The Manship School of Mass Communication’s Reilly Centerfor Media and Public Affairs currently is hosting a new film seriescalled “Civic Cinema: Films About Public Affairs andPolitics.”
“We have a wonderful space that is ideal for educatingstudents through film,” said Adrienne Moore, director of theReilly Center.
The first film in the series, Alfred Hitchcock’s”Foreign Correspondent,” was shown Oct. 28 in theHolliday Forum of the Journalism Building.
The 94-year-old Journalism Building recently underwent a massive$3 million remodeling, completed this fall.
“Foreign Correspondent,” nominated for six Oscars in1940, features an inexperienced American crime reporter and foreigncorrespondent who gets caught in the political turmoil of Europejust before the outbreak of World War II.
John Hamilton, dean of the Manship School, spoke to an audienceof about 50 students before the film.
Hamilton is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and hasco-written several books on foreign correspondence. Another book ofhis, about the history of foreign reporting, is coming out in2005.
The movie is loosely based on Vincent Sheean’s memoirs,”Personal History,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton and Moore formulated the idea while on vacationtogether, Moore said.
Hamilton said he saw the film series as a good opportunity forpublic service to University students as a way to “combineeducation and entertainment.”
Manship faculty members submitted suggestions for themovies.
The next movie, Barry Levinson’s “Wag theDog,” will be shown Nov. 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the HollidayForum.
“Wag the Dog,” starring Robert DeNiro and DustinHoffman, is about a reporter and Hollywood producer hired by theWhite House to create an imaginary global crisis, in order to takeAmerica’s attention away from a scandal that could preventthe president from being re-elected.
Moore said the series is sponsored by University alumnus RickRichard in memory of his brother-in-law, Mark Scott Guzman.