Stanley Tucci’s directorial debut, BIG NIGHT, is a comedy-drama about two immigrant brothers from Italy who open a restaurant and try to gain success. Jon Cavallero (Associate Professor of Film, Bates College) led a discussion on November 18, 2020 about the film’s representation of Italian-American characters and how those characters conform to and resist Hollywood…

On March 17, we hosted a discussion with Lance Edmands, director of BLUEBIRD (2014) and Kenneth Copp, the subject of Edmands’ short documentary, “The Seeker.” On a freezing January evening, school bus driver Lesley completes her route, but her final inspection abruptly ends when a bluebird comes into view. What happens next shakes her small…

STRAY explores what it means to live as a being without status or security, following three strays as they embark on inconspicuous journeys through Turkish society. Zeytin, fiercely independent, embarks on adventures through the city at night; Nazar, nurturing and protective, easily befriends the humans around her; while Kartal, a shy puppy living on the…

When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, Diana, an Amazonian warrior in training, leaves home to fight a war, discovering her full powers and true destiny. On March 3, 2021, Prof. Kathleen Rowe Karlyn (University of Oregon) led a discussion about female unruliness and WONDER WOMAN. Female audiences worldwide were…

With First Cow named the best film of 2020 by the New York Film Critics Circle and nominated for a slew of awards after its initial release, Kelly Reichardt is increasingly gaining mainstream attention for her films. Dr. Matthew Holtmeier and Dr. Chelsea Wessels – Assistant Professors and Co-Directors of the Film and Media Studies program…

Spike Lee Takes on the Interracial Buddy Film with Charles I. Nero, Bates College Wednesday, February 3 at 7:30pm EST Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan. After watching the film (on your own time,…

This MLK Day we’re re-watching Selma. Ava DuVernay’s powerful biopic of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tells the story of the march for voting rights in Alabama that ended in violence, but ultimately was the catalyst for Lyndon B. Johnson to sign the Voting Rights Act. The film shines with standout performances by David Oyelowo,…