WEBER READS 2012
THE FOUNDERS
12:30 pm WSU LIBRARY HETZEL-HOELLEIN ROOM
Wednesday, January 11 Stephen Francis "English Ideas on Governance"
Wednesday, January 25 Brady Brower "The French Declaration of the Rights of Man"
Tuesday, February 21 Susan Matt "The Godless Constitution"
ALL LECTURES ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
READING AND DISCUSSION EVENT 2012
LET’S TALK ABOUT IT
MAKING SENSE OF THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
“Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War” is a reading and discussion program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Utah Humanities Council, the Fort Douglas Museum, the History Department of Weber State University, and the Weber County Library. Dr. Branden Little and Dr. Richard Sadler from Weber State University are the two scholars who will be involved with leading the discussions during the program. Kathryn Pudlock who is the manager of the Pleasant Valley Branch of the Weber County Library system will be in charge of local and library arrangements. All sessions will be held at the Pleasant Valley Library, 5568 Adams Avenue, Ogden, Utah (phone 801-337-2690). All sessions will begin at 7:00 p.m. on the designated date. Please note the readings for each session. Copies of the three books for this series can be checked out from the library on the first evening, and if needed, on following evenings of the program.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The books for the series include:
Geraldine Brooks, March
James McPherson, Crossroad of Freedom: Antietam
Edward Ayers, editor, America’s War, Talking About the Civil War and Emancipation on their
150th Anniversaries (co-published by the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities, 2012)
SESSION ONE, January 18, 2012, Pleasant Valley Library, 7:00 pm
Opening discussion of the Civil War, the readings, and the program schedule
SESSION TWO, February 8, 2012, Pleasant Valley Library, 7:00 pm
Imagining War
Reading, Geraldine Brooks, March
SESSION THREE, February 29, 2012, Pleasant Valley Library, 7:00 pm
Choosing Sides
Reading:
Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Henry David Thoreau, “A Plea for Captain John Brown”
Abraham Lincoln, “The First Inaugural Address”
Alexander H. Stephens, “Cornerstone Speech”
Robert Montague, speech for secession of Virginia
Chapman Stuart, speech for Virginia remaining in the Union
Elizabeth Brown Pryor, A Portrait of Robert E. Lee
Mark Twain, “The Private History of a Campaign That Failed”
Sarah Morgan, “The Diary of Sarah Morgan”
SESSION FOUR, March 21, 2012, Pleasant Valley Library, 7:00 pm
Making Sense of War
Reading:
Ambrose Bierce, “What I Saw of Shiloh”
Ulysses Grant, Memoirs
Shelby Foote, Shiloh
Bobbie Ann Mason, “Shiloh”
General Braxton Bragg, to the Army of the Mississippi
SESSION FIVE, April 11, 2012, Pleasant Valley Library, 7:00 pm
The Sense of the War
Reading: James M. McPherson, Crossroad of Freedom: Antietam
SESSION SIX, April 25, 2012, Pleasant Valley Library, 7:00 pm
Reading:
Abraham Lincoln, address on colonization
John M. Washington, “Memorys of the Past”
Frederick Douglass, “Men of Color, To Arms!”
Abraham Lincoln, letters to James C. Conkling and Albert G. Hodges
James S. Brisbin, report on U.S. Colored Cavalry in Virginia
Colored Citizens of Nashville, Tennessee
Margaret Walker, selection from Jubilee
Leon Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long
Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address
The Czech New Wave, 1960-1970, Film Festival Spring 2012
The Czechoslovak New Wave is widely recognized—along with Italian neo-realism--as an important movement in Cold War era world cinema. Its sustained break with Soviet-style Socialist Realism brought a series of awards at international festivals in the 1960s, including two Academy Awards. Surprisingly, the so-called Prague Spring and Soviet invasion in 1968 affected film production only belatedly, but by 1970 blacklisted films numbered nearly 100, including most of those we’ll be screening.
All films will start at 7pm in Weber State University’s Wildcat Theater, Shepherd Union Building.
Wednesday, January 18: Romeo, Juliet, and Darkness/Romeo, Julie a tma (1960)
Director Jiri Weiss’s film of a young student who keeps a Jewish girl
hidden from the Nazi authorities and falls in love with her sublimates
themes of resistance and hope that marked more overtly political Czech
films of the sixties.
Wednesday, February 1: The Shop on Main Street/Obchod na korze (1965)
Introduction: Brandon Hone, M.A. (Utah State)Director Jan Kadar and
Elmar Klos brought Czechoslovakia its first Academy Award (for Best
Foreign Language Film) with their moving portrayal of Aryanization
during World War II in the Slovakian town of Sabinov.
Wednesday, February 15: Closely Watched Trains/Ostre sledovane vlaky (1966) Introduction: Professor Greg Lewis, Weber State University
Director Jiri Menzel’s coming of age story about a young man working
at a train station in German-occupied Czechoslovakia during World War II
won the 1967 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Wednesday, February 29: Fireman's Ball/Hori, ma panenko (1967)
Introduction: Brandon Hone, M.A. (Utah State)
Milos Forman’s last film before emigrating to the U.S. was an
uncompromising comedy-satire that utilized actual small-town firemen
rather than professional actors and was one of several New Wave films to
be permanently banned by Czech authorities.
Wednesday, March 11: Larks on a String/Skrivanci na niti (1969)
Introduction: Professor Greg Lewis, Weber State University
Director Jiri Menzel’s satire of ‘bourgeois’ characters being
re-educated in a Czech junkyard was released more than two decades after
it was completed, in 1990 (after the fall of the Communist regime). It won the Golden Bear at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.
Wednesday, April 4: The Cremator/Spalovac mrtvol (1969)
Introduction: Professor Shawn Clybor, Utah State University
Juraj Herz’s film about a 1930s Prague cremator Karel Kogfrkingl
combines elements of black comedy, horror, and drama in the manner of
great German Expressionist films from the silent era. The film was immediately banned in Czechoslovakia and remained in the vault until 1990.
Wednesday, April 11: Valerie and Her Week of Wonders/Valerie a tyden divu (1970)
Introduction: Professor Shawn Clybor, Utah State University
Jaromil Jires film of fantasy and horror features 13 year old Jaroslava Schallerova as Valerie, a dreamer cajoled and threatened by priests, vampires, and women.
PAST EVENTS
The
WEBER STATE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
and the
WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY ALUMNI CENTER
present:
JACQUELINE JONES
University of Texas at Austin
“Be Careful What You Secede For: the Unanticipated Consequences of the Civil War in Savannah.”
Dr. Jones will speak about the aims of the secessionists—to preserve the institution of slavery and a hierarchical society—and the way that the war upended those aims in ways that white people could not have anticipated. Black Savannahians took advantage of the turmoil of war to seek new ways to provide for themselves and their families; in other words, they tried to free themselves from slavery, and in the process offer a potent challenge to the Confederate project. Her 3 books, SAVING SAVANNAH: THE CITY AND THE CIVIL WAR; LABOR OF LOVE, LABOR OF SORROW: BLACK WOMEN, WORK AND THE FAMILY, FROM SLAVERY TO THE PRESENT; and AMERICAN WORK: FOUR CENTURIES OF BLACK AND WHITE LABOR, will be available for purchase and signing.
SPONSORED BY: College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Weber State University Alumni Association, Department of History, Diversity Center, Organization of American Historians
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Presents:
DR. BRADY BROWER
“UNRULY SPIRITS:
THE SCIENCE OF PSYCHIC PHENOMENA
IN MODERN FRANCE”
WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Presents
DR. WILLIAM T. ALLISON
“1968 in America”
1968 remains one of the most tumultuous years in American history. Tet, LBJ, MLK, RFK, Chicago, the Yippies, Columbia University, Warhol, Planet of the Apes, Apollo, the Beatles White Album, Nixon – it was a year of violence, of protest, of change. The radicalism of the 1960s died in 1969; New Deal liberalism began its rapid decline; and conservatism that would elect Ronald Reagan president in 1980 was born. Why do we remember this year? What does it all mean? Does it matter?
Weber State University, Spring 2010
Our series this semester will feature six master works of the famed Soviet Russian film theorist and director Sergei Eisenstein (1898-1948). Eisenstein, the son of a middle-class architect from Riga, originally studied engineering and architecture at the Petrograd School of Civil Engineering. During the October 1917 revolution, he broke with his family by joining the Red Army. Within a year, he developed an interest in the Japanese language and after arriving in Japan, in kabuki theater also. His career in films began with his residence in Moscow starting in 1920.
However, [October], Eisenstein’s 1927 film made to celebrated the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, put him at odds with the Soviet film establishment and after a series of self-criticisms, he left for lengthy stays in the United States and Mexico. Upon his return to the Soviet Union, Eisenstein made the allegorical biopic [Alexander Nevsky](1938), his first film in more than a decade, and coincidentally, his first sound film. This film was withdrawn from circulation due to the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939 ([Nevsky], after all, dealt with the pre-modern Russian defense versus German invaders!) but was praised both internationally and domestically.
Eisenstein subsequently made the historical epics [Ivan the Terrible, Part 1](1944), [Ivan the Terrible, Part 2](1945), and was working on [Ivan the Terrible, Part 3] when his health broke. His last two films received heavy criticism, doubtless contributing to the series of heart attacks that resulted in his death at age 50, in 1948. He was buried as a hero in the prestigious Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.
Our program offers a comprehensive retrospective of Eisenstein’s career. Three silent films, [Strike](1924), [Battleship Potemkin](1925), and [October](1927), show how the director perfected his assembly of montage. In fact, more than one critic remarked that even if Eisenstein had never made a sound film, his place in the development of international cinema would yet be secure. As it was, Eisenstein embraced sound only reluctantly, filming the rather one-dimensional [Alexander Nevsky] in 1938. This film, however, provided him the chance to direct his final two classics, [Ivan the Terrible, Part 1](1944) and [Ivan the Terrible, Part 2](1946).
Also included in the series is the astonishing experimental documentary film, [Man With a Movie Camera](1929) by Dziga Vertov.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010 [Strike] (Soviet Union 1924) 82 min. B/W. Wildcat Theater, 7pm
Director: Sergei Eisenstein
One of the outstanding directing debuts in cinema history, Eisenstein’s [Strike] was composed of six parts. Triggered by the suicide of a worker unjustly accused of theft, a strike is called by the laborers of a Moscow factory. The managers, owner and the Czarist government dispatch infiltrators in an attempt to break the workers unity. Unsuccessful, they hire the police and, in the film’s most harrowing and powerful sequences, the unarmed strikers are slaughtered in a brutal confrontation. This edition of [Strike] is digitally remastered from a mint-condition 35mm print made from the original camera negative and features new digital stereo music composed and performed by the Alloy Orchestra.
Poster of Battleship Potemkin
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 [The Battleship Potemkin](Soviet Union 1925) 65 minutes, B/W. Wildcat Theater. Director: Sergei Eisenstein
A landmark film about Russia’s 1905 revolution, [Potemkin] features what may be the most famous scene in cinema history (the Odessa Steps sequence). Ironically, Eisenstein was disappointed when the film did not attract masses of viewers, but audiences responded more positively in a number of international venues. In both the Soviet Union and overseas, the film shocked audiences, not so much for its political statements as for its use of violence, which was considered graphic by the standards of the time.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 [October](aka Ten Days That Shook the World] (Soviet Union 1927) 95 minutes, B/W. Wildcat Theater. Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Officially produced to commemorate the ten year anniversary of the Russian Revolution, [October] quickly became another of Sergei Eisenstein’s experiments in film form. As in his masterpiece [Potemkin], Eisenstein uses explosive montage to create the spirit of revolution—in this case the events in St. Petersburg during the months leading up to the Bolshevik revolt. Eisenstein’s insistence on speaking the language of pure film thrusts his mad rush of images straight into the viewer’s eye. A worker’s rebellion in the streets followed by the raising of bridges to isolate their neighborhood becomes a visual symphony of panic. The film is also known by its U.S. release title, [Ten Days That Shook the World]. While its value as propaganda can be debated, as dynamic film art [October] has few equals.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 [Man With a Movie Camera](Soviet Union 1929) 65 minutes, B/W. Wildcat Theater, 7pm. Director: Dziga Vertov
Vertov’s experimental film, produced by the Ukrainian studio Vufku, presents urban life in Odessa and other Soviet cities. From dawn to dusk Soviet citizens are shown at work and at play and interacting with the machinery of modern life (thus the film is often compared to Chaplin’s [Modern Times]). To the extent that it can be said to have “characters,” they are the cameraman of the title and the modern Soviet Union he discovers and presents in the film. Vertov employs a wide range of cinematic techniques, including double exposure, fast motion, slow motion, freeze frames, jump cuts, split screens, extreme close-ups, tracking shots, footage played backwards, and a self-reflexive style. With a decidedly up-tempo musical score by Michael Nyman.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 [Alexander Nevsky](Soviet Union 1938) 111 minutes, Color. Wildcat Theater, 7pm. Director: Sergei Eisenstein
Eisenstein’s first sound film depicts the attempted invasion of Novgorod in the 13th century by Teutonic knights of the Holy Roman Empire and their defeat by the Russian people, led by Prince Alexander, known popularly as Alexander Nevsky. The film features beautiful imagery and a majestic music score by Prokofiev, and is perhaps most intriguing as a parable of 1938, when the film was completed (instead of 1242, the film’s historic setting).
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 [Ivan the Terrible, Part 1](Soviet Union 1944) 96 minutes, B/W. Wildcat Theater, 7pm. Director: Sergei Eisenstein
In 1940 Eisenstein was named Artistic Director of Mosfilm Studios, the Soviet Union’s largest and most prestigious film production facility. Soon after he commenced work on his most ambitious, imposing effort: an epic multi-part chronicle of the 16th century czar, from coronation to defeat to reinstatement. As it turned out, Eisenstein only directed two-thirds of his project. While he earned a Stalin prize for this film, the sequel (Part 2) brought him public censure.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 [Ivan the Terrible, Part 2](Soviet Union 1946) 88 minutes, B/W. Wildcat Theater, 7pm. Director: Sergei Eisenstein
The fascinating image of Ivan IV and his country continues, in which he takes on the boyars in a power struggle. This impressive film is just a shade below its predecessor, but gained greater notoriety when Stalin banned the film because of Eisenstein’s depiction of Ivan’s secret police. [Ivan the Terrible, Part 2] was not screened for audiences until 1958, a full decade after the filmmaker’s death.
JOHN R. SILLITO, Weber State University, Professor of Libraries, Archivist and Curator of Special Collections
AND
SARAH C. LANGSDON, Weber State University Associate Curator Special Collections and Archives
IMAGES OF OGDEN
For more than 150 years, Ogden has played a important role in the commercial, agricultural, educational and religious history of Utah. As the “Junction City” it was an important railroad town, with goods and passengers flowing through Union Station bound for other destinations. Join us when John Sillito and Sarah Langsdon present a photographic look at local history based on their recently published book Ogden, which is part of Arcadia Publisher’s “Images of America” series. All but three of the images in the book come from the holdings of the Stewart Library, Special Collections department. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Monday, September 21, 2009
7:00-9:00 pm
Weber State University Alumni Center
LECTURE IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Dr. William deBuys
“Welcome to the Anthropocene”
Anthropocene refers to the most recent period in the Earth’s history, beginning in the late 18th century, when human activity first began to influence global climate. The natural landscapes of the American West, for example, while seemingly timeless and unaffected, have experienced enormous change over the past century. These human-induced changes are becoming harder to predict, harder to live with, and for many, harder to accept. Left unchecked, a warming and increasingly variable climate promises to usher in a period of unprecedented impact.
William deBuys is the author of six books including Enchantment and Exploitation (1985) and River of Traps (reissued in 2008), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 1991. An excerpt from his most recent book, The Walk, which is set in the same mountain valley as River of Traps, won a 2008 Pushcart Prize. A 2008-2009 Guggenheim Fellow, deBuys’s current book-length project is “A Great Aridness: Climate Change in the North American Southwest.” Long active in environmental matters in the Southwest, from 2001 to 2004 he served as the founding chairman of the Valles Caldera Trust, which manages the 89,000-acre Valles Caldera National Preserve in northern New Mexico.
Monday, October 26, 2009
7:00-9:00 p.m.
Weber State University Alumni Center
LECTURE IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Sponsored by: WSU Honors, Weber Historical Society, WSU Alumni Center, WSU Environmental Issues Committee, Office of the Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, WSU Department of History
The
WEBER HISTORICAL SOCIETY
presents:
W. L. (BUD) RUSHO
“The Disappearance and Discovery of Edward Ruess”
The year was 1934. Everett Ruess, a remarkable young adventurer, artist, and writer, left the town of Escalante, Utah, heading for the myriad canyon lands of the Escalante River. But Everett was apparently never seen again. He simply disappeared. Who was he? And why do we pay so much attention to him? In fact, Everett has become a cult figure, an icon of the outdoor life with his escape from urban congestion and complexities and his sensitive, artistic response to wilderness scenery. For 75 years, people have studied his life, read his letters and poems, and conjectured about his fate. Then in 2008, some bones were found in Comb Ridge, south of Bluff, Utah. These bones were later tested to see if they matched the DNA of Everett nieces and nephews. Surprisingly, the tests showed POSITIVE! Everett had seemingly traveled around 90 miles, over incredibly rough country, from his last campsite in Davis Gulch. Some authorities, however, have questioned the accuracy of the DNA tests. This talk will center on Everett’s life and his travels, together with current news about the Comb Ridge bones. Copies of his book, Everett Ruess—Vagabond for Beauty will be available for purchase and signing at the lecture.
Monday, November 16, 2009
7:00-9:00 pm
Weber State University Alumni Center
LECTURE IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Sponsored by: Weber State University Alumni Center, Weber Historical Society, Office of the Dean, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, WSU Department of History
Gene Sessions
Distinguished Professor of History, Weber State University
“The Second Coming of Jedediah Grant”
Dr. Sessions will present his revised second edition book first issued back in 1982, Mormon Thunder: A Documentary History of Jedediah Morgan Grant. This edition presents Jeddy Grant once again as the fire-eating, no-nonsense preacher of early Mormonism who fomented the Reformation of 1856-57 and left an indelible mark on Utah Society. Gene will discuss the man and the book, copies of which will be available for sale and autograph at the lecture.
Phillip Barlow
Religious Studies/History, Utah State University
“Joseph Smith, the Bible, and the Modern Mormon Mind”
The Mormons have been one of the most studied American religious groups; still, no consensus exists about the essential nature of the movement or its place in American religion. In this study, Phillip analyzes the approaches taken to the Bible by key Mormon leaders, from founder Joseph Smith up to the present day. He shows that Mormon attitudes toward the Bible comprise an extraordinary mix of conservative, liberal, and radical ingredients. Exploring this unique Mormon stance on scripture, he takes important steps toward unraveling the mystery of this quintessential American religious phenomenon.
Frederick H. Swanson
“Dave Rust: The Man and the Biography”
Dave Rust, an early practitioner of adventure travel at a time when few Americans knew what wonders this region held and his life story, follows the development of southern Utah from a primitive frontier to a prized recreational destination. Fred will lecture about the man and the book, copies of which will be available for sale and autograph at the lecture.
Roy Webb
Multimedia Archivist, Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah
“If We Had a Boat: River Running on the Green River”
The story of the Green River from 1825 to the present, and the events that have shaped the river’s history. It is interwoven with the colorful personalities of the people who have shared the dangerous and thrilling exploration of the river, the excitement of the rapids, the beauty of peaceful parks and the mystery of dark canyons. Copies of Roy’s book will be available for sale and autograph at the lecture.
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Presents
Dr. Rachel Fuchs, Arizona State University
Distinguished Foundation Professor of History
and
President, Pacific Coast Branch – American History Association
“Mothers and Magistrates: Paternity Searches in Modern France”
The Napoleonic Civil Code of 1804 forbad paternity suits throughout the nation. Finally, more than a century later, in 1912, legislators changed the law, and permitted paternity suits. Women had to bring proof of a man’s paternity. What kind of proof did they have in an era without blood groupings and genetic testing? What the twentieth-century French magistrates permitted as proof of paternity, and the ways that women demonstrated their independence and strength in bringing paternity suits, reveals how women and men negotiated paternity. It further shows women’s relationship with the law, and the transition from the patriarchal family to the modern family of the twenty-first century. Two of Dr. Fuch’s publications on this subject will be available for sale and autograph at the lecture.
ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL
CHINA’S SECOND LIBERATION: FILMS OF THE EARLY NEW PERIOD
1979-1985
In Memoriam: Xie Jin (1923-2008)
Arguably China’s most distinguished filmmaker, Xie Jin’s career spanned more than fifty years. Xie gained international recognition with his first feature, [Woman Basketball Player No. 5] in 1957, and subsequently made the important films [Red Detatchment of Women] (1961), [Two Stage Sisters] (1964), [The Legend of Tianyun Mountain] (1979), [Garlands at the Foot of the Mountain] (1984), and [Hibiscus Town] (1986). In almost every film he made Xie treated sensitive topics with a sophistication that generated reams of film commentary in and out of China. Xie Jin’s healthy curiosity and earthly philosophy about the human condition made him a favorite interviewee for both film scholars and critics. His cinema legacy is assured.
ALL FILMS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
LOVE ON LUSHAN
[Lushan Lian] (1980) Shanghai Film Studio, Color, 90 minutes, in Chinese with English subtitles
A daughter of a Nationalist Army general, Zhou Jun, visits Mount Lu soon after the end of the Cultural Revolution. She comes seeking Geng Hua, a lover that she had met five years earlier, but was prevented from marrying due to political conditions. Now she learns that her father and Geng Hua’s father broke their friendship when the Nationalist separated from the Communists some fifty years earlier. Although Geng Hua agrees to meet her, can the two former lovers overcome their parents’ past differences? An enormously popular film, [Love on Lushan] won “Golden Rooster” Awards for Best Picture and Best Actress (Zhang Yu). Directed by Huang Zhumo
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Weber State University Wildcat Theater, 7:00 pm
EVENING RAIN
[Bashan Yeyu] (1981) Shanghai Film Studio, Color, 96 minutes, in Chinese with English subtitles
A poet named Qiu Shi, imprisoned for six years during the Cultural Revolution, returns by ship to Wuhan, his hometown. He is accompanied by two police officers, one a self-confident female named Liu Wenyin. Qiu is depressed over the bitter turn his life has taken: his wife died while he was in prison, and he has a young daughter he has never seen. Along the way, Qiu’s thoughts and actions shake Liu’s political convictions so that she resolves to help reunite the poet with his daughter, who unbeknownst to them is aboard the ship. [Evening Rain] brought actress Zhang Yu (who played the police officer Liu Wenyin) her second “Golden Rooster” award, and Golden Roosters were also awarded for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Music. Directed by Wu Yonggang and Wu Yigong
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Weber State University Wildcat Theater, 7:00 pm
THE RIVER WITHOUT BUOYS
[Meiyou Hengbaiode Heliu] (1983) Xi’an Film Studio, B/W, 94 minutes, in Chinese with English subtitles
Life is hard for raftsmen Pan Laowu, Shi Gu, and Zhao Liang. During the Cultural Revolution, they seek work where they can, and spend the rest of the time drinking and brawling. At one stop they learn that district leader Xu, an honest man, has been jailed and nearly persecuted to death. With the help of Pan’s former lover they medicate Xu and move him onto their raft, but encounter a ferocious thunderstorm enroute to safety. [River Without Buoys] marked the beginning of a second career for actor Li Wei, who had begun acting in films in the 1940s, and also put the formerly obscure Xi’an Film Studio on the PRC cinematic map. Directed by Wu Tianming
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Weber State University Wildcat Theater, 7:00 pm
THE BLACK CANNON INCIDENT
[Heipao Shijian] (1985), Beijing Film Studio, Color, 98 minutes, in Chinese with English subtitles
Engineer Zhao Shuxing sends a cryptic telegram mentioning a “lost black cannon” that arouses a postal worker’s suspicions. Soon Zhao is under surveillance by the Security Bureau and transferred from an important Sino-German joint venture project where he had served as interpreter and consultant. In his absence the project causes a serious loss for the Chinese side, a development that coincides with the resolution of the “black cannon” mystery. A rare political satire, [Black Cannon Incident] garnered a Golden Rooster for actor Liu Zifeng, who plays engineer Zhao. Directed by Huang Jianxin
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Weber State University Wildcat Theater, 7:00 pm
AT MIDDLE AGE
[Ren Dao Zhong Nian] (1982) Changchun Film Studio, Color, 110 minutes, in Chinese with English subtitles
Opthamologist Lu Wenting has worked for 18 years at the same hospital without a promotion. She and her husband, a research scientist, live with their daughter in the same 150 square foot apartment she was assigned when she began her career. Overworked and underappreciated, Lu suffers a heart attack. As she slowly recovers, Lu reflects back on a life of devotion to her patients and a sometimes neglected family. [At Middle Age] was only one of three films to receive both the Golden Rooster (critics) and Hundred Flowers (popular) award as Best Picture, and also garnered a Golden Rooster for actress Pan Hong for her portrayal of Lu Wenting. Directed by Wang Qimin.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Weber State University Wildcat Theater, 7:00 pm
THE LEGEND OF TIANYUN MOUNTAIN
[Tianyunshan Chuanqi] (1979) Shanghai Film Studio, Color, 116 minutes, in Chinese with English subtitles
Youthful Luo Qun is a charismatic political commissar who inspires members of the Tianyun Mountain prospecting team as China in 1957, including two recent female college graduates, Song Wei and Feng Qinglan. Song falls in love with Luo, but he is soon labeled as a “rightist” and so she marries his accuser, Wu Yao. Meanwhile, Feng Qinglan comes to Luo’s aid and eventually marries him. Luo is loyal to the revolution but he and his wife suffer during the Cultural Revolution because of his past troubles. Once the Gang of Four is arrested and Luo is rehabilitated, Song and her husband learn of Luo’s fate and also that of his wife, the now-seriously ill Feng. A breakthrough film in its frank examination of political excesses associated with the Anti-Rightist campaign and the Cultural Revolution, and was the first film to receive both the Golden Rooster (critics) and Hundred Flowers (popular) awards. Directed by Xie Jin
Wednesday, April 22, 2009 6:30-9:00 pm
Weber County Library, South Ogden
ALL FILMS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
PROFESSOR DONALD E. WORSTER
Joyce and Elizabeth Hall Professor of U.S. History, University of Kansas
“The True Wealth of Nations: Theodore Roosevelt and the American Conservation Ethic”
This election year, like so many others, brings up the name of Theodore Roosevelt as a model of presidential leadership on environmental matters. But it's not always clear today what Roosevelt stood for or accomplished and how he might serve as a model. His legacy is great and profound, but also more complicated and disturbing than candidates or voters may realize. That legacy now raises many questions. We need to understand this president's ideas on conservation better and ask whether they are still relevant today.
WATER IN THE WEST SERIES
presents:
SLC FILM CENTER, AMERICAN WATER WORKS ASSOCIATION
AND VANGUARD MEDIA GROUP
WATER, THE PUBLIC WORKS CRISIS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
Slcfilmcenter.org
“Liquid Assets”
Produced by the Penn State Public Broadcasting Department explores the history, engineering challenges, maintenance and neglect of our nation’s water infrastructure. These systems, some in the ground for more than 100 years, have not been maintained and some estimates suggest this is the single largest public works endeavor in our nation’s history. Run time 90 minutes
DR. HAL CRIMMEL, Department of English, Weber State University
DR. ERIC C. EWERT, Department of Geography, Weber State University
"The View from the River: A Writer and a Geographer Raft the Grand Canyon"
Discussion and slide show of their travels through the Grand Canyon by kayak, raft and on foot.
1937-2007 Seventy Years of Shanghai's Golden Cinema/Shanghai Film Festival
Myriad of Lights [Wan Jia Deng Huo] (1948)
B/W, 110 minutes, in Chinese with English subtitles
This tale of familial warfare and sacrifice takes place in hard-pressed Shanghai at the end of the 1940s. Hu Zhiqing can barely support his family, and his situation is worsened by the unexpected arrival of his mother, brother, and sister-in-law. After being fired, the whole family becomes embroiled in one struggle after another.
The City That Never Sleeps [Bu Ye Cheng] (1957)
Color, 115 minutes, in Chinese with English titles
Zhang Bohan returns to Shanghai from England to take over the family textile business. Soon the Japanese invaded China and ensuing economic warfare and inflation nearly collapsed Zhang’s business and his family along with it. With the communist liberation Zhang’s business flourished and his family reunited.
Li Shuangshuang (1962)
B/W, 100 minutes, in Chinese with English subtitles
The relationship of a married couple reflects the struggle between those who oppose and those who advocate a people’s commune in this sitcom set in the countryside in the late 1950s. It won the prize for best feature film at the Second Hundred Flowers Awards. One of the most beloved and decorated films of the entire Mao period (1949-76).
Lust Caution [Si Jie] (2007)
Color, 155 minutes, in Chinese with English subtitles. NOTE: Contains scenes of graphic sexuality and violence.
Set in occupied Shanghai in 1942, a young woman becomes swept up in a radical plot to assassinate a ruthless and secretive puppet intelligence agent. As she immerses herself in her role as a cosmopolitan seductress, she finds herself entangled in a dangerous emotional intrigue, love, and betrayal.