The adage that “image is everything” comes to the big screen during NAU’s spring film series.
Films made from the 1920s to 1990s that feature “Image Makers in Film: Creating Media(ted) Identities” will show Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in the Cline Library Assembly Hall from Jan.16 through May 8. All films are free.
“We have lots of films about film making and films that are excellent examples of the making of image or identity on film,” said Joe Boles, director of the series and chair of the Department of Humanities, Arts and Religion. “We will look at cameramen in love with the camera, photographers out for a buck, tough-talking newspaper journalists, sleazy tabloid reporters, self-serving televangelists, vile hucksters, comic pitchmen, advertisers and craven producers.”
Buster Keaton’s 1928 The Cameraman will kick off the spring films Jan. 16. Nominated as one of the funniest films of all time by the American Film Institute, it is a comedic look at filmmaking. The series concludes with Robert Altman’s 1992 The Player, focusing on Hollywood deal making.
Moviegoers not only get to witness the classics on the big screen, they are eligible for door prizes, will learn about the film during an introduction emphasizing its place in history and can stick around for a more in-depth discussion following each film.
The film series kicked off in the fall with comedies and musicals and proved to be popular with 100 to 400 people attending each film.
“My favorite film this semester is All about Eve, a perfectly crafted character piece from 1950 with great actors,” Boles said. “It has snarky dialogue, great drama, comedy and acting, and won a raft load of Oscars.”
All About Eve shows March 6. Other films include the 1933 King Kong, the 1944 Meet Me in Saint Louis, and the 1957 Face in the Crowd, featuring Andy Griffith as a drunken radio announcer who becomes one the most influential voices in the country.
A complete listing is available online.