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Legendary Filmmaker Albert Maysles to give talk March 27
Running March 24-27, Lafayette will hold “Doc Week: A Celebration of Documentary Film,” with four days of film screenings, presentations, and discussions with filmmakers about the diversity, relevance, and importance of documentary film today. Filmmakers Albert Maysles, William Bachman, and Paul Germain ’04 will visit campus to discuss their works.
Doc Week is hosted by the students in the documentary film class, taught by Andrew Smith, assistant professor of English and chair of the American studies program. It is sponsored by the Fund for Faculty Innovation, the English Department, and the American Studies program.
The week will culminate with a discussion with Maysles, one of America’s foremost non-fiction filmmakers, at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27, in room 104 of Kirby Hall of Civil Rights. Maysles will discuss his life in filmmaking and the importance of the documentary. He received the Career Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association in 1994. Some of his films are Gimme Shelter, Grey Gardens, Salesman, Lalee’s Kin, and The Gates.
Two of his films will be shown Monday, March 24, in room 104 of Kirby Hall. Gimme Shelter (1970) will be at 7 p.m. and Grey Gardens (1975) will be at 8:45 p.m. Acclaimed as “the greatest rock film ever made,” Gimme Shelter follows the Rolling Stones on their 1969 U.S. tour. The film culminates in the disastrous concert at the Altamont Speedway in San Francisco when 300,000 members of the “love generation” collide with a few dozen Hell’s Angels.
Grey Gardens features Big and Little Edie Beale, high-society mother and daughter dropouts who are reclusive cousins of Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Thriving together amid the decay of their ramshackle East Hampton, N.Y., mansion, the film is an eerie echo of the Kennedy Camelot.
At 4:10 p.m. on Tuesday, March 25 in room 104 of Kirby Hall, the new docudrama Frances Slocum: Child of Two Americas (2007) will be screened. The film contains historical re-enactments from the life of Frances Slocum, also known as Maconaquah, who was abducted at the age of five during the American Revolution. Sixty years later, in 1837, she was found living as a prosperous Miami Indian matriarch.
Writer and director William Bachman, music director Jonathan Pineno, and actors Florence Howanitz and Eileen Carlin, both in authentic costume, will be present for a discussion on the making of Frances Slocum.
The new documentary feature Speedy Delivery by alumnus Germain will have a premiere screening at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26, in room 224 of Oechsle Hall.
Completed in 2007, Germain pays homage to David Newell, who has helped educate children across America for nearly 40 years through his role of Mr. McFeely, the Speedy Delivery man on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, and as public relations director for Family Communications Inc., the show’s parent company. Germain will be present for a discussion following the film.