Watergate Films to Kick Off Inaugural Jepson Film Festival at University of Richmond
October 16, 2002
Film directors took hard looks at social and political ills in the United States during the second half of the 20th century. The inaugural Jepson Film Festival Oct. 24-26 at the University of Richmond will showcase some of their best efforts, from Alan J. Pakula's "All the President's Men" to Spike Lee's "4 Little Girls."
Eight movies -- including several Oscar winners -- will examine social change and the leadership need to bring it about during the McCarthyism of the '50s, racial inequality in Harlem in the '80s, presidential elections, unionization and severe economic recession.
Admission is free and the public is invited, but seating is limited. All screenings will take place at Jepson Hall, Room 118.
Based on the bestseller by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, "All the President's Men" kicks off the festival Oct. 24 at 3:30 p.m. The Academy Award-winning film starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford reenacts the dramatic events of the Watergate investigation that toppled Richard Nixon and changed the way Americans look at the presidency. Bernstein will speak on campus later that evening.
"Dick," a political satire of the Watergate scandal, solves such mysteries as the identity of Deep Throat and the 18-and-a-half-minute gap on the White House tapes. It runs Oct. 24 at midnight.
"Salt of the Earth," the 1954 film about the "Hollywood 10," who refused to bow to McCarthyism and found themselves blacklisted, will be shown Oct. 25 at 3:30 p.m. It will be followed at 7 p.m. by John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate," the 1962 story of American GIs who were ambushed by Koreans, then rescued, only to feel that something diabolical happened during their imprisonment.
Sally Field won the 1979 best actress Oscar for her portrayal of the title character in "Norma Rae," a working-class, poorly educated woman who led fellow mill workers to unionize. Based on a true story, it will be the first of four films to be shown Oct. 26, beginning at 12:30 p.m. "Roger and Me" follows at 3 p.m. The 1989 film, directed by native son Michael Moore, documents the decline of Flint, Mich., home of General Motors.
Next at 7 p.m. will be "4 Little Girls," director Spike Lee's re-creation of Sept. 15, 1963, the day four girls were killed in a bomb explosion in a Birmingham, Ala., church. "Brother from Another Planet," John Sayles' film about a mute, black fugitive from another planet who wanders onto the mean streets of Harlem, will be shown at midnight. The 1984 movie balances comedy with commentary on race, drugs, and life in Harlem.
The festival is presented in conjunction with the International Film Festival and the Media Resource Center. For information, call (804) 287-6627.