Just in time for Halloween, Scranton Reads and the Weinberg Memorial Library present a free screening of Roger Corman’s suspenseful adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Pit and the Pendulum.
Vincent Price delivers a bone chilling performance as Nicholas Medina, the son of a member of the Spanish Inquisition, who is haunted by the mysterious death of his wife. Set in a moody Spanish castle this 1961 box office hit is full of betrayal and plot twists.
Join us on Friday October 17, 2014 at 7 p.m. in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library. Kevin Norris will lead a discussion following the film.
This screening is being held in conjunction with the Lackawanna County Library Scranton Reads event and is open to the public.
Please join us on Tuesday October 21, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. in the Moskovitz Theater in the DeNaples Center for a free presentation of Jean Cocteau’s live action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. Mr. Peter Tafuri will lead a discussion after the film.
If you’ve only seen the animated version of this fairy tale, come see Jean Cocteau’s 1946 French adaptation for a unique film experience. When Belle’s father is imprisoned by the Beast for picking a rose from the Beast’s garden, Belle bravely takes her father’s place and a magical adventure follows.
Beauty and the Beast is in French with English subtitles.
This event is open to faculty, staff, students and the public. Please email sharon.finnerty@scranton.edu for more information.
Film series sponsored by a University of Scranton Diversity Initiative Grant through the Office of Equity and Diversity.
Please join us on Tuesday September 16, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. in the Moskovitz Theater in the DeNaples Center for a free presentation of the 2014 Best Picture Nominee Philomena. Dr. Lawrence Kennedy will lead a discussion following the film.
The title character of Philomena is played by Academy Award winning actress Judi Dench. Philomena, an elderly Irish woman, is searching for her son who had been adopted almost 50 years earlier. With the aid of journalist Martin Sixsmith, played by Steve Coogan, she heads to the United States to find her son.
Directed by Stephen Frears’, Philomena is in English.
This event is open to faculty, staff, students and the public. Please email sharon.finnerty@scranton.edu for more information.
Film series sponsored by a University of Scranton Diversity Initiative Grant through the Office of Equity and Diversity.
Please join us on Friday May 2, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library for a free presentation of the Mauritanian/French drama Waiting for Happiness. Dr. Annie Hounsokou will lead an engaging discussion following the film.
New Yorker Films describes Waiting for Happiness as the story of the diverse people of the small transit city of Nouadhibou in Mauritania which serves as a resting stop for people from all over the world. The lives of its inhabitants are pared down to two basic choices: adaptation or exile. In the latter category is Abdallah, a citified college student who temporarily returns home and, unable to speak or dress like a native, becomes painfully, comically alienated. Opposed to him is Khatra, an alert, curious boy apprenticed to the wizardly local electrician, who demonstrates how apparent oppositions (such as magic and technology, tradition and modernity) might be reconciled through improvisation and patience. Waiting for Happiness spins its overlapping stories and intersecting characters into a prismatic cascade of enigmas, epiphanies, deadpan gags, and haunting images: a light bulb glowing in the middle of the desert, a low window disclosing passersby from the knees down, huge ships bobbing in the offshore haze with the tantalizing promise of distant happiness.
Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako Waiting for Happiness is in French and Hassanya with English subtitles.
This event is open to faculty, staff, students and the public. Please email sharon.finnerty@scranton.edu for reservations.
Student worker Elizabeth (Beth) Sharpe has seen many changes in the four years she has worked in Media Resources/Edlab, and the Library would like to recognize her hard work and adaptability during this time.
Beth, who resides in Forest City but is originally from Scranton, is a Biology major who will be graduating this June. She is an enthusiastic worker whose skills have grown with the advances in the delivery of media. In addition to helping patrons find the materials they need and keeping the stacks in order, Beth can create a clip or a playlist from the licensed streaming video collections.
In her free time Beth enjoys swimming, reading and photography. She studied in Florence and Rome in 2013 and had the opportunity to photograph magnificent sculptures, buildings and landscapes. Her favorite book is The Art of Racing in the Rain and her favorite film is The Princess Bride. Beth regularly attends the International Film Series and she finds previewing films she might not otherwise have the opportunity to see the most enjoyable part of her job.
Two of Beth’s favorite professors are Dr. Michael Carey and Dr. Janice Voltzow and her favorite class was Animal Behavior. Beth plans to continue her studies with the career goal of teaching at the university level.
Thank you for your hard work Beth and congratulations on your upcoming graduation!
Please join us on Friday April 11, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library for a free presentation of the Indian drama The Chess Players. Professor Bonnie Oldham will lead a discussion following the film.
Directed by India’s famed filmmaker Satyajit Ray, The Chess Players is set in 1856 India where the British are poised to take over the kingdom of Awadh. Awadh’s King and the Indian aristocracy prefer chess, poetry and music to their political responsibilities. Will the aristocracy see the game of chess the British are playing before their king is taken?
The Chess Players is in Urdu, Hindi and English with English subtitles.
This event is open to faculty, staff, students and the public. Please email sharon.finnerty@scranton.edu for reservations.
The International Film Series presents the award-winning drama Shun Li and the Poet tonight at 7:00 p.m. in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library. Professor Allison Lai will lead a discussion following the film.
Directed by Andrea Segre, Shun Li and the Poet is in Italian and Mandarin with English subtitles.
Please join us at 7:00 p.m. on Friday March 28, 2014 in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library for a free presentation of the Italian drama Shun Li and the Poet. Professor Allison Lai will lead a discussion following the film.
This award-winning film tells the story of two outsiders who become unlikely friends. Shun Li works in a textile factory near Rome, slowly paying off the broker that brought her from China to Italy, while saving money so she can bring her young son to join her. She is suddenly transferred to work as a bartender at a pub in a small fishing village along the Venetian Lagoon. The pub is the hangout of the local fishermen, including Bepi, a handsome old Slav immigrant nicknamed “The Poet.” A delicate friendship, based in part on their love of poetry, grows between Shun Li and Bepi, but the locals don’t approve, and gossip soon threatens their innocent relationship. Zhao Tao earned Best Actress honors at the 2012 David di Donatello Awards for her portrayal of Shun Li.
Directed by Andrea Segre, Shun Li and the Poet is in Italian and Mandarin with English subtitles.
This event is open to faculty, staff, students and the public. Please email sharon.finnerty@scranton.edu for reservations.
The Library would like to recognize Ashleigh Bennett, a Psychology major with a minor in Philosophy, for her hard work and commitment to the Weinberg Memorial Library. Ashleigh is from Wallenpaupack, Pennsylvania and has worked in Media Resources/EDLAB since August 2012. Ashleigh is friendly, self-motivated and organized which helps keep the department running smoothly, and she uses her creativity to design posters for the International Film Series. Her favorite perk of the job is previewing new films.
In addition to her work responsibilities, Ashleigh is a member of Circle K, a community service organization on campus, where she has volunteered at a local daycare center and for Safe Trick or Treat. Ashleigh’s favorite hobby is photography and her photos have been published in the University’s literary magazine Esprit for several years. Her recent photo submission “No Quarters” is on the cover of the Fall 2013 edition.
After graduation Ashleigh plans to attend graduate school for Clinical Psychology and then begin working in that field.
Please join us at 7:00 p.m. on Friday February 21, 2014 in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library for a free presentation of the American coming-of-age film Foreign Letters. A brief discussion will follow the film.
Set in the 1980’s, Film Movement describes Foreign Letters as the story of Ellie, a 12-year-old immigrant from Israel who is lonely and homesick. Life brightens when she meets Thuy, a Vietnamese refugee her age. Trust slowly builds as the two teach each other about life in America. As Ellie and Thuy become inseparable, they eventually hurt and betray each other. Ellie must give up her most prized possession, in order to save their friendship. Based on filmmaker Ela Their’s experiences, Foreign Letters is a story about prejudice, poverty, shame, and the power of friendship to heal us.
Foreign Letters is in English, Hebrew and Vietnamese with English subtitles.
This event is open to faculty, staff, students and the public. Please email Sharon.finnerty@scranton.edu for reservations.
