Ivy Film Festival

Oliver Stone to speak and participate in student film festival Dec. 1

Noted writer and director Oliver Stone will be the guest of the Brown Lecture Board and the first Ivy Film Festival on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2001, when he will give a lecture at noon in the Salomon Center for Teaching. Stone will also participate in festival workshops.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Some of the nation’s freshest and most promising young filmmakers will take direction from an industry leader when the first Ivy Film Festival and the Brown Lecture Board host Oliver Stone on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2001.

The noted producer, director and writer will speak as a guest of the Brown Lecture Board on Saturday at noon in the upper level of the Salomon Center for Teaching on The College Green. Stone, a three-time Academy Award winner, is best known for his often controversial films, including JFK and Platoon. The event is free and open to the public, but seating priority will be given to Brown students; the lecture will also be simulcast to Lower Salomon.

Editors: Members of the press must reserve space with Lindsey Murtagh at (401) 867-4861.

Stone is speaking in conjunction with the two-day Ivy Film Festival, sponsored by the Brown Film Society and opened this fall to student filmmakers at colleges throughout the country. The public is invited to view more than 40 of the festival’s best entries in documentary, short subject and animation categories. The films, shown in a variety of formats and mediums, were submitted by students from the Ivy League schools, as well as Stanford, UCLA, American University, Rhode Island School of Design and many other colleges.

Screenings are scheduled for Friday, Nov. 30, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in both Carmichael Auditorium (Hunter Laboratory, 89 Waterman St.) and Smith Buonanno Hall (the intersection of Cushing and Brown Streets) and Saturday, Dec. 1, from 12:30 to 5 p.m. in Carmichael Auditorium and Starr Auditorium (MacMillan Hall, 167 Thayer St.). In addition, there will be a preview screening of Harvard Man, the new film by writer/director James Tobak (Bugsy, Black and White) on Nov. 30 at 9:30 p.m. in the auditorium at RISD (17 Canal St. on the Riverwalk).

The student film screenings will include Harvard’s Look Back, Don’t Look Back, a portrait of legendary folksinger Bob Dylan; Purity, Phalli and Fromage, a look at the World Trade Center Towers before Sept. 11, by Benjamin Lehrer of Princeton University; The Mind’s Eye by David Elson of Columbia; and Claudia by Brown’s William Smith, in addition to many others.

Stone and Tobak will be among the film industry veterans participating in panel discussions with the student filmmakers and judging their entries. The winners will be announced Saturday evening during a ceremony in MacMillan Hall. Those films will be shown on Ifilm.com, a web site with some 2 million viewers.

Passes to attend the screenings are $15 for all sessions; passes for one session are $5. Tickets should be reserved in advance by e-mail to ivyfilmfestival@brown.edu. For more information, contact organizer David Peck at (401) 867-6775 or visit www.ivyfilmfestival.com.

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