Today marks accomplished author Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday, and the University is ready to celebrate.
The University will hold a semester-long film festival to showcase a couple screen adaptations of Dickens’ work each month. The festival, which began Monday, will run until April 16 and is free to attend.
Postdoctoral fellow and event organizer Jerod Hollyfield said the event will celebrate Dickens’ enduring body of work.
“We want to raise awareness about Dickens and show how his work has been interpreted over the last 70 years,” Hollyfield said.
Hollyfield said the festival — sponsored by the University’s Department of English, international studies program and program in film and media arts — will feature film adaptations, rather than Dickens’ literature, in order to make the material more accessible.
“Dickens’ books are a bit long for events like marathon readings, but they provide great material for movies,” Hollyfield said.
The films will be accompanied by discussions about their relevance in and effect upon today’s culture. University professors, members of the Baton Rouge AIDS Society and other guest speakers will make appearances to highlight the many similarities between ideas presented in the movies and contemporary culture.
“We want to connect the allegories to issues in Baton Rouge as well as international communities,” Hollyfield said.
Director David Lean’s 1946 adaptation of “Great Expectations” will play the night of Feb. 13 and, according to Hollyfield, the date was not chosen by accident.
“The film had a big influence on scary movies to come. It’s romantic and gothic – a good movie to attend with your valentine,” Hollyfield said.
 
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Contact Josh Naquin at [email protected]