| SOC dean teams with alum to screen classic films
BY MATT GETTY Next week, School of Communication (SOC) dean Larry Kirkman will kick off a series of history tutorials disguised as double features. The new Dean Screen program, which offers students free screenings of classic movies provided by AU alumnus and Turner Classic Movies executive vice pre sident Tom Karsch ’80, aims to teach a simple lesson—before the Farrelly Brothers, there was the Marx Brothers; before Steven Spielberg, there was Orson Welles; and before M. Night Shyamalan, there was Alfred Hitchcock. “It came to me from talking to students,” said Kirkman on the program’s origins. “When I told them about the movies I love, I was surprised by how little they’ve seen . . . So this is a way for Tom and I to nourish a film culture at AU, to create a space for students who are passionate about films to get together and see classics as they were meant to be seen—in a theatre.” To that end, Kirkman and Karsch will screen two Alfred Hitchcock classics for the series’ Halloween-themed debut in the Wechsler Theatre next Wednesday evening. The Birds, the master of suspense’s horrifying tale of nature run amok, opens the double bill at 8:30 p.m. Psycho, the quirky psychological thriller heralded by many as both the first “slasher movie” and a cinematic masterpiece, follows at 11:00 p.m. “I saw Psycho when I was in high school,” Kirkman said of his first exposure to the film, “and what really struck me wasn’t just how scary the movie was, but how Hitchcock was able to represent through images a psychological reality we can’t express in
words . . . It introduced me to visual poetry and grotesque irony.” The Dean Screen’s second installment, which will feature two yet-to-be-determined holiday-themed classics, is scheduled for Nov. 30. Depending on student response, the series will continue with monthly screenings throughout the spring semester. Films Kirkman hopes to bring to campus include those of the Marx Brothers, Preston Sturges, Tony Richardson, and Orson Welles. Thanks to the access to the vast Turner library of classic films offered by Karsch, he should have plenty to choose from. “Our students are lucky to have Tom and other alums like him who are willing to do more than write a check,” said Kirkman on Karsch and other alumni engaged in SOC. “They guest lecture in classes, create internships at their companies, or work all spring as mentors with our juniors, seniors, and grad students. They’re activist alums.” Yet for Karsch, who also sponsored last year’s political comedy film festival, the program is about more than just activism. “I’ve done consulting work for nonprofits, and it’s one thing when you’re just raising money,” said Karsch. “What’s going on here is different. With a program like the Dean Screen, the political comedy festival, [and] the plans for a new building, the school is bringing people together in a way that can really make a difference . . . It’s about bringing our experience to students in a way that connects our history with their future.” |
