By James Barcomb
From Thursday, Oct. 13 to Sunday, Oct. 16, SYRFILM will be hosting the 8th annual Syracuse International Film Festival. Among the many programs taking place that weekend are three events sponsored by Le Moyne College.
First, modern composer Philip Rothman will stop by Le Moyne on Thursday, Oct. 13 (3 p.m. in Reilly Room) to talk about the process of scoring a film. Then, on Friday, Oct. 14, Rothman’s new score will be performed live with a screening of D.W. Griffith’s “Way Down East.” The screening takes place at 7 p.m. at the Palace Theatre. A bus will be leaving Le Moyne at 6:15 p.m. Students can sign up for free tickets and transportation in Student Development.
“This is a very signature event,” said English and communications professor Julie Grossman. “It represents an interest in events that showcase the arts in their multiplicity.”
On Saturday, Oct. 15 from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Grewen Auditorium, Le Moyne will be hosting the “Fifth Annual Series on Global Cinema and Social Justice.” This series features a wide variety of films mainly focusing on social and political issues all around the world, whether they’re short animations or complex documentaries. The event is free for all students.
The 5 p.m. screening of “Defining Beauty: Ms. Wheelchair America,” a documentary about standards of beauty and attitudes towards disabilities, will include a discussion with the director, Alexis Ostrander, and one of the onscreen contestants, Amber Marcy.
When asked why Le Moyne was chosen to sponsor the “Series on Global Cinema and Social Justice,” Grossman replied, “We wanted to be one of the major venues so that we could have people from the community coming to the campus and seeing films that represent the core values of the institution … and because a lot of these films are about class, gender and race, they lend themselves to good discussions in the classroom.”
The third and final event sponsored by Le Moyne is Jason Richter’s “The Art of the Trailer,” a look at how trailers essentially serve as short stories. The event takes place at CNY Jazz Central on Sunday, Oct. 16 at 3 p.m. and is free for students. “The Art of the Trailer” is also the first in a new series of presentations entitled “FilmTalkSeries.”
“It’s an attempt to provide the community with lectures about the art and business of filmmaking from all different perspectives.” Grossman said.
The next event in “FilmTalkSeries” will be an appearance from sound designer Ben Burtt at the Performing Arts Center on Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Burtt is best known for putting together much of the sound for “Star Wars” (he is responsible for both the voice of R2-D2 and for Darth Vader’s heavy breathing); he was also the voice of the titular character in “Wall-E.”
Other events at the Syracuse International Film Festival include a screening of “Saint John of Las Vegas” (starring Steve Buscemi) and a discussion with the director on Thursday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. in the Palace Theatre, and a presentation on female characters in Pixar films led by Cynthia Slavens, director of Image Mastering at Pixar Animation Studios (Sunday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. in the Palace Theatre). For more information, check out syrfilm.com.
Grossman, who is also serving as a judge for the festival, is ecstatic about the events this year.
“The world comes to Syracuse once a year,” Grossman said. “And it’s very exciting to give members of the community and our students access to films from all over the world.”
