The Hollywood Invades Tempe event at the Bateman Physical Sciences Center on Wednesday night brings some of the film industry’s biggest players to ASU — virtually.
Most recently, the event was hosted by film professor Adam Collis and featured a screening of the 2005 film “Capote”, for which director Bennett Miller won an Oscar, followed by a Skype session with Miller himself.
What sets Hollywood Invades Tempe apart from other on campus movie viewing parties is that these events often grant students face-time with the professionals responsible for putting the film together. For the film students, which made up about 75 percent of the audience, these screenings are “can’t miss” events.
Third-year film student Trent Wilson said that even if he weren’t encouraged by his professors to attend, he would still make the effort to be at these events.
Wilson also said that getting the opportunity to converse with directors, which he clarifies does not happen at every Hollywood Invades Tempe event, is what makes these showings unique. He added that Wednesday night’s screening of “Capote” and the Skype interview with Bennett was one of the more engaging events.
“There’s always some sort of Q & A session,” said Wilson. Last year one of the producers that worked on the movie “Little Miss Sunshine” came to ASU to talk with students directly.
“Meeting with him face-to-face was definitely a really cool thing”, said Wilson about the experience. “There’s always an hour or an hour and a half Skype session with the producers or the writers or, in certain cases, the directors of photography.”
The interviews held at the end of the Hollywood Invades Tempe movie screenings are invaluable to students, particularly those studying film.
Talking to professionals who are not only working, but also doing very well for themselves currently is important to Wilson and his peers.
The push towards digitized media requires filmmakers to be more innovative than ever when developing their projects. “Not a lot of people know but right now is a very critical time for film and entertainment because everything’s going to the Internet,” said Wilson. “Getting insight from Bennett Miller, whose career is still relatively young, and who’ll probably be making movies for a while … you get a lot out of it.”
Hollywood Invades Tempe hosts events every Wednesday. Details can be found on the events calendar at my.asu.edu. They will be screening “The Help” on Oct. 19, followed by an interview with someone involved in the production of the film. The screenings are free, with pizza provided to all in attendance.
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