Philip Martin, arts editor and film critic for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and author of two books of essays, will deliver an original essay written especially to help launch the Ozark Foothills FilmFest on Friday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. in the Bevins Music Room on the campus of Lyon College. “An Intimate Evening with Philip Martin” will also include a question-and-answer session, reception, and book signing. Rob Grace, who frequently writes about movies in his ARKANSAS WEEKLY column, “All Over the Map,” will introduce Martin.
Martin generously agreed to write this original piece to serve as an introduction to film art and stimulate lively discussion during the FilmFest. His remarks will touch on several films, including The Third Man, The Godfather, and Psycho. He provided the following introduction: “Movies more and more serve to provide us with a common national dream life. They are about what we fear and what we crave–little stories we make up about ourselves. So what we want from them, what we need from movies, is a kind of validation of our covert appetites. We don’t expect or want them to be transcriptions of ‘real life,’ we want what we call ‘escape.’ We want to emerge from the cool dim of the theater jazzed, we want to feel like the made-up people on the screen, no matter how desperate or dead or tragically sad they end up. WE WANT THAT TINGLE, THAT ATOMIC EXCITEMENT . . .”
In addition to his regular columns on film, literature, and American Studies, Martin is the author of two books, The Shortstop’s Son and the Artificial Southerner: Equivocations and Love Songs, both published by the University of Arkansas Press. Copies of both books will be available for purchase during the festival, and Martin will sign copies at the event.
“An Intimate Evening with Philip Martin” is one of three FESTivities scheduled during the FilmFest; the others are “A Forties Movie Premiere” at the Melba on Thursday, April 11, featuring a rare collector’s print of The Shepherd of the Hills, and “Levon Helm and the Cate Brothers Band in Concert” at the Melba on Saturday, April 13.
Ozark Foothills FilmFest is a non-profit educational organization whose mission is to advance film culture and education in the region. The Spring 2002 Ozark Foothills FilmFest is presented by First Community Bank and WRD Entertainment. Additional festival sponsors include Citizen’s Bank of Batesville, Lyon College, the Batesville Daily Guard, and KFFB-FM. Festival events will take place at Lyon College, the historic Melba Theatre, the Old Independence Regional Museum in Batesville, Independence Hall on the campus of UACCB, and the ASU-Newport Center for the Arts.
For more information including a complete festival schedule call 870-251-1189 or e-mail the folks at Ozark or visit the official Ozark Foothills FilmFest web site.
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