'Wild Places' Movies to be Featured in 2015 College Town Film Series

Author: Media, Culture and the Arts
Posted: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 9:12 PM
Category:

Macon, GA


The 2015 College Town Film Series is pleased to announce its movie lineup for this year’s theme: Wild Places.

Wildness is that part of our world — or of ourselves — which we have not yet conquered. We almost always define it against the tame, the civilized, or the normalized. This year’s College Town Film series features movies that address each of these understandings of wildness through their depictions of wild places.

The Film Series has been around for many years. Faculty at Middle Georgia State College, Mercer University and Wesleyan College team up every year to sponsor a series of big screen movies that are shown in the historically-significant and completely-restored Douglass Theatre, located in downtown Macon.

The three films featured this year are:
  • On Thursday, Jan. 29, Patrick Brennan of Middle Georgia State College will present John Boorman’s Oscar-nominated film Deliverance (1972). Four Atlanta men decide to canoe the untamed Cahulawassee River before it gets dammed into a lake. Their weekend adventure in the North Georgia backcountry becomes a brutal struggle for survival when they discover that the wild can be far from welcoming. This film is rated R for violence and mature subject matter.

  • On Thursday, Feb. 5, Tom Ellington of Wesleyan College will present Kinji Fukasaku’s dystopian thriller Battle Royale (2000). Before The Hunger Games, Japan had Battle Royale. An oppressive government aims to subdue its unruly youth by forcing a class of ninth-grade students to fight in a deadly arena—a fabricated wild space— where they must kill each other in order to survive. This film is not rated and contains scenes of intense violence.

  • On Thursday, Feb. 12, Craig Coleman of Mercer University will present Talking Heads frontman David Byrne’s offbeat, music-laden comedy True Stories (1986). Virgil, Texas, is planning to celebrate its sesquicentennial. As we meet the town’s quirky residents, we see how they defy the normalizing influences of small town culture to hold on to— and even champion— their unconventionality. This film is rated PG.

All films will be screened at the historic Douglass Theatre, located in downtown Macon. Start times are at 7:30p.m. Admission is free to students with college IDs. All others pay $5 for a snack pass, which includes admission, small popcorn, and a small drink.

For more information about the College Town Film Series, please contact Dr. Bob Burnham at 478-471-2999 or at bob.burnham@mga.edu.