On Campus News

Classes on Action Films and Vincente Minnelli this June at BMFI with screenings of Die Hardand The Band Wagon

By StudentFilmmakers.com
posted May 30, 2012, 11:40

(Bryn Mawr Film, PA) �Bryn Mawr Film Institute has two courses to keep you out of the heat this summer. Explore the work of one of Hollywood�s most accomplished directors in Lust for Life: The Cinema of Vincente Minnelli, taught by Maurizio Giammarco, Ph.D., on four Wednesdays beginning June 6, 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. If action movies are more your speed, join Andrew J. Douglas, Ph.D. and Valerie Temple, M.F.A. as they delve into the cultural significance and craft of action films in Action Films as Art, four Tuesdays beginning June 12, from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. In conjunction with these courses, BMFI will be screening two films on 35 mm: Die Hard on Tuesday, June 12 at 7:00 pm and Minnelli�s The Band Wagon on Wednesday, June 20 at 7:00 pm.

Action Films as Art and Die Hard�June 12

Action films are often dismissed as being cinematically insignificant, cast out as nothing more than a series of explosions and car chases. To prove action films can be something more, in their class Action Films as Art, Andrew Douglas J. Douglas, Ph.D., and Valerie Temple, M.F.A., will take a closer look at several movies, including the modern action classic Die Hard, the smart and tasteful Drive, and the work of directors Michael Mann and John Woo.

In conjunction with this course, Bryn Mawr Film Institute will show Die Hard on the big screen on 35 mm on Tuesday, June 12 at 7:00 pm. Redefining the action genre, Die Hard follows hard-boiled cop John McClane (Bruce Willis), whose Christmas holiday is turned upside down when he is trapped inside a Los Angeles high rise taken over by a terrorist organization led by the sinister Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). With his wife and a group of her co-workers held hostage, McClane must navigate his fear of heights and a batch of heavily armed henchman with only his wit and a single handgun in this landmark actioner that set the bar for decades to come.

Dr. Andrew J. Douglas is Bryn Mawr Film Institute�s Director of Education and one of its most popular instructors. He received his M.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned his Ph.D. from Northwestern University�s Department of Radio/Television/Film. He is currently a Professorial Lecturer in the English Department of Cabrini College, where he designs courses for and teaches in the film studies program. Dr. Douglas has taught Cinema Classics Seminars on Metropolis, On the Waterfront, Some Like it Hot, and The Third Man, as well as many other courses at Bryn Mawr Film Institute on subjects such as blockbusters, Superhero films, westerns, Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Jews in American Cinema, melodrama, 1950s political films, movie musicals, and film noir.

Valerie Temple, Bryn Mawr Film Institute�s Programming Manager, has been with Bryn Mawr Film Institute since December 2008 and has an M.F.A. in Film Production from Boston University. In addition to programming Bryn Mawr Film Institute�s special events and repertory screenings, she also moderates a monthly film discussion group that meets in the afternoon on the third Friday of every month and serves as a guest moderator for Bryn Mawr Film Institute�s Film History Discussion Series.

Action Films as Art will meet four Tuesdays, June 12, 19, 26, and July 3 from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm at Bryn Mawr Film Institute. Tuition for Bryn Mawr Film Institute members is $100, non-members $125; includes admission to Die Hard. Register online at www.BrynMawrFilm.org or call 610-527-4008 x106.

Tickets for the screening of Die Hard are available online at BrynMawrFilm.org and at the Box Office. Admission is $10 general admission, $7 for students with ID and seniors 65 and up, and $5 for Bryn Mawr Film Institute members.

Lust for Life: The Films of Vincente Minnelli (June 6) and The Band Wagon (June 20)

Known for some of Hollywood�s most spectacular films, Vincente Minnelli�s classic comedies, musicals, and melodramas made him one of the most acclaimed directors in Hollywood�s golden age. With films such as An American in Paris, Designing Woman, Some Came Running, and Gigi�for which he won the Best Director Academy Award�to his credit, Minnelli�s large body of expressive and intimate work has garnered appreciation from a slew of filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and Spike Lee. Join Maurizio Giammarco, Ph.D., one of Bryn Mawr Film Institute�s most popular instructors, for a fascinating look at this versatile auteur and his work in the June class Lust for Life: The Films of Vincente Minnelli.

In conjunction with this course, Bryn Mawr Film Institute will be showing The Band Wagon on the big screen in 35mm on Wednesday, June 20 at 7:00 pm. In Vincente Minnelli�s musical comedy, Fred Astaire plays the famous movie star Tony Hunter. Feeling his career is on the decline, Hunter decides to star in a Broadway musical that his two friends (Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray) believe will suit him. However, things go haywire when the three team up with director Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan), a self-proclaimed �genius,� who decides to turn the musical into a reinvention of Faust! Personalities clash as the group must try to pull the production together after a disastrous start. The 1954 classic was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Original Score.

Maurizio Giammarco received his M.A. in Creative Writing and Ph.D. in English from Temple University and is now a full-time lecturer in their Intellectual Heritage Program, specializing in film, drama, and world literature. He has previously taught at Rosemont College and Haverford College. An expert in Italian cinema, he has previously led two courses on the subject at Bryn Mawr Film Institute, as well as classes on the French New Wave, Latin American cinema, Spanish cinema, and the filmmakers Bernardo Bertolucci, Eric Rohmer, and Lina Wertmuller.

Lust for Life: The Cinema of Vincente Minnelli will meet Wednesdays, June 6, 13, 20, 27, 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. Tuition for Bryn Mawr Film Institute members is $100, non-members $125; includes admission to The Band Wagon. Register online at www.BrynMawrFilm.org or call 610-527-4008 x106.

Tickets for the screening of The Band Wagon are available online at BrynMawrFilm.org and at the Box Office. Admission is $10 general admission, $7 for students with ID and seniors 65 and up, and $5 for Bryn Mawr Film Institute members.





Resources:

www.brynmawrfilm.org