ana Paola Rodriguez España
The border city of Tijuana, México is experiencing a crisis of unprecedented violence and ungovernability, this situation affects the daily lives of its inhabitants. Every week, a group of people get together in Tijuaneados Anonymous to share experiences and discuss solutions to the erosive phenomenon that affects: the tijuaneado. With painful or playful stories, absurd human tragedies, and heroic deeds, the characters reflect on the city, imagining how they want Tijuana to be and how they want to be as individuals.
Those of us who made the film live in Tijuana and the theme of the documentary affects us directly. We are interested in the border culture and social phenomena that we’ve addressed in previous works. The situation in Tijuana has been deteriorating over the past five years. Not only in terms of violence, but the social fabric seems to be disintegrating and the quality of life of its inhabitants has declined. That is why we decided to make a film that provokes people to reflect about what is going on, its causes and effects. – The Filmmakers
Jennifer Breslow, the Vice President of Drama Development at ABC-TV will present to the University of Arizona School of Media Arts students.
Friday, February 19
1:00-2:15
102 Harvill
"TV Pilot Season: The Process of Pick-Ups"
Jennifer Breslow is Vice President of Drama Development at ABC Television network. She works closely with producers, writers, directors and the cast to steer the creative direction of television shows. Her daily responsibilities include overseeing the creative aspects of the network's top shows, "Grey's Anatomy" and "Private Practice", as well as working extensively with writers on development projects for potential new shows.
Prior to joining ABC, Breslow served as Vice President of Drama Development at The CW, where she oversaw the creation of cult favorites "Gossip Girl" and "90210", as well as this season's breakout hit, "The Vampire Diaries" and the upcoming mid-season series "Life, Unexpected." It was at Kevin Williamson's production company, Outerbanks Entertainment, that Breslow climbed the ranks of the executive ladder.
She began as an Executive Assistant and was then promoted to Creative Executive and then finally to Vice President. Her career isn't limited to the small screen however, as she's also produced features, including Wes Craven's "Cursed" and Jim Gillespie's "Venom". She began her career working as a production assistant on Michael Jacob's much-beloved show "Boy Meets World."
Her studies and eventual B.A. degree in Media Arts at the U of A pushed Breslow to follow her passion into the world of entertainment.
Dr. Kelly Kessler, an Assistant Professor of Media and Cinema Studies in the College of Communication at DePaul University, will be presenting her work at The University of Arizona.
The title of her presentation is:
Showtime Thinks, Therefore I Am:
The Corporate Construction of “The Lesbian” on sho.com’s The L Word Site
Kelly Kessler, PhD
Monday March 1
5-6:30pm
Student Union Tucson Room
FREE and open to the public
Presented by the School of Media Arts Visiting Artists and Scholars Series, co-sponsored by the Hanson Film Institute, the UA Office of LGBTQ Affairs, the Institute for LGBT Studies, ASUA Pride Alliance, the Department of English, and the Department of Gender & Women's Studies.
In 2004 Showtime launched its dyke drama with a less-than-stellar website that allowed fans to login and talk about the show (or whatever they liked). Over time, Showtime pimped out the site with all of the emergent bells-and-whistles: blogs, social networking, Second Life (SL) portal, wiki, online-only video materials, and message boards. Indicative of trends in corporate driven cyberspace, these sites simultaneously provided lesbians—perhaps once isolated in the closet or rural Wyoming—an easy-access online community and created a corporate-controlled space that spoke to Showtime’s own economic imperatives. This business-driven visibility and access allowed the powers that be to define just who was worthy to engage in/seemingly/ independent conversations about who s/he was and what s/he desired (Liberals? Butches? Lesbian mothers? Intellectuals?). In order to partake in these new, sexy online toys, fans were forced to conform—wittingly or no—and define themselves in ways most conducive to Showtime’s vision. Through an examination of the site’s strict reins on identity construction as produced by its texts, interfaces, inclusions, and striking omissions, this presentation seeks to shed some light on the more subtle means by which corporate fingers placed in fannish pies may lead to a less than savory dish.
Kelly Kessler is an Assistant Professor of Media and Cinema Studies in the College of Communication at DePaul University. Her work has focused on issues of gender, sexuality, and genre in both television and film, specifically engaging with the mainstreaming of lesbianism in television and film and the articulation of masculinity in the Hollywood musical. Her book/Destabilizing the Hollywood Musical: Music, Masculinity, and Mayhem/is forthcoming from Palgrave. Current projects like the one being presented seek to examine the various ways in which the user /freedom/ and /agency/ provided through fan sites, social networking sites, and role-playing games come with a catch: the corporate fingerprint behind the user-friendly content.
Now Showing at Your Library!
A free monthly screening series of popular PBS films made possible through a partnership with Arizona Public Media.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
6:00pm - 7:45pm
Joel D. Valdez Main Library
Today's Now Showing at your Library film:
Here's your chance to watch and discuss the film The Eyes of Me by Keith Maitland at a Community Cinema screening event.
How do you see yourself, when you can't see at all? At the Texas School for the Blind students juggle all the usual pressures of high school along with the added struggles of growing up blind. Spend a dynamic year with four blind teens learning how to fit in and live independently. Forced to confront the world without sight, they share their inner-visions of the outer world. Ultimately, you cannot understand their perceptions without challenging your own.
In Person: Documentary filmmaker
Noland Walker
Saturday, February 6th, 4 PM
Noland Walker is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker whose films have premiered at Sundance Film Festival, screened in festivals worldwide, and have been broadcast nationally on television. His work includes wriiting and co-producing the acclaimed documentary, Jonestown: the Life and Death of People's Temple, co-producing and co-directing Citizen King, a two-hour film about the last years of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, and producing an episode of the groundbreaking 1998 series Africans in America.
The symposium will end with a 20-minute clip introduced by Pearl Bowser of a work in progress: Oscar's Comeback: Festival of the Unconquered; dir. by Lisa Collins and Mark Schwartzburt.
UA Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering Auditorium Rm. S202
1130 N MOUNTAIN AVE (SE corner of Mountain Ave. & Speedway Blvd.
Tucson, AZ 85721
Contact Hanson Film Institute program director Victoria Westover at:
520-626-9825.
Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing at Gallagher Theatre: Friday, February 5th, 4 PM
Faces in the Mirror: Oscar Micheaux and Spike Lee with Guest Film Scholar John Howard
John Howard will place Spike Lee in historical context by comparing his career to that of Oscar Micheaux. Spike Lee came of age after the "coons" and "mammies" of traditional Hollywood fare had given way to less demeaning portrayals of blacks, but no black in the history of Hollywood had sustained a career behind the camera as a director at the time he entered film school.
Presentation followed by screening of the critically-acclaimed Do The Right Thing; dir. by Spike Lee, 1989, (120 min.) 35mm print courtesy of NBC, Universal
Q&A and booksigning with John Howard follows the screening
Gallagher Theatre at the University of Arizona
Located across from the food court on the main floor of the Student Union Memorial Center, 1303 E University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85719
Contact Hanson Film Institute program director Victoria Westover at:
520-626-9825.
Reframing Race Movies: Oscar Micheaux and His Audiences:
February 4, 2010,
4 PM-6:30 PM
Film scholar and author Pearl Bowser will discuss Oscar Micheaux—the most prolific African-American filmmaker to date and a filmmaking giant of the silent period. Both artist and showman, Micheaux stirred controversy in his time as he confronted issues such as lynching, miscegenation, peonage and white supremacy, passing and corruption among black clergymen.
Presentation followed by Screening of Body and Soul; dir. by Oscar Micheaux, 1925, starring Paul Robeson. (102 min.) With live piano accompaniment by Suzanne Knosp, Professor of Dance/Music Director for Dance, University of Arizona School of Dance
University of Arizona, Hosclaw Hall, 100A, 1017 N Olive Road, N Tucson, AZ 85721
Print courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art.
Contact Hanson Film Institute program director Victoria Westover at:
520-626-9825.
Amanda Howard is a master's student in media arts. Her love of films encompasses a broad range, but classic and silent films are her greatest passion. An aspiring film archivist, her mission is to share and spread the pleasure of classic filmgoing, and to someday help ensure broad access to the cultural treasure that is our rich cinematic heritage. Amanda has also written an excellent article about the upcoming symposium on campus, with a special emphasis on Oscar Micheaux.
Please check out her work here:
http://www.examiner.com/x-37715-Tucson-Classic-Movies-Examiner~y2010m1d30-In-Our-Own-Voice-AfricanAmerican-Filmmakers-symposium-at-the-University-of-Arizona
