Founded in 1982 by Emeritus Professor Harbour Winn, the Film Institute plays an important role in the university‘s vision to provide a student-oriented learning environment and an inclusive, values-centered culture that engages the community and the world.
Each year, university faculty select a variety of classic and contemporary international and art house films to share with university audiences and our neighbors from throughout the greater Â鶹´«Ã½ City area. These screenings include discussions after each film, and the films are also available for university courses through the maintenance of an extensive .
The Film Â鶹´«Ã½ is supported by the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Endowment Fund for the Center for Interpersonal Studies Through Film & Literature, the Â鶹´«Ã½ Film Institute Endowment in the Community Foundation of the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, and Â鶹´«Ã½ City University.
CENTER FOR INTERPERSONAL STUDIES THROUGH FILM & LITERATURE
Begun in 1997, through the generosity and creativity of Jeanne Hoffman Smith, MSSW, the Center for Interpersonal Studies through Film and Literature brings a distinguished poet to the campus each year. Seven of the poets have been Poet Laureates of the United States and many of them have been Pulitzer Prize and/or National Book Award winners. Poets Robert Pinsky, Jane Hirshfield, Michael Ondaatje, Mark Doty, Lucille Clifton, Naomi Shihab Nye, Li-Young Lee, Billy Collins, Ted Kooser, Joy Harjo, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Charles Simic, Natasha Trethewey, Carolyn Forche, Claudia Emerson, Terrance Hayes, Tracy K. Smith, Richard Blanco, Marie Howe, Simon Armitage, Chris Abani, and Alberto Rios have been featured so far, along with other poets and writers for additional events throughout the year.
In addition, the Center supports the Â鶹´«Ã½ Film Institute, develops for the university and community an archive collection of quality DVDs, facilitates field trips to Â鶹´«Ã½ for teachers and students from upper elementary through high school, hosts a regular Â鶹´«Ã½ Humanities Let’s Talk About It book discussion series for the university and Â鶹´«Ã½ City community, and collaborates with other campus and metropolitan organizations to support and encourage different groups to work together on creative projects. The director is a member of the English Department and teaches courses in this department as well as other university courses related to the mission of the Center. The Thatcher Hoffman Smith Endowment Fund and an advisory committee support the development of the Center and its programs.
OKLAHOMA CITY UNIVERSITY FILM INSTITUTE
The Â鶹´«Ã½ Film Institute offers the university and the greater Â鶹´«Ã½ City community the opportunity to view classic and contemporary international films. Since 1983, the Institute has been screening films every year on to an audience of 50 to 400 people. Each year the series focuses on a theme, and reading recommendations on the theme and individual films are available at the showings. A discussion session follows each screening. The films are also available for university courses. Each spring audience participants have the opportunity to recommend films for the next season, and their preferences are honored to the degree possible. The Institute is committed to showing each season films from many different countries as well as offering each year a film from a place that has not been represented before. Once a film has been screened in the series, it is placed in Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s Dulaney-Browne Library where it can be checked out for viewing by an individual.
In 1996, the Â鶹´«Ã½ Humanities Council awarded the Institute one of four awards for excellence in humanities programming over the previous twenty-five years in the state of Â鶹´«Ã½. The film series is supported by Â鶹´«Ã½, the Â鶹´«Ã½ Film Institute Endowment, the Designated Endowment in the Community Foundation of the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, and the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Endowment for the Center for Interpersonal Studies through Film and Literature. The creator and director of the Film Institute, Dr. Harbour Winn, retired in 2016, but remains active in the community programming he helped to develop.
Dr. Tracy Floreani, Director
Carol Blackwood, Community Member
Karen Browne, Community Member
Bryan Cardinale-Powell, Chair of Film
Dr. Amy Cataldi, Dean of Petree College
Judy Cawthon, Community Member
Terri L. Cummings, Poet and Community Member
Dr. Mark Davies, Professor of Ethics
Melanie J. Jester, Federal Courts Attorney
Linda P. Lambert, former Board of Trustees member
Vivian Nida, Poet and Retired Educator
Billy Palumbo, Film Faculty
Dr. Karen Schiler, Chair of English & Modern Languages
Jason Stephenson, Poet and Â鶹´«Ã½ State Dept. of Ed. ELA
Sharon Varnum, Community Member
Emeritus consultant and founder, Dr. Harbour Winn
The 43-year-old tradition of providing free screenings of select films for the Â鶹´«Ã½ City University community and our neighbors continues with this year’s film series. This may be the only place in town where you’ll get the chance to see these movies on a large screen.
Each screening begins at 1 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month during the academic year, and the screenings will take place in the Norick Art Center, 1601 NW 26th Street. Parking is available to the west and north of the building, and if you get here early you’ll be able to take in the art on display in the Hulsey Gallery. Also, please make plans to stick around after each screening to share your thoughts on the film.
Work/Life
A selection of films about people looking for ways to make sense of their lives while making ends meet
SEPTEMBER 8
The Old Oak
Directed by Ken Loach • UK • 2023 • 1h 53m
The Old Oak is a special place in a once thriving mining community. TJ Ballantyne, the proprietor, hangs on to The Old Oak by his fingertips, a hold that is threatened when The Old Oak becomes contested territory after the arrival of Syrian refugees in the village. (theoldoakfilm.co.uk)
OCTOBER 13
Sorry to Bother You
Directed by Boots Riley • US • 2018 • 1h 52m
In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a universe of greed. (imdb.com)
NOVEMBER 10
La Promesse
Directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne • Belgium • 1996 • 1h 30m
Roger uses his 15-year-old son, Igor, to help ruthlessly exploit illegal immigrant workers. When African immigrant Amidou tumbles from a scaffold, Igor finds him before he dies and promises that he will take care of his wife and baby. (rottentomatoes.com)
DECEMBER 8
Life Is Sweet
Directed by Mike Leigh • UK • 1990 • 1h 42m
The working-class malaise of suburban London is captured in this comedic drama, which focuses on twin sisters Natalie and Nicola and their parents, Andy and Wendy. While Natalie has a plumbing job, Nicola is on the dole and perpetually dwells on the negative. (rottentomatoes.com)
JANUARY 12
Perfect Days
Directed by Wim Wenders • Japan/Germany • 2023 • 2h 4m
Hirayama seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of toilets in Tokyo. Outside of his very structured everyday routine he enjoys his passion for music and for books. And he loves trees and takes photos of them. (filmaffinity.com)
MARCH 9
Ressources humaines
Directed by Laurent Cantet • France • 1999 • 1h 43m
Frank, a business school graduate, returns to his hometown to take a management position alongside his father. First Frank makes the mistake of actually asking the workers on the assembly line for their opinions. Then upper management manipulates his findings to lay off employees. (imdb.com)
APRIL 13
Certain Women
Directed by Kelly Reichardt • US • 2016 • 1h 47m
Three strong-willed women strive to forge their own paths: a lawyer who finds herself contending with office sexism and a hostage situation; a wife and mother at odds with the men in her life; and a law student who forms an ambiguous bond with a lonely ranch hand. (rottentomatoes.com)
Year | Â鶹´«Ã½ Name & Titles Shown |
2023 | "What, you too?" Friendship on Film Before Summer Ends (Iran/France, 2017) dir. Maryam Goormaghtigh |
2022 | Upheaval/Resilience Beans (Canada, 2020) dir. Tracey Deer |
2021 | 40th Anniversary Viewers' Choice Volver (Spain, 2006) dir. Pedro Almodóvar |
2020 | Pandemic Pop-Up Screenings Portrait of a Lady on Fire (France, 2019) dir. Celine Sciamma Sorry We Missed You (UK, 2019) dir. Ken Loach Isle of Dogs (USA/Japan, 2018) dir. Wes Anderson ´¡³¾Ã©±ô¾±±ð (France/Germany, 2001) dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet The Cordillera of Dreams (Chile, 2019) dir. Patricio Guzmán The Biggest Little Farm (USA, 2018) dir. John Chester |
2019 | Women Filmmakers Showcase Mustang (Turkey/France, 2015) dir. Deniz Game Ergüven Daughters of the Dust (USA, 1991) dir. Julie Dash Capernaum (Lebanon/France, 2018) dir. Nadine Labaki Cléo from 5 to 7 (France, 1962) dir. Agnès Varda The Stories We Tell (Canada, 2012) dir. Sarah Polley A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Iran/USA, 2014) dir. Ana Lily Amirpour Nervous Translation (Philippines, 2018) dir. Shireen Seno |
2018 | The Power of Place Il Postino (Italy, 1994) dir. Trios Massimo & Michael Radford In America (Ireland, 2002) dir. James Sheridan Faces Places (France, 2017) dir. J.R. & Agnès Varda A River Called Titas (Bangladesh, 1973) dir. Ritwik Ghatak Persepolis (Iran/France, 2007) dir. Vincent Paronnaudand Marjane Satrapi Marborosi (Japan, 1995) dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda This May Be the Last Time (USA, 2014) dir. Sterlin Harjo Hunt for the Wilderpeople (New Zealand, 2016) dir. Taika Waititi Under Sandet (Denmark, 2015) dir. Martin Zandvliet El Espinazo del Diablo (Spain, 2001) dir. Guillermo del Toro Last Men in Aleppo (Syria, 2017) dir. Feras Fayyad The Insult (Lebanon, 2017) dir. Ziad Douieri The Last Picture Show (USA, 1971) dir. Peter Bogdanovich |
2017 | Picturing Reconciliation Paterson (USA, 2016) dir. Jim Jarmusch The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France/USA, 2007) dir. Julian Schnabel Boy (New Zealand, 2010) dir. Taika Waititi The Salesman (Iran, 2016) dir. Ashgar Farhadi The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson (UK, 2015) dir. Julien Temple µþ²¹°ì²¹²õ³óû (Japan, 1951) dir. ³Û²¹²õ³ÜÂá¾±°ùô Ozu Ma Vie en Rose (France, 1997) dir. Alain Berliner Tanna (Vanuatu/Australia, 2015) dir. Brantley Dean & Martin Butler In the Name of the Father (Ireland/UK, 1993) dir. Jim Sheridan The Look of Silence (Indonesia/Denmark, 2014) dir. Joshua Oppenheimer Frantz (Germany/France, 2016) dir. François Ozon |
2016 | On Being Mortal Embrace of the Serpent (Colombia, 2015) dir. Ciro Guerra Fireworks Wednesday (Iran, 2006) dir. Asghar Farhadi My Life as a Dog (Sweden, 1985) dir. Lasse Hallstrom The Last Metro (France, 1980) dir. Francois Truffaut Theeb (Jordan, 2014) dir. Naja Abu Nowar Coming Home (China, 2014) dir. Zhang Yimou Phoenix (Germany, 2014) dir. Christian Petzold Ikiru (Japan, 1952) dir. Akira Kurosawa |
2015 | The Search for Meaning and Value Leviathan (Russia, 2014) dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev About Elly (Iran, 2009) dir. Asghar Farhadi The Lunchbox (India, 2013) dir. Ritesh Batra Blow-Up (UK, 1966) dir. Michelangelo Antonioni Two Days, One Night (Belgium, 2014) dir. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne Ugetsu (Japan, 1953) dir. Kenji Mizoguchi Timbuktu (Mauritania, 2014) dir. Abdherrahmane Sissako Ida (Poland, 2013) dir. Pawel Pawlikowski |
2014 | Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World Ilo Ilo (Singapore, 2013) dir. Anthony Chen The Story of Adele H. (France, 1975) dir. Francois Truffaut The Past (Iran, 2013) dir. Asghar Farhadi A Touch of Sin (China, 2013) dir. Jia Zhangke Barbara (Germany, 2012) dir. Christian Petzold Memories of Murder (South Korea, 2003) dir. Bong Joon-Ho The Hunt (Denmark, 2012) dir. Thomas Vinterberg Like Father, Like Son (Japan, 2013) dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda |
2013 | Identity in Diversity: Religious Pluralism Incendies (Canada, 2010) dir. Denis Villeneuve Vanaja (India, 2007) dir. Rajnesh Domalpalli The White Meadows (Iran, 2009) dir. Mohammad Rasoulof The Violin (Mexico, 2006) dir. Francisco Vargas Secret Sunshine (South Korea, 2007) dir. Lee Chang-Dong The Other Son (France, 2012) dir. Lorraine Levy Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets (Morocco, 2000) dir. Nail Ayouch Lore (Germany, 2012) dir. Cate Shortland |
2012 | Escape From Freedom Breaker Morant (Australia, 1980) dir. Bruce Beresford The Kid with a Bike (Belgium, 2011) dir. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne Treeless Mountain (South Korea, 2008) dir. So Yong Kim A Separation (Iran, 2011) dir. Asghar Farhadi The Double Life of Véronique (Norway, 1991) dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski The Colors of the Mountain (Colombia, 2010) dir. Carlos César Arbeláez The Flowers of War (China, 2011) dir. Zhang Yimou |
2011 | Compassion: The Radical Challenge Sansho the Baliff (Japan, 1954) dir. Kenji Mizoguchi The Milk of Sorrow (Spain, 2009) dir. Claudia Llosa Children of Heaven (Iran, 1997) dir. Majid Majidi The River (India, 1951) dir. Jean Renoir Kes (UK, 1969) dir. Ken Loach The Vanishing (USA, 1993) dir. George Sluizer Poetry (South Korea, 2010) dir. Lee Chang-Dong Black Orpheus (Brazil, 1959) dir. Marcel Camus |
2010 | The Cry for Myth Still Walking (Japan, 2008) dir. Hirokazu Kore-Eda The Red Desert (Italy, 1964) dir. Michelangelo Antonioni Wonderful Town (Thailand, 2007) dir. Aditya Assarat Paradise Now (Palestine, 2005) dir. Hany Abu-Assad Tulpan (Kazakhstan, 2008) dir. Sergei Dvortsevoy La Nana (Chile, 2009) dir. Sebastian Silva Madeo (South Korea, 2009) dir. Bong Joon-Ho Summer Hours (France, 2008) dir. Olivier Assayas |
2009 | Beyond Belief Lorna's Silence (Belgium, 2008) dir. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne Song of Sparrows (Iran, 2008) dir. Majid Majidi Tuya's Marriage (China, 2006) dir. Quan An Wang Fanny and Alexander (Sweden, 1982) dir. Ingmar Bergman 12 (Russia, 2007) dir. Nikita Mikhalkov Danzon (Mexico, 1991) dir. Maria Novaro Still Life (China, 2006) dir. Jia Zhang The Edge of Heaven (Germany, 2007) dir. Fatih Akin |
2008 | Finding Selfhood Through Exploring One’s Own History Golden Door (Italy, 2006) dir. Emanuele Crialese The Spirit of the Beehive (Spain, 1973) dir. Victor Erice L'Enfant (Belgium, 2005) dir. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne Father (Iran, 1996) dir. Majid Majidi The Syrian Bride (Israel, 2004) dir. Eran Riklis To Live (China, 1994) dir. Zhang Yimou |
2007 | Myth and Imagination: Shaping Meaning Hard Goodbyes: My Father (Greece, 2002) dir. Penny Panayotopoulou Buffalo Boy (Vietnam, 2004) dir. Nguyen-Vo Nghiem-Minh Schizo (Kazakhstan, 2004) dir. Gulshat Omarova The Discreet Charm of Bourgeoisie (France, 1972) dir. Luis Buñuel Masai: The Rain Warriors (Kenya, 2004) dir. Pascal Plisson Innocent Voices (Mexico, 2004) dir. Luis Mandoki Ten Canoes (Australia, 2006) dir. Rolf de Heer Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (Hong Kong, 2006) dir. Zhang Yimou |
2006 | From Patriarchy to Democracy: Charting a New Path for Love Mountain Patrol: Kekexili (China, 2004) dir. Lu Chuan Since Otar Left (Republic of Georgia, 2003) dir. Julie Bertucelli Jules and Jim (France, 1961) dir. Francois Truffaut Iron Island (Iran, 2004) dir. Mohammad Rasoulof Machuca (Chile, 2004) dir. Andres Wood The Seven Samurai (Japan, 1954) dir. Akira Kurosawa Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Germany, 2005) dir. Marc Rothemund |
2004 | Beyond Polarization: The Transformative Power of Reconciliation Happy Times (China, 2002) dir. Zhang Yimou The Return (Russia, 2003) dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev Secret Ballot (Iran, 2001) dir. Babak Payami Autumn Sonata (Sweden, 1974) dir. Ingmar Bergman Monsoon Wedding (India, 2001) dir. Mira Nair Honey for Oshun (Cuba, 2001) dir. Humberto Solas The Sun (Poland, 2002) dir. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne Good Bye, Lenin! (Poland, 2013) dir. Wolfgang Becker |
2003 | Renewing the Virtue of Reverence: Becoming Aware of Our Limits and Capacity for Awe Madadayo (Japan, 1993) dir. Akira Kurosawa Behind the Sun (Brazil, 2001) dir. Walter Selles The Cyclist (Iran, 1989) dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf Lacombe Lucien (France, 1974) dir. Louis Malle Nowhere in Africa (Germany, 2002) dir. Caroline Link Rabbit-Proof Fence (Australia, 2002) dir. Phillip Noyce Hero (China, 2002) dir. Zhang Yimou Bloody Sunday (UK/Ireland, 2002) dir. Paul Greengrass |
2002 | The Cry for Moral Leadership Amidst the Battle for God The Road Home (China, 1999) dir. Zhang Yimou Kippur (Israel, 2000) dir. Amos Gitai Baran (Iran, 2001) dir. Majid Majidi The Way We Laughed (Italy, 1998) dir. Gianni Amelio The Legend of Rita (Germany, 2000) dir. Volker Schlondorff Kandahar (Iran, 2001) dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf No Man's Land (Bosnia/Herzegovina, 2001) dir. Danis Tanovic Himalaya (Nepal, 1999) dir. Eric Valli |
2001 | Living in the Secular and Sacred Worlds The Sweet Hereafter (Canada, 1997) dir. Atom Egoyan A Time for Drunken Horses (Iran, 2000) dir. Bahman Ghobabi Kadosh (Israel, 1999) dir. Amos Gitai Angry Harvest (Germany, 1985) dir. Agnieszka Holland The Ballad of Narayama (Japan, 1983) dir. Shohei Imamura Beau Travail (France, 1999) dir. Claire Denis Tilai (Burkina Faso, 1990) dir. Idrissa Ouedraogo Oedipus Rex (Morocco, 1967) dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini |