The Scripps College Humanities Institute announces its fall 2005 program exploring “The New Documentary Impulse.” The program features a documentary film series, lecture series, master classes with film directors, symposium, and photography exhibition. All events are free and open to the public. For more information and a complete schedule of events, please call the Humanities Institute at (909) 621-8326.
Once marginal, documentary cinema and documentary photography have joined documentary writing such as investigative journalism, as reality-driven modes of representation that bear witness to our times and help us understand and define our historical moment. Documentary filmmakers, documentary photographers, film scholars, art historians, and journalists will join the Humanities Institute in the exploration of these modes of representation located at the intersection of art and news.
The program will feature several U.S. film premiers including “The Education of Shelby Knox”, Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt, Directors, U.S.A., 2004, 98 min., “The People of Angkor,” Rithy Panh, Director, Cambodia/France, 2003, 90 min., “The 3 Rooms of Melancholia” Pirjo Honkasalo, Director, Finland/Denmark/Germany/Sweden, 2004, 104 min., “Liberace of Baghdad” Sean McAllister, Director, UK, 2004, 74 min. Other films included in the film series are “The Fog of War,” Errol Morris, Director, U.S.A., 2003, 85 min., “S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine,” Rithy Panh, Director, France, 2002, 105 min., “Born into Brothels,” Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, Directors, U.S.A., 2004, 85 min. Many of the films will feature an introduction and discussion with the directors.
The symposium on the subject of documentaries will include Alexandrea Juhasz, Ph.D, Pitzer College, professor of media studies, Bill Nichols, Ph.D., San Francisco State University, professor of cinema studies, Michael Renov, Ph.D., University of Southern California, associate dean and professor of cinema studies, Allan Sekula, Ph.D. photographer, writer and critic, Department of Photography and Media at CalArts, and Kenneth Turan, film critic for the Los Angeles Times and NPR’s Morning Edition.
The photography exhibition “Women and War” featuring the photographs of Jenny Matthews will be on display September 28 until October 23 in the Scripps College Clark Humanities Museum. An opening reception and gallery talk with the artist will be on October 20 at 4:15 p.m. Jenny Matthews is a freelance photographer and filmmaker who chronicled the effects of armed conflict on women around the world. Her work has been exhibited by Oxfam, Womankind Worldwide, and the British Council and has appeared in Mother Jones Magazine
For a full schedule of events related to the fall 2005 program, contact the Scripps College Humanities Institute at (909) 621-8326.