All posts by filmadmin

Interviews & Profiles

Five Questions With: Dr. Hilary Jones

This Thursday, September 20, FIU teams up with the Historic Hampton House for a special screening of Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust, with discussion led by Dr. Hilary Jones of the History and Africa & African Diaspora Studies programs at FIU. Part of the Unity Boulevard Film Series at the Hampton House, this screening is free to students with ID, with $5 advanced tickets for others. We asked Dr. Jones about the screening, the series, and the relationship between film and historical research.

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Review

Run Lola Run: Racing to Greatness

Lola runs through to her destiny.

It’s easy to forget the power a visual medium like film can have when an audience is presented with little story, but packs in interesting visuals. Our friends at Coral Gables Art Cinema are screening an excellent example of such a movie in showing Tom Tykwer’s German thriller film Run Lola Run (1998). Run Lola Run is a work that, while clearly a product of the MTV era, is visually stylish in all the right ways, delivering a heart-racing thriller through its fast-paced editing and flashy presentation.

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Spotlight

Panther Film Festival Returns for Year Two

We are thrilled to announce the return of the steadily growing Panther Film Festival!  Building on last year’s structure, this school year will feature a series of workshops and competitions to bring student filmmakers of all levels on board, culminating in the April festival screening.

Kick start the year with us next Thursday, September 13th at the first Panther Film Festival Meet & Greet of the semester!

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Quizzes & Polls

Poll: What’s Your Favorite Back To School Movie?

Image result for napoleon dynamite

Now that we’re all back from vacation I can’t help but think of the phrase “misery loves company.” The sweet suffering that is back to back classes can only be soothed by watching the onscreen antics of our favorite characters. Which of the films below remind you that school isn’t that bad of a place to be?

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Review

A Return to Chinatown

A film that deserves its legendary status, few praises can be poured on Roman Polanksi’s Chinatown (1974) that haven’t been said before. Thanks to some upcoming screenings arranged by our friends at the Coral Gables Art Cinema, I got the chance to sit down and watch Chinatown again, and I can say with confidence that I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time, if not more. Chinatown is a superb example of the best of a genre, and a story that should be fully enjoyed on the big screen by fans of noir mysteries.

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Review

The Little Stranger: A Spiritless Haunting

Roderick Ayers escapes a hellish flame fueled by archaic books

When reports surfaced saying that the production company Focus Features was cancelling screenings of The Little Stranger, it would have been safe to bet that the haunted-house horror was dead on arrival. This, combined with its avoidance of the film festival circuit, made for a flaming red flag. But this, if anything, was an overreaction, especially when its only competition in the box-office is the pungent Happytime Murders.  Based on a 2009 gothic novel of the same name,The Little Stranger is a slow-contorting, lackluster end to a summer booming with breakneck blockbusters.

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Spotlight

From the Director: Welcome to the Fall Semester!

It’s looking like an exciting fall for film in our FIU classrooms, around campus, and in Miami’s burgeoning film scene.

Last spring, our first ever Panther Film Festival brought our student body together, creating thirteen short films, twelve of which were up for awards selected by faculty, staff, and an audience vote. Over 100 students, alumni, judges, and faculty members were in attendance, and we are making this year’s Panther Film Festival bigger and better. Stay tuned for information on our free film workshops as well as the event itself!

We know our students are looking forward to the fantastic courses you’re enrolled in, from Professor Michael Gillespie’s new Film Noir course to Phillip Church’s ever popular Intro to Acting/Directing for TV/Film, and many others.

We’ll keep you posted about film happenings on campus and around town. Cult cinema, restored classics, and new international movies are playing at local art houses, such as the Coral Gables Art Cinema and Miami Beach Cinemateque.  Knowing that many of you are still coming down off this month’s Popcorn Frights film festival, we’re also looking forward to events sponsored by the Miami Jewish Film Festival and the Miami Film Festival’s GEMS four day mini-festival at the Tower Theater.

The new president of the Film Initiative: Underground, Jose Ramirez, has a line-up of film screenings as well as expectations from the club this year in an article you can read here.

Finally, we just want to give a shout out to our alumni and community partners. As always, feel free to email our director, Dr. Andy Strycharski, at strychar@fiu.edu to say Hi or let us know what’s going on with you. We love to hear from you all!