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Cornell University

Cornell Cinema

“A World of Difference on Screen: Madame Rosa and the Cinematic Representation of Cultural Difference”

At Cornell Cinema in Uris Hall Auditorium* on central campus, join film faculty for a presentation about the cinematic representation of cultural difference. The presentation will include discussion of one or two clips from Madame Rosa, the Academy Award winning film adaptation of Romain Gary’s novel. Among other topics, the presentation will consider the ways international cinema can provide a window into global cultures.

*Cornell Cinema’s regular screening space is in the Willard Straight Hall Theatre, but due to renovations taking place there, this event is being held in Uris Auditorium.
Event video

Your host:
Mary Fessenden

Mary Fessenden is the director of Cornell Cinema, the film exhibition program at Cornell University, which screens close to 200 films each year, including classic Hollywood and foreign, documentaries, recent and cult favorites, contemporary world cinema and more. They also host livemusic/film events as well as visiting filmmakers. Cornell Cinema’s primary screening space, Willard Straight Theatre, is a beautiful 1920s theatre with balcony, wall murals and a concession stand. Attendees are invited to stick around following the main presentation to see several coming attraction trailers for films screening this fall!

Willard Straight Theatre

Willard Straight Theatre

Faculty Panelists:

Iftikhar Dadi
Iftikhar Dadi is an Associate Professor in the Department of History of Art, and Chair of the Department of Art. He will be teaching a course on contemporary art in Spring 2013.

Sabine Haenni
Sabine Haenni is an Associate Professor in the American Studies Program and the Department of Performing and Media Arts, where she currently serves as the Interim Department Chair. She is the author of The Immigrant Scene: Ethnic Amusements in New York, 1880-1920 (University of Minnesota Press, 2008) and co-editor (with John White) of Fifty Key American Films (Routledge, 2009). Current projects include a book-length study on Marseille and its colonial connections, transnational cinema in the wake of 1968, and an anthology on Berlin before Weimar. Her essays on popular theater, film and American fiction have appeared in journals such as Cinema Journal, Theatre Research International and American Literature, as well as in a number of anthologies. Her areas of interest include American, transnational and silent film; popular and mass culture; cinema in the context of other media (including fiction and theater); immigrant and ethnic film and culture; and the intersection between urbanism and media. This semester she is teaching Global Cinema.

Elliot Shapiro
Elliot Shapiro is Director of Instruction for the University Courses program and co-directs the Writing in the Majors program within the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines. He also directs the Faculty Seminar in Writing Instruction. His undergraduate courses include Introduction to Writing in the University and Visions of the City, a section of Expository Writing cross-listed in English and Jewish Studies. His graduate courses include Writing 7100: Teaching Writing; and Writing 7101: Writing in the Majors Seminar. Scholarly publications include “Survival and Failure, Adaptation and Acceptance” in ADE Bulletin, 2008; and “Authentic Watermelon: Maxine Hong Kingston’s American Novel” in MELUS, 2001. His work on film includes essays on Modern Times, His Girl Friday, Singin’ in the Rain, and Chinatown included in 50 Key U.S. Films (Eds. Haenni and White 2009). Works in progress include an essay on Disposable Women for a collection on Woody Allen and Jewish culture.

Cornell Cinema Website