The Dorothy & Lillian Gish Film Theater & Gallery

Gish Film Theater Spring 2013 Schedule
The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Film Theater
Bowling Green State University
Spring Showings • 2013

Gish Film Theater and Gallery
Located in Hanna Hall, first floor, Bowling Green State University. Park in Lot A, corner of South College Drive and East Wooster Street.

Tuesdays at the Gish 

Sponsored by the Department of Theatre and Film and the Gish Film Theater Endowment.

All films are free and open to the public.

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 7:30 p.m.
Next Frame Film Festival
(2012) U.S. and International,
120 minutes
Award-winning student filmmakers

Recognized as one of the world’s premiere showcases for student work, the NextFrame Film Festival dedicates itself to giving student filmmakers from all backgrounds a chance to share their vision with audiences. After each year’s finalists are selected, the festival begins a yearlong international tour visiting university campuses, museums, media art centers, and independent theaters. While about 50 percent of the festival entries are domestic, NextFrame receives entries from students around the world, including countries in Eastern Europe, Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East.

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m.
Teenagers from Outer Space
(1959) U.S., 86 minutes
Director: Tom Graeff

Watch out James Dean, because there are more dangerous rebels in town. Their cause: to take over Earth. When aliens arrive to transform Earth into a pasture for their food supply, it is up to humans to fight them off. With the help of alien Derek (David Love) who has fallen in love with human Betty (Dawn Anderson), earthlings battle the invading aliens. Tacky laser sounds, poorly made costumes, awkward choreography, and ludicrous props (you won’t believe the aliens’ food product!) make this “terrifying spectacle” a cult classic. This fifties sci-fi movie features the bad dialogue, atrocious acting, amateur production choices, and cost-cutting methods that together ensure that this cheese-tastic film is worthy of Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 7:30 p.m.
Made for Each Other
(1939) U.S., 92 minutes
Director: John Cromwell

Carole Lombard and Jimmy Stewart pair up in this film of two people who marry after 24 hours. As one imagines, their first year of marriage is beset by twists and turns: a disapproving mother-in-law, a baby, and a serious illness – all factors that could damage their marriage. Yet the film shows the powerful bond of love and compatibility as they carry on through hardships and embrace the high points. The pairing of a smart and sassy Lombard with the very devoted and softhearted Stewart makes this a perfect spring-fling flick.

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m.
The Outlaw
(1943) U.S., 116 minutes
Director: Howard Hughes

Va va va voom! Rio McDonald, played by Jane Russell, tears it up as the busty object of affection for Billy the Kid (Jack
Buetel) and Doc Holliday (Walter Huston) as the film attempts to re-imagine these legends of the Wild West being friends. Of course, that possibility gets shot to hell in a showdown of love amidst pending attacks by the local Indians. The censors balked at the controversial prominence of Russell’s breasts, rumored to have been enhanced by a steel bra-like contraption designed by millionaire director Howard Hughes. The film is a must-see product of Production-
Code Hollywood and the “scandalous” material that Will Hays and Joseph Breen tried to keep off the screen.

Tuesday, Feb.26, 7:30 p.m.
Five Minutes to Live
(1961) U.S., 80 minutes
Director: Bill Karn

In an odd casting choice, country star and notorious bad boy Johnny Cash plays psychotic kidnapper, Johnny Cabot. Told from the perspective of Cabot’s partner Fred (Vic Tayback), the thriller follows the details of a bank robbery and kidnapping. Cabot holds a woman hostage, while Fred negotiates with her husband, a bank vice president. Re-released in 1966 as Door-to-Door Maniac, Cash plays the part of the crooning, sexually dangerous maniac in subdued and horrifying manner that has to be seen. For fans of the Man in Black, this is necessary viewing. Reminiscent of villains such as Robert Mitchum’s Reverend Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter (Laughton, 1955) and Michael Madsen’s Mr. White in Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1992), Cabot is a touchstone in the annals of horrific movie villains.

Tuesday, March 12, 7:30 p.m.
American History X
(1998) U.S., 118 minutes
Director: Tony Kaye

Known for its representation of racism and violence, American History X is hard impact drama. Told in a nonlinear narrative, the film focuses on two brothers Derek (Edward Norton) and Danny (Edward Furlong). After their father’s death, Derek finds solace in the neo-Nazi movement, which leads him to violence and then incarceration. Upon his release, Derek must confront the fact that his path has affected his younger brother, who has entered the life that Derek now abhors. The film dares to ask whether people’s political ideas, ideologies, and identities can be changed or reformed. The stunning performances of Norton and Furlong as men trying to cope with their own traumas and sense of self provide an even deeper level of drama to an already hard hitting story.

Tuesday, March 19, 7:30 p.m.
Paris is Burning
(1990) U.S., 71 minutes
Director: Jennie Livingston

Using interviews with the competitors and footage of the competitions, this documentary takes us behind the scenes of underground drag balls in New York City. Opening up the subculture, viewers learn about the fundamentals of reading, what it means to be part of a house, and the lengths these individuals go to in order to compete. Shot during the 1980s, this film not only documents the decline of drag balls as a consequence of the sharp rise of AIDS, it also highlights unique intersections between gender, sexuality, race, and class. Both lauded and critiqued, funny and heartrending, Paris Is Burning captures a moment in LGBTQ history that must be seen.

Tuesday, March 26, 7:30 p.m.
Smiley Face
(2007) U.S., 88 minutes
Director: Gregg Araki

A misadventure to its core and a story everyone can relate to, this film follows a day in the shoes of stoner Jane F. (Anna Farris) after she accidentally eats her scary roommate’s pot cupcakes. In an attempt to get her life in order, Jane makes a to-do list that she tries to follow. Floating through town she goes to an acting audition, dodges nefarious characters, and tries to solve the pressing issue of replacing her roommate’s pot cupcakes. This comedy earned Farris “Stoner of the Year” from High Times’ Stony Awards. The supporting cast includes John Krasinski, Adam Brody, Jayma Mays, Marion Ross and Jane Lynch.

Thursday Nights: 
International Film Series

The International Film Series at the Gish Film Theater is organized by the Department of German, Russian and East Asian Languages. Major funding is generously provided by the BGSU Department of Theatre and Film and the Gish Film Theater Endowment. 

All films are free and open to the public.

Thursday, Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m.
Milyang (Secret Sunshine)
(2007) South Korea, 142 minutes
Director: Lee Chang-Dong

A master of intensely emotional human dramas, director Lee Chang-dong is a luminary of contemporary Korean cinema, and his place on the international stage was cemented by this stirring and unpredictable work examining grief and deliverance. An effortless mix of lightness and uncompromising darkness, Secret Sunshine (Milyang) stars Cannes best actress winner Jeon Do-yeon as a widowed piano teacher who moves with her young son from Seoul to her late husband’s provincial hometown for a fresh start. Quietly expressive, supple filmmaking and sublime, subtle performances distinguish this remarkable portrayal of the search for grace amid tragedy.

Thursday, Feb. 14, 7:30 p.m.
La Finestra di Fronte
(Facing Windows)
(2003) Italy, 106 minutes
Director: Ferzan Özpetek

Giovanna, a young housewife, has found herself stuck in an unhappy marriage and a job she despises. Her marriage to Filippo, a respectable working-class auto mechanic, has crumbled into one long argument, and she has been forced to set aside her dreams of being a pastry chef to keep accounts for a chicken packaging factory. When Filippo takes in a confused old man he meets in the streets, Giovanna is a reluctant caretaker until the truth about his past, as well as his talent as a baker, begins to emerge. The infirm old man becomes the catalyst for the two voyeurs to meet as they piece together the mystery of the octogenarian’s true identity suggested by his concentration camp tattoo, his constant repetition of the name “Simone,” and his frequent confusing of past with present.

Thursday, Feb. 21, 7:30 p.m.
Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage
(Sophie Scholl: The Final Days)
(2005) Germany, 120 minutes
Director: Marc Rothemund

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days is the true story of Germany’s most famous anti-Nazi heroine brought to thrilling, dramatic life. Sophie Scholl stars Julia Jentsch in a luminous performance as the fearless activist of the underground student resistance group, The White Rose. Armed with long-buried historical records of her incarceration, director Marc Rothemund expertly re-creates the last six days of Sophie Scholl’s life: a heart-stopping journey from arrest to interrogation, trial and sentence in 1943 Munich. Unwavering in her convictions and loyalty to her comrades, her cross-examination by the Gestapo quickly escalates into a searing test of wills as Scholl delivers a passionate call to freedom and personal responsibility that is both haunting and timeless.

Thursday, March 14, 7:30 p.m.
Densha Otoko (Train Man)
(2009) Japan, 102 minutes
Director: Shosuke Murakami

Computer engineer Otaku (the Japanese term for “geek”) is an average young man, dressed in unstylish clothes and dorky glasses. But as luck would have it, he encounters a pretty young woman on a commuter train and saves her from a lecherous molester, falling in love with her at first sight. A few days later he receives a thank you message from the woman along with a set of Hermès teacups. Having never had a girlfriend or received a gift from a girl in his life, Otaku seeks out his pals on his BBS website for advice using his codename Train Man: “How should I
ask her out?” Deeply interested in Train Man’s first love, his BBS pals eagerly supply him with advice. Encouraged by their support, Train Man undergoes a total makeover for his first-ever date with “Hermès”. Little does he know that he is about to ignite an Internet phenomenon...

Thursday, March 21, 7:30 p.m.
Da hong deng long gao gao gua
(Raise the Red Lantern)
(1991) China, 125 minutes
Director: Zhang Yimou

Raise the Red Lantern is Zhang Yimou’s beautifully shot story of a young well-educated woman who must give up an independent future and become the wife of
a wealthy landowner after her father dies. Songlian is the fourth wife of the powerful lord and the competition between the wives is tough. He must decide each night which house (and which wife) he will stay with and the red lantern burning in front of the house is the proof of his decision. As each wife schemes to make sure she has the lantern at her door, the plans spiral out of control. Though the film was the topic of great political controversy in China upon its release, it received armfuls of awards from Belgium, Italy, the United Kingdom and a nomination for an Academy Award.

Thursday, March 28, 7:30 p.m.
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories
of the Kindertransport
(2000) UK/USA, 122 minutes
Director: Mark Jonathan Harris

This Academy Award winning documentary (produced with the cooperation of the United States Holocaust Museum) chronicles one of the lesser-known stories of the Holocaust: that of the kindertransport, which saved the lives of 10,000 Jewish children. In the late 1930s, England agreed to accept these children seeking refuge from Nazi oppression. They were placed in foster homes and hostels. Narrated by Dame Judi Dench and directed by Mark Jonathan Harris, this devastating and deeply moving film bears witness to the kindness of these “simply wonderful people” and to the resilience of the kinder, now elderly, who recall in haunting stories the unimaginable grief of being suddenly torn from their parents, the trauma of not knowing whether they would ever see them again, and the difficulties some faced in their new homes.

Thursday, April 4, 7:30 p.m.
Faust
(2011) Russia, 140 minutes
Director: Alexander Sokurov

Winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival 2011, Alexander Sokurov’s
Faust is not adaptation in the usual sense but rather a ‘reading of what remains between the lines.’ Faust here is a thinker, a mouthpiece for ideas, a transmitter of words, a schemer, a daydreamer. An anonymous man driven by simple instincts: hunger, greed, and lust. Sokurov asks us to question how this literary character informs our understanding of those previously studied abusers of power. How
an unhappy life can lead some to be seduced by monstrous ideologies.

Thursday, April 11, 7:30 p.m.
La sconosciuta
(The Unknown Woman)
(2006) Italy, 120 minutes
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore

Cinema Paradiso director Giuseppe Tornatore returns to the helm for this suspenseful thriller concerning a young Ukrainian prostitute-turned-cleaning woman named Irina. Irena is a mysterious woman with a secret who works her way into the lives of an affluent young family. She stops at nothing to become the couple’s trusted maid and beloved nanny to their fragile young daughter. But deep cracks underneath Irena’s dedication soon become apparent as her horrific past and chilling obsession are revealed in this dark, sensual thriller.

Sunday Matinees at the Gish Film Theater, BGSU 

Sponsored by the Gish Film Theater Endowment.
All films are free and open to the public.

Sunday, March 17, 3 p.m.
This film is being shown in memory of Dorothy Gish’s birthday, March 11, 1898.
Lucky Star
(1927) U.S., with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, 85 minutes
Director: Frank Borzage

One of the high points of the great silent medium, here Janet Gaynor and Charles
Farrell, paired in a dozen popular films (three silent, nine sound), prove how well they played off each other and how excellent acting doesn’t require the help of the spoken word. Gaynor gives the most understated performance of her career, and Farrell the most sensitive and physically demanding of his. Both Borzage and Gaynor were nominated for Academy Awards in their categories in the first Oscar season. Preceded by The Bell Boy (1918, 20 minutes), a two-reel comedy with Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and Buster Keaton

Introduction by Dr. Jan Wahl

Sunday, April 7, 3 p.m.
Return of the Classic Comedy Shorts
Some of our best-loved programs presented by popular culture scholar and BGSU alumnus Dr. Ben Urish have been the times we’ve shown forgotten comedy shorts worth remembering. Once again we offer a selection of silent era and sound films starring the famous and not-so famous comic stars of the past. Get ready to laugh it up “old-school” with Charley Chase in April Fool (1924), Harry Langdon in The Big Flash (1932), Larry Semon and Stan Laurel in Frauds and Frenzies (1918), an All-Star cast in Mixed Nuts (1935) and another surprise or two. Don’t you be an “April Fool.” Come and join the fun! Dr. Urish currently teaches Popular Culture in Media at Full Sail University.

Sunday, April 14, 3 p.m.
The Devil and Daniel Webster
(1941) U.S., with Walter Huston and Edward Arnold, 105 minutes
Director: William Dieterle

Two terrific character actors, scene-stealers both – Walter Huston and Edward Arnold – match wits, the first as the Devil who attempts to win the soul of naïve New England farmer Jabez Stone, played by James Craig, and the other as the flamboyant orator and statesman Daniel Webster who hopes to thwart the wily trickster. Seductive French actress Simone Simon is Beelzebub’s irresistible cousin. Brilliant dialogue from the tale by Stephen Vincent Benet who wrote John Brown’s Body, magnificent stylish camerawork and direction, plus one of Bernard Hermann’s finest pre-Hitchcock scores, make this a memorable rich feast. The film will be preceded by Knock! Knock! (1941, 10 minutes), an Andy Panda Technicolor cartoon by Walter Lantz, introducing Woody Woodpecker.

Introduction by Dr. Jan Wahl

Sunday, April 21, 3 p.m.
I Know Where I’m Going
(1945) British, with Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey, 95 minutes
Directed, produced and written by Michael
Powell and Emeric Pressburger

If it’s a film by The Archers (Powell and Pressburger), most likely it’s outstanding:
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes and others. If the girl (Wendy Hiller) knew where she was going, why would she end up in the terrible whirling Maelstrom off the rugged coast of Scotland, and why would an amiable Scottish Laird (Roger Livesey) put her wildly off course? You’ve got to see it to find out. Preceded by a short subject (10 minutes).

Introduction by Dr. Jan Wahl