Professor Petre Petrov of Princeton University will be giving a lecture on Czech cinema as part of the Research Seminar series organized by the Department of Russian Studies, Dalhousie University. It is entitled “The Stain of the Margin: Central Europe in the Iconic Geography of Menzel and Hrabel” and is about Bohumil Hrabel and Jiří Menzel, the novelist and director whose film Closely Watched Trains introduced the Czech New Wave cinema of the 1960s. It will be of interest to students of international cinema and European studies.

When: Monday, November 9, 5.30-7.00

Where: McCain 2118

The Chinese Studies programme is screening To Live, an epic 1994 film about the Communist revolution in China and its aftermath. The film was banned in the People’s Republic of China for its critical depiction of the revolution. It’s directed by Zhang Yimou, who more recently made the gorgeous swordplay films Hero and House of Flying Daggers, but began his career with more serious dramas like Raise the Red Lantern and The Story of Qiu Ju.

The screening will be introduced by Professor Simon Kow of King’s College.

When: Thursday, November 12 at 7.30pm. Length: 2 hrs, 5 mins.

Where: Room 406 (the Macaloney Room) in the Dal Arts Centre.

FREE admission.

Dalhousie Art Gallery is screening a series of documentaries on the subject of creativity. This week’s screening is interesting for both film and theatre students: This So-Called Disaster (Michael Almereyda, 2003) documents the rehearsal process for Sam Shepard’s autobiographical play The Late Henry Moss. The cast includes Sean Penn, Wood Harrelson, Nick Nolte, and Cheech Marin. 1 hr, 29 mins.

Screening on Tuesday, November 10 in the Dalhousie Art Gallery (basement of the Arts Centre) at 5.00pm. FREE admission.

Have you written a one-act play that you would like to see on the stage? The Acadia Theatre Company at Acadia University requests submissions of one-act plays for its annual Minifest. Plays will be selected by a student selection committee.

Deadline: December 4, 2009

For full details, click here.

There are many bad things about Britain (the grey skies, the cost of living, and Simon Cowell are the most egregious) but British radio is probably the best in the world. I like listening to British film podcasts, and perhaps you might like them too. They are sometimes rather out of synch with the releases in Canada, and they probably contain more obscure Brit slang than is strictly necessary, but the standard of humour, discussion and insight is often very high. Here are my three favourites.

Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo’s Film Reviews, from BBC Radio 5

Mark Kermode is a film scholar and popular reviewer. He regularly appears on Simon Mayo’s radio show to chat about movies and review the latest releases. The show is often very funny, partly due to the love/hate relationship between Mayo and Kermode, who behave like an old married couple. Kermode is famous for working himself up into passionate rants about bad Hollywood films, so much so that the expression “Kermodian rant” is now widely used in the UK to refer to any long-winded diatribe. Despite the fireworks, however, he’s actually a very thoughtful and wise reviewer. Click here.

Film Weekly, from The Guardian newspaper

This podcast usually includes interviews with filmmakers, along with reviews of the latest releases, with an emphasis on independent film. It’s presented by the mildly irritating Jason Solomons, whose perkiness is nicely balanced by the dry cynicism of the regular film reviewer, Xan Brooks. Click here.

The Film Programme, from BBC Radio 4

The Film Programme is presented by Francine Stock, who has a brain and is not afraid to use it. It’s more serious in tone than the previous two, but often features a stimulating variety of interviews and analyses, often with discussions of older films. Click here.

You may enjoy reading about Werner Herzog’s new Rogue Film School. The legendary German director will charge you $1450 to spend a weekend with him in which you talk about films. His syllabus is an amusing read:

http://www.roguefilmschool.com/about.asp

Those of you who enjoyed Georges Méliès’ Trip to the Moon in Thursday’s film class might appreciate the following music video by the Smashing Pumpkins, which stole a few ideas from the old conjurer…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQSxwzOngMU

Interestingly enough, the video was directed by husband-and-wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who later made Little Miss Sunshine.

You can find preliminary reading/viewing lists for each my courses here:

http://drnicolsblog.wordpress.com/reading-lists/

You may be interested in some new courses in the Department of Theatre for 2009-10.

THEA 3331.03: Film Theory 2

Shannon Brownlee is teaching this course.