Chaplin film opens Buffalo Film Seminars

After a successful fall-semester run in its new home in the Dipson Amherst Theatre, the Buffalo Film Seminars will open the spring 2015 semester on Jan. 27 with a screening of the Charlie Chaplin classic “The Gold Rush.”

Each session of the semester-long series of film screenings and discussions hosted by UB faculty members Diane Christian and Bruce Jackson will begin at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays, beginning Jan. 27 and running through May 5, in the Amherst Theatre in the University Plaza across Main Street from the South Campus. Parking is free.

There is no screening on March 17 due to spring break.

Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor and James Agee Professor of American Culture, both in the Department of English, will introduce each film. Following a short break at the end of each film, they will lead a discussion of the film.

The screenings are part of “Film Directors” (Eng 438), an undergraduate course being taught by the pair. Students enrolled in the course are admitted free; others may attend at the theater’s regular admission prices of $9.50 for adults, $7.50 for students and $7 for seniors. Season tickets are available any time at a 15 percent reduction for the cost of the remaining films.

“Goldenrod handouts” — four-to-eight-page notes on each film — will be posted on the seminar’s website the day before each screening, and will be available in the theater lobby 45 minutes before each session.

The series will open on Jan. 27 with Charlie Chaplin’s classic silent film “The Gold Rush.” In the 1925 film, which was nominated for two Academy Awards, the Tramp goes to the Klondike in search of gold and finds it, and more.

The remainder of the schedule, with descriptions culled from the IMDb online movie database:

• Feb. 3: “Bringing Up Baby,” 1938, directed by Howard Hawks. While trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist, played by Cary Grant, is pursued by a flighty and often-irritating heiress (Katharine Hepburn) and her pet leopard, “Baby.”
• Feb. 10: “I Know Where I’m Going,” 1945, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. While traveling to meet the wealthy industrialist she plans to marry, an Englishwoman is stranded for a week and falls in love with a young naval officer.
• Feb. 17: “Odd Man Out,” 1947, Directed by Carol Reed. A wounded Irish nationalist leader attempts to evade police following a failed robbery in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Nominated for an Academy Award.
• Feb. 24: “Seven Men from Now,” 1956, directed by Budd Boetticher. A former sheriff blames himself for his wife's death during a Wells Fargo robbery and vows to track down and kill the seven men responsible.
• March 3: “Barbarella,” 1968, directed by Roger Vadim. In the 41st century, astronaut Barbarella (Jane Fonda) must find and stop the evil Durand-Durand.
• March 10: “All That Jazz,” 1979, directed by Bob Fosse. Fosse tells his own life story as he details the sordid life of Joe Gideon, a womanizing, drug-using dancer. Stars Roy Scheider and Jessica Lange.

• March 24: “Mad Max,” 1979, directed by George Miller. A vengeful Australian policeman (Mel Gibson) sets out to avenge his partner, his wife and his son. The film was one of Gibson’s first movie roles and made him known worldwide.
• March 31: “The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” 1981, directed by Karel Reisz. The actors in a film about a man and woman involved in an affair go through a relationship that runs parallel to that of their characters. Stars Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons.
• April 7: “El Norte,” 1983, directed by Gregory Nava. Mayan Indian peasants who barely escape an Army massacre make their way to “the North,” where they try to make a new life.
• April 14: “The Usual Suspects,” 1995, directed by Bryan Singer. The sole survivor of a gun battle on a boat tells of the twisty events leading up to the horrific event, which began when five criminals meet during a seemingly random police lineup. Winner of Oscars for best supporting actor (Kevin Spacey) and best writing.
• April 21: “Werckmeister Harmonies,” 2000, directed by Béla Tarr. A stuffed whale and a foreign prince arrive in a small Hungarian town, unsettling the town and its residents.
• April 28: “The Triplets of Belleville,” 2003, directed by Sylvain Chomet. When her grandson is kidnapped during the Tour de France, Madame Souza and her dog, Bruno, team up with the Belleville Sisters — an aged song-and-dance team from the days of Fred Astaire — to rescue him.
• May 5: “No Country for Old Men,” 2007, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. A hunter stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong and more than $2 million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande. Winner of Oscars for best picture, best supporting actor, best director and best writing.

For further information, visit the Buffalo Film Seminars’ website.