By Han Zhao
College of Fine Arts and Communication Media Office
CONWAY — Sam Green, the documentary filmmaker whose film The Weather Underground was nominated for an Academy Award in 2004, will be in residence at the University of Central Arkansas Oct. 17-18.
As part of the residency, Green will screen The Weather Underground at the Donald W. Reynolds Performance Hall on Monday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. A Q&A will follow. The screening is free and open to the public.
“I think that having this filmmaker on campus will provide the opportunity for student journalists and student filmmakers to have a real-world connection with someone who has had great success in filmmaking and documentary ventures,” said John Gale, chair of the Department of Mass Communication and Theatre and one of the faculty sponsors for the residency. “Additionally, this filmmaker’s work should be of interest to students of history, sociology and political science.”
The Weather Underground tells the story of a group of radical young women and men who tried to violently overthrow the United States government during the late 1960s and ‘70s. The film premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, was broadcast on PBS, included in the 2004 Whitney Biennial and has screened widely around the world.
Green’s residency activities on Tuesday, Oct. 18, include three presentations. “The Importance of Documentary Film in a Free Society” will run from 9:25-10:40 a.m. in Stanley Russ Hall 103; “Advice from an Expert” from 12:15-1:30 p.m. in Stanley Russ Hall 109; and “Funding, Producing and Other Issues” from 1:40-2:30 in Stanley Russ 103.
All are free and open to the public.
Green earned his master’s degree in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied documentary with Marlon Riggs, the acclaimed filmmaker.
Green’s previous long documentary, The Rainbow Man/John 3:16, follows the bizarre rise and fall of a man who became famous during the 1970s by appearing at thousands of televised sporting events wearing a rainbow-colored wig. The film premiered at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival and has screened at festivals worldwide. “
Green’s short documentaries include lot 63, grave c, Pie Fight ‘69 (directed with Christian Bruno), N Judah 5:30, The Fabulous Stains: Behind the Movie (directed with Sarah Jacobson).
Green teaches at the University of San Francisco and the San Francisco Art Institute. He has received grants from the Creative Capital, Rockefeller and Guggenheim Foundations, as well as the National Endowment for the Arts. He has been a resident at the MacDowell Colony, the Bellagio Study and Conference Center, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the Marin Headlands Center for the Arts.
The Artist in Residence program is funded by UCA’s arts fee and is administered by the College of Fine Arts and Communication. For more information, call the Office of the Dean, College of Fine Arts and Communication, at (501) 450-3293 or e-mail lesleya@uca.edu.
For more information about the UCA activities, John Gale at (501) 450-3162 or jgale@uca.edu.
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