Twelve films selected by Texas A&M College of Architecture faculty members will be screened every Thursday night during the fall 2008 as part of the Faculty Favorite Film Festival. The screenings are slated for 7 p.m. Thursdays in the Preston Geren Auditorium, which is located in Building B of the Langford Architecture Center on the Texas A&M campus. The series, presented by the college’s Bureau of Delight, was conceived and coordinated by architecture professor Tom Regan.
“The Faculty Favorites Film Festival is designed to entertain and inform faculty, students, staff and friends of the college,” said Regan. “Faculty members who enjoy the cinema were invited to select a favorite film that they would like to see on the big screen in the Geren Auditorium..
Prior to each screening, faculty members who selected the films will present a 5-15 minute introduction, telling those attending why the film was selected.
“The Faculty Favorites Film Festival is solely for the education and amusement of the audience, and any similarity to previous cinema courses, movie-watching events, or film festivals is purely coincidental,” said Regan. “The purpose of the film festival,” he added, “is not for firmness; not for commodity; it is for delight!”
The Faculty Favorites Film Festival line-up includes:
Sept. 4 — “Artemisia”
Selected by Rodney Hill, professor of architecture
“Artemisia” is a true story (for mature audiences) of the first female painter to break into the 17th-century Italian art world with her exotic images. Seventeen-year-old Artemisia inherits her passion for painting from her father, Orazio, a well-known painter in the Florentine tradition. Considered forbidden, a female painter has neither the right to attend classes at the Academy, nor to paint nude models. Artemisia wants to do both, and is persistent in her ambition. This anatomical quest mingles an in an impalpable way with the unleashing of her repressed sexual inhibitions.
Sept. 11 — “Collateral”
Selected by Tim McLaughlin, head of the Department of Visualization
In “Collateral,” a cab driver (Jamie Fox) finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer (Tom Cruise) as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in LA. He must find a way to save both himself and one last victim.
Sept. 18 — “The Wild One”
Selected by Mardelle Shepley, professor of architecture
Two rival motorcycle gangs terrorize a small town after one of their leaders is thrown in jail in “The Wild One,” staring a young Marlon Brando.
Sept. 25 — “Brazil”
Selected by Carol LaFayette, associate professor of visualization
A bureaucrat in a retro-future world tries to correct an administrative error and himself becomes an enemy of the state in Terry Gilliam’s surrealistic film, “Brazil.”
Oct. 2 — “Ju Dou”
Selected by Weiling He, assistant professor of architecture
In “Ju Dou,” a woman married to the brutal and infertile owner of a dye mill in rural China conceives a boy with her husband's nephew but is forced to raise her son as her husband's heir without revealing his parentage in this circular tragedy. Filmed in glowing Technicolor, this tale of romantic and familial love in the face of unbreakable tradition is more universal than its setting.
Oct. 9 — “Catch 22”
Selected by Mark Clayton, professor of architecture
“Catch-22” parodies “military mentality” and bureaucratic society in general. Come watch Yossarian (Alan Arkin), a bombardier in World War II, desperately try to escape the insanity of the war. Learn why, sometimes, insanity is the only sane way cope with a crazy situation.
Oct. 16 — “Mon oncle”
Selected by Gerald Maffei, professor emeritus
Jacques Tati’s Oscar winning film, “Mon oncle,” follows the exploits of Monsieur Hulot, who visits the technology-driven world of his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, but can't quite fit into the surroundings.
Oct. 23 — “O Lucky Man”
Selected by Lou Tassinary, professor of visualization
“Smile while you're makin' it. Laugh while you're takin' it. Even though you're fakin' it. Nobody's gonna know…” This sprawling, surrealist musical, “O Lucky Man,” serves as an allegory for the pitfalls of capitalism, as it follows the adventures of a young coffee salesman in Europe. Many actors play multiple roles, giving the film a stagy tone.
Oct. 30 — “Across the Universe”
Selected by Jill Mulholland, lecturer
Director Julie Taymor’s musical film, “Across the Universe,” is based on The Beatles songbook and set in the 60s England, America and Vietnam. This love story of Lucy and Jude is intertwined with the anti-war movement and social protests of the 60s. Over 30 Beatles' songs are woven into the plot together with visual allusions to films “Help! “(1965), “A Hard Day's Night” (1964), “Magical Mystery Tour” (1967) (TV), “Yellow Submarine” (1968) and “Let It Be” (1970).
Nov. 6 — “Babette’s Feast”
Selected by Phill Tabb, professor of architecture
Few could have predicted that an unheralded Danish film would become one of the more esteemed European films of the late 1980s and a top “foodie film” of all time. “Babette's Feast” won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. The film’s success, even perfection of a sort, was due to a felicitous coming together of a classic novella faithfully adapted, an excellent cast with particularly memorable faces, and splendid photography capturing not only those faces but the somber landscapes, the spartan dwellings, and of course the sumptuous food.
Nov. 13 — “2001: A Space Odyssey”
Selected by Michael O’Brien, professor of architecture
Mankind finds a mysterious, obviously artificial, artifact buried on the moon and, with the intelligent computer HAL, sets off on a quest in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 screen vision of the Arthur C. Clarke ground-breaking science fiction novel, “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The monoliths have been watching us. They gave us the "evolutionary kick in the pants" we needed to survive at the Dawn of Time. In 1999, we discovered a second monolith on the moon. Now, in the year 2001, the S.S. Discovery and its crew, captains Dave Bowman and Frank Poole, and their onboard computer, HAL-9000, must discover what alien force is watching us.
Nov. 20 — To be announced
To be selected by Tom Regan, professor of architecture
According to Faculty Favorite Film Festival organizer Tom Regan, the Nov. 20 screening will be something special. If you have a recommendation, send Regan a DVD to review. Also contact Regan at reganjt@archone.tamu.edu for additional information on the film series.
