Tag Archives: Craven

Literary Events

MU English attends Dr. Ibram Kendi lecture at Midtown Scholar

Current and former members of the MU English Department attended the Midtown Scholar Bookstore‘s Harrisburg Book Festival this weekend.  On Friday, Dr. Ibram Kendi discussed ideas from his book Stamped for the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, the 2016 winner of the National Book Award.  The Midtown Scholar was packed to hear the insights of the youngest scholar to win the National Book Award for Non-Fiction.

Ibram Kendi answering audience questions
Ibram Kendi answering audience questions

The evening began with Harrisburg Mayor Papenfuse welcoming everyone to the event, and thanking sponsors, including Millersville University’s English Department.  He also thanked event organizer and Bookstore manager, Alex Brubaker, who is a Millersville University English and Philosophy double major graduate.  Alex was instrumental in bringing the excellent line-up for this series to the region.

Kendi spoke about his ideas and read from his book for about 30 minutes, and then took many questions from the very engaged audience.  Kendi identified racist, assimilationist, anti-racist ideas and how these make an impact on our progress as a society.  He warned about the negative consequences of not addressing the racial inequities that plague American and other societies.  Kendi provided insights into the history of racist ideas that included polygenesis and other concepts set forth to attempt to justify social inequities.

Millersville English community discusses the Kendi lecture
Millersville English community discusses the Kendi lecture

The audience was keen to explore the history and terminology that Kendi put forth.  Kendi stayed after the lecture to sign copies of his book.  Many in the audience stayed around to discuss the ideas and their import.  This type of intellectual interchange can be the heart of university experience.

Kendi will be coming to Millersville in March.

~Jill Craven

 

 

Special Activities

Film Club takes Toronto and its International Film Festival

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This September, seven Millersville students traveled with Dr. Jill Craven to Toronto to join film industry professionals at the Toronto International Film Festival, which ran September 7-17th.

Millersville Students representing at TIFF on King Street in Toronto
Millersville Students representing at TIFF on King Street in Toronto

The group arrived in Toronto on the 8th, and they immediately started to view films and take in the film culture that surrounded them.  Overall, they viewed 12-13 features plus shorts, including

  • Kodachrome, with director Mark Raso and stars Ed Harris, Jason Sudeikis, and Elizabeth Olsen
  • Verónica, with director Paco Plaza and 16-year-old star Sandra Escacena
  • I, Tonya with director Craig Gillespie and stars Margot Robbie and Allison Janney
  • I Love You, Daddy with director Louis CK
  • Gala/Premiere for Mary Shelley with director Haifaa Al-Mansour and star Elle Fanning
  • The Premiere for Brad’s Status, with director Mike White, Ben Stiller, and cast
  • Midnight Madness film Mom and Dad, with director Brian Taylor, and Nick Cage with Selma Blair
  • Suburbicon with director George Clooney
  • Woman Walks Ahead with director Susanna White and starJessica Chastain
  • Submergence, with director Wim Wenders
  • Short Cuts with discussions by various directors
  • mother! with director Darren Aronofsky
  • Premiere of 3 Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri with director Martin McDonagh and stars Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell
  • Premiere of The Shape of Water with director Guillermo del Toro, and stars Sally Hawkins and Octavia Spencer

Each film screening had a discussion following where the directors and cast took questions from an interviewer and audience members.  The Millersville group found Aronofsky’s insights about mother! so fascinating that they are looking forward to seeing the film again when it opens this weekend.  Overall, the group found mother!, 3 Billboards Outside of Ebbing Missouri, and I, Tonya the most intriguing films of the festival.

In addition to the film screenings, the group attended an industry session featuring 3 female film directors, including Angela Robinson and Brie Larson, both of whom had films at the festival.  English major Rashna Yousef posed a great question to the directors, getting an extended personal response.  See Rashna’s question to Brie Larson and the directors’ responses on YouTube.

TIFF Higher Education’s Jessica Lam also gave the group a tour of TIFF Bell Lightbox and the Film Reference Library, which is available to all film researchers free of charge.

Falls Cruise
Rashna, Kayla, and Hunter after the Honrblower Cruise into the Falls

On the way back, the group stopped at Niagara Falls to take in one of the world’s most impressive natural wonders.  In addition, they checked out the kitschy town.

Overall, the trip was tremendous learning experience.  In addition to expanding our travel experience into neighboring Canada, the group negotiated a complex festival and even got to ask questions of directors like Darren Aronofsky and Brie Larson.

Niagara WalkStudents who attended included senior and Film Club member Hunter Barrick, future English teacher Zach Richardson, Kayla Rishell, Autumn Kandrick, senior Jordan Ettien, English major Rashna Yousaf, and Film Club president Spencer Goodrich.  Trips leaders were Dr. Jill Craven, Film Professor and Chair of English, and Kevin Ghaffari, SUNY Binghamton Fly by Night and Student Association Film Series programmer.

–Jill Craven

 

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Lion in Winter free for MU students at Penn Cinema on Tuesday, September 6

Penn Cinema has joined up with Millersville English and the Film Club to present arthouse cinema the first Tuesday of every month.  Millersville students can get in free to these screenings by mentioning they are with the film club at Millersville.

The September 6th film is Lion in Winter, starring Peter O’Toole and Katherine Hepburn.  This is the story of Henry II, with amazing performances by both leads.  Film starts at 7 pm.Lion in Winter photo

Henry II: “Well, what shall we hang… the holly, or each other?” 1183, and it’s Christmas at the Plantagenets: Peter O’Toole’s heavily bearded king has sprung his wife, Katharine Hepburn’s Eleanor of Aquitaine, from ten years of imposed-by-him imprisonment to negotiate the succession among his sons, Geoffrey (John Castle), Richard, later the Lion-Hearted (Anthony Hopkins in his feature debut), and John (Nigel Terry: Excalibur, Caravaggio), with King Philippe of France (future 007 Timothy Dalton in his first film) on hand to kibitz – and then the scheming, backstabbing, turn-coating, shocking revelations, and nonstop barbed quips ensue. Adapted by James Goldman from his own play, Lion won three Oscars, for Hepburn (her third, and back-to-back with Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner), Goldman, and the music by James Bond composer John Barry, with nominations for Best Picture, Director, Costumes, and for O’Toole, four years after his nomination as Henry in Becket – two of his eight non-winning nominations). Eleanor: “What family doesn’t have its ups and downs?” (Film Forum)

Film Critic Roger Ebert gave the film 4 stars (out of 4) in his review, stating:

One of the joys which movies provide too rarely is the opportunity to see a literate script handled intelligently. “The Lion in Winter” triumphs at that difficult task; not since “A Man for All Seasons” have we had such capable handling of a story about ideas. But “The Lion in Winter” also functions at an emotional level, and is the better film, I think.

Discussion led by Dr. Jill Craven follows the film.