By Greg Robinson – Online Editor
The SLU Film Society held its first screening of the year on Monday Oct. 3, with a viewing of the animated flick Coraline. The film was the first of six films that will be shown throughout the school year.
The SLU Film Society is organized and run by associate professor of English Dr. Donald Pharr. This year, he has joined with associate professor of English Dr. Kathryn Stasio, who runs a book club on campus. The two organizations have joined together for a collaborative book/film study, starting with the novella and film Coraline. They will repeat this with another work in the spring semester, using the novel The Help, which was recently made into a feature film.
The novella Coraline, by Neil Gaiman, was released in 2002 and received a Hugo Award in 2003. The critically acclaimed work was turned into a film in 2009 and was nominated for best animated film at the Academy Awards.
The Lions’ Pride spoke to Pharr about his film selection process. When choosing a movie, Pharr says that he keeps his college-age audience very much in mind. One of his goals is to show a classic film each year that students might not otherwise be exposed to. This year he is looking to show the classic Jack Nicholson film Chinatown. However, he doesn’t show films that have trouble finding an audience.
“There are a lot of technically proficient and very well-made films that just aren’t very interesting. The next one we are going to show is The Secret in their Eyes, which is an Argentinian film about police corruption,” Pharr said.
Pharr also said that he looks to showcase movies that “you should have seen.” As Academy Award season approaches, several good films are released in November and December to capitalize on the buzz before the awards. With the film market saturated at this time, some “good movies slip through the cracks,” and the SLU film society is the perfect place to screen one of these good but unknown flicks.
Last year, the SLU film society featured six films that related to each one of the core values at Saint Leo. Some of the films shown were The Hurt Locker, Persepolis, and Down in the Delta. Although the films will not have a theme this year, Pharr hopes to draw more people in by joining forces with the book club.
The film society will show two more films this semester and three next semester. Their next event will be INFO TO COME LATER, with the screening of the film The Secret in their Eyes.
