Faculty, ArtsEmerson collaborate on film series

Emerson College and ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage will kick off a second season of Emerson Presents, a series of monthly, public film screenings followed by conversations with Emerson College Visual and Media Arts (VMA) faculty scholars and filmmakers, on Friday, September 30.

All screenings will be held in the Bright Family Screening Room. Admission for Emerson students is free through December.

“We’re excited to embark on another season of Emerson Presents with Emerson Visual and Media Arts faculty who are active practitioners in the fields of film history and filmmaking, and known internationally for their work,” said Rebecca Meyers, director of film programs for ArtsEmerson. “This season’s line-up showcases a range of filmmaking styles and genres, which I hope will lead to rich discussions following each screening.”

Associate Professor Eric Schaefer, an expert on exploitation films, leads the series with the September 30 screening of the 1963 Herschell Gordon Lewis film Scum of the Earth. The film tells the story of an innocent teenage girl who is blackmailed into modeling in the nude for a photographer whose boss illegally sells the photos.

On Friday, October 14, Associate Professor Kathryn Ramey will present a program of her work, starting with her recent video Yanqui WALKER and the OPTICAL REVOLUTION, an exploration of the obscure American expansionist and military dictator William Walker, who through force and coercion became president of Nicaragua in 1856. Blending found footage, documentary photography, ethnographic inquiry, and personal travelogue with experimental techniques, the film detours and derails the various approaches to history-making that have been applied to Walker’s story.

On Friday, November 4, Assistant Professor Hassan Ildari, a screenwriter and director originally from Tehran, Iran, will show his 1989 feature film Face of the Enemy, based on characters related to the 1979 Iran-U.S. hostage crisis. The screening is especially timely, as 2011 marks the 30th anniversary of the release of the 52 American hostages held by the ruling Islamic theocracy of Iran for 444 days at the American Embassy in Tehran.

Subsequent films will be added for the spring semester.

“This film series is a wonderful opportunity for Boston film lovers to engage with the work of our extraordinarily talented faculty in the intimate setting of the Bright Family Screening Room,” said VMA Chair and Professor Jonathan Wacks, whose credits include Powwow Highway, Repo Man, and 21 Jump Street.

Free tickets for Emerson students are available on each screening day starting at 4 pm. To qualify for free admission, students must become ArtsEmerson Student Members, which is free for Emerson students and available in person at the Paramount or Cutler Majestic box offices with an Emerson student ID. This semester-long free ticket program is a pilot program. ArtsEmerson hopes to find a donor to support this in an ongoing way, and welcome contributions towards that goal.

Tickets to Emerson Presents screenings are $10 for the general public, $7.50 for members and seniors (65+), and $5 for non-Emerson students. ArtsEmerson film memberships are available for $60 and include eight screenings and discounted tickets for neighborhood parking, restaurants, and ArtsEmerson theatrical productions.

Please check the website for screening times and an updated schedule as additional screenings are confirmed. For more information, visit artsemerson.org or call 617-824-8400.