MAA Film Series

The Museum of Art and Archaeology is pleased to announce its the second season of its Film Series. The Museum will show films each month inspired by one of the special exhibitions on view in the Museum or about artists and art. Prior to the showing, there will be a brief review by the Museum Educator of the film's significance and its application to a specific exhibition.

All films shown on Thursdays at 7:00 pm, 106 Pickard Hall. Free and open to the public.
Third Thursdays with a connection to the Exhibitions
First Fridays about artists and art

January 17, 2008
Fellini’s Roma (1972)
Directed by Federico Fellini
Italian with English subtitles. Rated R. 129 minutes.
A love story to a city: a virtually plotless, compelling, and impressionistic portrait of Rome through the eyes of one of its most famous citizens, the great director Federico Fellini. Through Fellini’s film we are reminded of all the "Romes," inhabited by the ancient Romans as well as the Facists. Everyday events are lovingly profiled: an Italian family’s feast, a city wide festival, the over-industrialized countryside around Rome, and an excavation for the city’s subway that reveals another world. An unforgettable film about a city that can never be forgotten.

February 1, 2008 - Friday
Portrait of Jennie (1948)
Directed by William Dieterle
Starring Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten and Ethel Barrymore
In this unusual romance, the mysterious Jennie (Jones) becomes muse to artist Eben Adams (Cotten). Thanks to her, he becomes both smitten and successful, but at what price?

CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER:
February 21, 2008 - Thursday
Roman Holiday (1953)
Directed by William Wyler
Starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck
Hepburn plays a European princess on an official tour through Rome, who slips away from her handlers, aided by news reporter Peck. The stylish Hepburn won an Oscar, and so did costume designer Edith Head. more (opens new window)
Rated G. 118 minutes.
A salute to the MU School of Journalism as it enters its centennial year.

Let us know about your reactions to any of the films. See the Film Series section
of the Museum's blog Musings.

Film Series Poster (pdf)

March 4, 2008 - Tuesday (Special for Art in Bloom )
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970)
Directed by Vincent Minnelli
Starring Barbara Streisand and Yves Montand
In this enjoyable film, psychiatrist Montand realizes that Streisand can recall a past life while under hypnosis. Her flashbacks echo the musical genre that seems out of touch with the new film sensibilities of the 70s.

March 20, 2008 - Thursday
Madame Bovary (1949)
Directed by Vincent Minnelli
Starring Jennifer Jones and Louis Jourdan
Jones, in the title role, teams up with Minnelli for the gorgeous Hollywood adaptation of Flaubert’s novel. The ball sequence is especially memorable.

April 4, 2008 - Friday
Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
Directed by Werner Hertzog
Starring Klaus Kinski
Kinski plays Don Lope de Aguirre, a greedy and maddened conquistador in the mid-16th century, who leads his soldiers into the Amazon jungle in an obsessive quest for El Dorado. A riveting portrait of humans battling nature, within and without.

Brad Prager, associate professor of German and film studies at the University of Missouri, and the author of The Cinema of Werner Herzog, will present a short introduction before the film at 6:45.

April 17, 2008 - Thursday
Apocalypto (2006)
Directed by Mel Gibson
Starring Rudy Youngblood
A pre-Columbian Maya village is brutally conquered by a ruling tribe that needs slaves and human sacrifices. Youngblood plays warrior Jaguar Paw, in this film that some describe as a love story.

May 2, 2008 - Friday
Spellbound (1945)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck
Hitchcock meets Freud in this thriller. Psychologist Bergman tries to solve a murder by analyzing amnesiac Peck. A bizarre dream sequence was designed by Salvador Dali; the score won an Oscar. review in Musings

May 15, 2008 - Thursday
Columbus (1949)
Directed by David MacDonald
Starring Frederick March
In this 1949 production, March plays Christopher Columbus, the world’s most famous explorer. He convinces Queen Isabella to provide him with ships and money, battles mutiny and exhaustion, until he and his crew discover a tropical paradise: the new world!

June 6, 2008 - Friday
Rashomon (1951)
Directed by Akira Kurosawa
Starring Toshiro Mifune
A seemingly simple tale set in ancient Japan, where four different and contradictory testimonies are offered about a rape and murder. The film throws suspicion on the nature of truth and human behavior.

June 19, 2008 - Thursday
That Hamilton Woman (1941)
Directed by Alexander Korda
Starring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier
Based on the true story of Emma Hart, who rises out of poverty and marries Lord William Hamilton, the British ambassador to Naples. When Lady Hamilton begins an affair with Admiral Horatio Nelson (played by real life husband and wife team Olivier and Leigh), a public scandal ensues.

(July 4, 2008 - no film)

July 17, 2008 - Thursday
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Directed by Howard Hawks
Starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant
This classic screwball comedy features Grant as a serious paleontologist, who much fetch a dinosaur bone from a dog belonging to heiress Hepburn. High-speed flirtation and foolishness result; the pair has never been matched for romanticism and fun.

August 1, 2008 - Friday
How To Draw A Bunny (2002)
Directed by John W.Walter
Starring Ray Johnson, Roy Lichtenstein and Chuck Close
A contemporary of Lichtenstein and Warhol, artist Roy Johnson, whose collages “bridged dada and pop art,” committed suicide in 1995. This documentary examines his personality and art through interviews and Johnson’s own work.

August 21, 2008 - Thursday
The Agony and The Ecstasy (1965)
Directed by Carol Reed
Starring Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison
Reed (The Third Man) directed this examination of the relationship between Michelangelo (Heston) and Pope Julius II (Harrison). Portrayed are battle of wills and the suffering of the great artist who was commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the early 16th century.

All films shown at 7:00 pm, 106 Pickard Hall. Free and open to the public