As a society, we're a pretty culturally starved bunch, and film must be our particular hunger pain. How else would you explain spending $33.3 million on tickets to see a stop-motion clay figure chase evil rabbits? But to be fair, there are few alternative options for cinema lovers these days. Luckily for Tempe residents, all that is about to change this weekend.
For fans of horror films not impressed by "The Fog" (complete with an awkward misplaced love scene and villain prototypes strangely reminiscent of a Disneyland theme ride), the ultimate treat is coming.
This Friday through Sunday, Harkins Centerpoint and Valley Art Theaters will host The International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival, North America's largest cross-genre festival.
The film selections will include critically acclaimed and controversial 18-and-over films (believe it or not, you may actually be gasping out of fear instead of boredom), such as "The Dark Hours" and "The Passing," shot and produced in Arizona. Other festival events will include a Sunday filmmaking seminar, taught by Lloyd Kaufman, director of such B-film classics as the "Toxic Avenger" and "Class of Nuke 'Em High."
For those film aficionados not particularly fond of watching a sexual offender torture a family to get a film fix, the Ethics of Entertainment Conference and Film Festival will be held at ASU. The conference will include speakers ranging from Harvard Law professors to film writers, and directors will discuss assorted issues in entertainment, ranging from the First Amendment to violence and sex in film.
The film festival portion will showcase films throughout the day around ASU, so check out the Web site, www.e2filmfest.com for details. It's a great way to unwind during the midterm season, and best of all, it's free to ASU students and faculty.
ASU and Tempe have never been cultural or entertainment centers, but the appearance of such prestigious and nationally advertised events may change all that. It's not that I'm not proud of our parties or Playboy models; it's just time that ASU got some respect for something more intellectually stimulating.
The festivals are a great step toward bringing humanities at our school into the center of attention. While the science students get to reside in buildings with chairs that cost more than a year's tuition and use security technology that rivals with that of the CIA, those pursuing the non-money-magnet career paths too often get left out at the budget meetings.
Attracting national attention to ASU as a center of artistic expression and intellectual inquiry into the issues surrounding it may potentially bring the interest of prominent and hopefully wealthy individuals. It would be nice to have a humanities sugar daddy the way engineering does.
Actually, it would be nice to have humanities, period. Before we can start trolling for donations we should probably get the major reinstated.
I'm still fuzzy on the logic behind the decision to cut humanities as a major. I'd say something about how the study of our culture and civilization seems like something a New American University needs more than dance, but I better keep my mouth shut, because for all I know, political science may be next on the list.
If we can't have humanities back, maybe supporting the festivals and similar events can eventually lead to building up and finding funding for the new film programs at ASU (but only if they promise to buy chairs from IKEA).
Lucia Bill is a political science and journalism student. Reach her at lucia.bill@asu.edu.
For fans of horror films not impressed by "The Fog" (complete with an awkward misplaced love scene and villain prototypes strangely reminiscent of a Disneyland theme ride), the ultimate treat is coming.
This Friday through Sunday, Harkins Centerpoint and Valley Art Theaters will host The International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival, North America's largest cross-genre festival.
The film selections will include critically acclaimed and controversial 18-and-over films (believe it or not, you may actually be gasping out of fear instead of boredom), such as "The Dark Hours" and "The Passing," shot and produced in Arizona. Other festival events will include a Sunday filmmaking seminar, taught by Lloyd Kaufman, director of such B-film classics as the "Toxic Avenger" and "Class of Nuke 'Em High."
For those film aficionados not particularly fond of watching a sexual offender torture a family to get a film fix, the Ethics of Entertainment Conference and Film Festival will be held at ASU. The conference will include speakers ranging from Harvard Law professors to film writers, and directors will discuss assorted issues in entertainment, ranging from the First Amendment to violence and sex in film.
The film festival portion will showcase films throughout the day around ASU, so check out the Web site, www.e2filmfest.com for details. It's a great way to unwind during the midterm season, and best of all, it's free to ASU students and faculty.
ASU and Tempe have never been cultural or entertainment centers, but the appearance of such prestigious and nationally advertised events may change all that. It's not that I'm not proud of our parties or Playboy models; it's just time that ASU got some respect for something more intellectually stimulating.
The festivals are a great step toward bringing humanities at our school into the center of attention. While the science students get to reside in buildings with chairs that cost more than a year's tuition and use security technology that rivals with that of the CIA, those pursuing the non-money-magnet career paths too often get left out at the budget meetings.
Attracting national attention to ASU as a center of artistic expression and intellectual inquiry into the issues surrounding it may potentially bring the interest of prominent and hopefully wealthy individuals. It would be nice to have a humanities sugar daddy the way engineering does.
Actually, it would be nice to have humanities, period. Before we can start trolling for donations we should probably get the major reinstated.
I'm still fuzzy on the logic behind the decision to cut humanities as a major. I'd say something about how the study of our culture and civilization seems like something a New American University needs more than dance, but I better keep my mouth shut, because for all I know, political science may be next on the list.
If we can't have humanities back, maybe supporting the festivals and similar events can eventually lead to building up and finding funding for the new film programs at ASU (but only if they promise to buy chairs from IKEA).
Lucia Bill is a political science and journalism student. Reach her at lucia.bill@asu.edu.
