On Screen/In Person Film Series Brings Filmmakers and Community Together

Have you made it to the Ware Center in downtown Lancaster for a showing in the On Screen/In Person film series? If not, you should.

Millersville University is one of only eight sites to receive a grant from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation to fund this film series, which brings the films’ directors and the community together in enlightening conversations about timely topics.

Since launching the series this fall, the Ware Center has hosted three events covering topics including a post-genocide Rwandan women’s drumming troupe that opens the country’s first-ever ice cream shop, race and murder in the South, and our relationship with nature in a film narrated by Liam Neeson. Each screening includes an expert panel discussion, a Q&A with the filmmaker and some sort of related campus and community activity.

 “[The series] brings not only important new films to the community but the directors along with them,” says Barry Kornhauser, assistant director of campus and community engagement. “We’re excited to be planning all of these activities; engaging both the community and the campus.”

The next film in the series, “Hilleman – A Perilous Quest to Save the World’s Children,” will take place at the Ware Center on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

This film, which won the Scinema 2016 Best Documentary, is directed by Donald Rayne Mitchell, and tells the story of Dr. Maurice Hilleman, who was instrumental in eradicating several diseases that affected children. Hilleman came to prevent the pandemic flu, develop the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and invent the first-ever vaccine against human cancer. Especially now that vaccines are such a hot-button topic, this film puts a human face to vaccine science and promises to be an interesting experience for the audience.

 The event will include a pre-show community panel beginning at 6:15 p.m. The film will begin at 7 p.m. and will conclude with a rare Q&A with the film’s director.

 Tickets cost $7 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students. Visit artsmu.com for tickets and information about future film screenings.