PRESIDENT'S CORNER - February 24, 2017

Maya Angelou: I hope you got to see the wonderful two-hour documentary on the life and work of this legend on Tuesday night on PBS.  If not, and you have On Demand on your cable, watch it!  It’s one of the best.  I am so grateful that we were able to see her live here on campus 3 times over the years. A great lady that we’ll miss.

Film Forum: As promised last week, let’s look at what’s coming up for the spring Film Forum! It will be listed in the spring catalog, now on its way to the printer, but since we start on March 1 and spring term begins in April…well, you see my problem. Since we are a continuing Interest Group, as long as you have paid your membership, you’re welcome to come to the films and discussion. We’ll be meeting on the first and third Wednesdays of each month, through June 7. After a brief break to allow your host and his frau to do their duty at Chautauqua, we’ll have a weekly Film Forum in July and August with its theme of “Light and Dark.”

Without further ado, the theme for the Spring 2017 Film Forum is The Pursuit of Happiness.

Complete descriptions of each film are included in the full flyer that is attached here. Here’s the description for our first film, Strictly Ballroom:

From creative director Baz Luhrmann comes this romantic comedy of a championship ballroom dancer who’s breaking all the rules, and his ugly duckling dancing partner. How they make their dreams come true is a hilarious and magical journey that proves it was never about winning or losing. This Australian film, which was Luhrmann's first, is the first in his The Red Curtain Trilogy of theatre-motif-related films; it was followed by Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge! The film plays with clichés and stereotypes, mocking and embracing them at the same time. Luhrmann has also commented that the film revolves around stories like David and Goliath, Cinderella and The Ugly Duckling.  - 1992, 94 minutes.

If you haven’t tried Film Forum, we meet in Classroom A at 3 PM on the first and third Wednesdays. We have a brief discussion of the film after the showing.

BIG Weekend! Tomorrow is the Met in HD showing of Rusakla at the Regal Hollywood cinema at 12:55 PM. This is a brand new production directed by the great, Tony Award winning director, Mary Zimmermann. Kristine Opolais, Katarina Dalayman, Brandon Jovanovich and Eric Owens star.

Not busy enough? The Academy Awards telecast is on Sunday at 8 PM. It looks like one of the best line-ups of nominees in years.

Games? Who cares!

Jim Held, President