The 51st Robert Flaherty Film Seminar hosted by The Claremont Colleges

Prestigious International Seminar Offers Two Events Free to the Public

Claremont, Calif. (May 23, 2005) — The 51st Robert Flaherty Film Seminar will be held June 11-18, 2005, under the auspices of the newly developed Intercollegiate Media Studies Program of The Claremont Colleges. Guest curators are Pitzer College's Assistant Professor of Media Studies Jesse Lerner and Michael Renov, University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television Associate Dean and Professor of Critical Studies. The two collaborated in the programming of the seminar titled Cinema and History. This is the first time the Flaherty will take place in Claremont and the first time that it has been held on the West Coast in more than thirty years.

Celebrating half a century of service to the independent film field, the Flaherty Seminar is a unique forum that brings together US and international media artists, critics, scholars, curators, librarians and students, who spend a week of intensive viewing and impassioned discussion in a relaxed retreat environment.

Robert Flaherty (1884-1951) was the creator such classic poetic films as Nanook of the North, Moana, Man of Aran, and Louisiana Story. Since 1943, the Flaherty Seminar has inspired, encouraged, and challenged film and video makers. Beginners and veterans, young and old, from the US and abroad, assemble as equals to experience a rich mix of productions from around the world and to engage each other in passionate debate about form and content. Work presented at the seminar is of exceptional artistic quality and includes documentaries — the traditional domain of the Flaherty, as well as experimental, narrative, animation, and new media works.

To register or more additional information, visit www.flahertyseminar.org Seminar coordinator Tracy Biga MacLean, academic director, intercollegiate media studies of The Claremont Colleges, may be contacted at (909) 607-7025 or by e-mail at tracy_maclean@pitzer.edu.

Two special events are free and open to the public. The first event is a performance titled "The Grey Automobile" that will be shown Friday, June 17, at 8 p.m. on the campus of Scripps College at Garrison Theater. This critically acclaimed performance, under the direction of Claudio Valdes Kuri, presents a cross-cultural, multi-media fantasia based on Enrique Rosas' 1919 Mexican crime serial "El Automovil Gris."

The second free event is an amazing installation from the Annenberg/USC Installation Labyrinth Project, which is comprised of five interactive works. The collaborative works that feature artists such as Marsha Kinder, Rosemary Comella, Norman Klein, Pat O'Neill and John Rechy will continuously run June 11–18 at the Claremont Graduate University Gallery.

For more information on the two free events, call (909) 607-7025 or e-mail ims@pitzer.edu.

About Pitzer College

Pitzer College is a nationally top ranked undergraduate liberal arts institution. A member of The Claremont Colleges, Pitzer offers a distinctive approach to a liberal arts education by linking intellectual inquiry with interdisciplinary studies, cultural immersion, social responsibility and community involvement. For more information, please visit www.pitzer.edu.

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