Vincentian Center: Fifth Annual Film Series

events

Vincentian Excellence - never being complacent!

The Vincentian Center for Church and Society invites you to celebrate our Founder, St.Vincent de Paul, as we explore through film a core value -- Excellence. The Vincentian value of Excellence recognizes two important elements. First, a generous and good God bestows all of our human gifts and talents. Secondly,we must use these talents in the practice of virtues, which give glory to God and contribute to building a world of peace and justice.

Join us as we explore our theme of Excellence. Through film, we will experience the struggle for excellence in art, politics, law, education and life. A discussion with Rev. RObert Lauder, Professor of Philosophy and noted film commentator, along with another faculty member will follow each full-length film viewing.

All films begin at 7 p.m. in Bent Hall, Room 101, Queens campus, unless otherwise noted. Admission is free.

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 Finding Forrester

2000 Directed by Gus Van Sant, starring Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham. The lives of a Pulitzer Prize-winning classic novelist and a young scholar-athlete intersect. Love of the written word forges a unique and occasionally contentious alliance and ultimately life changing friendship. (136 minutes) Co-host: Rev. Michael Callaghan, C.M., Associate Professor of English, College of Professional Studies

Tuesday, March 11,2003 The Winslow Boy

1950 Directed by Anthony Asquith, starring Robert Donet and Cedric Hardwicke. In pre-WWWI England, a youngster is expellsed from a naval adcademy over a petty theft, but his paretns raise of political furor by demanding a trial.This film is based on a 1946 play by Terrence Rattigan, which centers on a true incident of a young boy expelled from the Royal Naval College. (117 minutes, B/W) Co-host: Vincent Alexander, Professor of Law, St. John's University School of Law

Sunday,April 6,2003,at 1:30 p.m.*Roma,Citta Aperta [Open City]

1945 Directed by Roberto Rossellini, starring Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani.Historically-based story of the Italian Resistance movement and its struggle against Nazi occupation. (105 minutes B/W, subtitles) Co-host: Dr. Annalisa Sacca, Associate Professor, Languages and Literature, St. Johns College of Liberal Arts and Sciences *Co-sponsored with the Office of Community Relations. This special matinee will be preceded by brunch. For more information and brunch registration call (718) 990-6687.

Tuesday - October 21, 2003 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939 Directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart and Jean Arthur. A naive man is appointed to fill a vacancy in the US Senate.His plans promptly collide with political corruption but he doesn't back down. (130 minutes, B/W) Co-host: Dr. Timothy Duvall, Assistant Professor of Government, St John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Tuesday - November 18, 2003 Norma Rae

1979 Directed by Martin Ritt, starring Sally Field, Beau Bridges and Ron Liebman. A young single mother and textile worker agrees to help unionize her mill despite the problems and dangers involved. (110 minutes) Co-host: Dr. Brett Elizabeth Blake, Associate Professor,The School of Education

For more information, contact: The Vincentian Center for Church and Society St.Vincent Hall, Room 108 8000 Utopia Parkway Jamaica, NY 11439 (718) 990-1612

vccs@stjohns.edu

http://www.vincenter.org

The Vincentian Center for Church and Society is an academic center established at St. John's University in 1994 as a means of extending both the Catholic identity and Vincentian character of the University to the needs and interests of the local Church and community.

Margaret John Kelly,D.C., Ph.D.,

Executive Director

Mary Ann Dantuono, J.D.,

Associate Director

The Rev. Robert Lauder is a Professor of Philosophy in St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He holds a B.A. in Theology, M.A. in Philosophy from Catholic University and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Marquette University. He joined the faculty at St. John's University after 18 years at Cathedral College Seminary in Douglaston.

Fr. Lauder is a weekly columnist for the Brooklyn Tablet and The Long Island Catholic. He has also contributed several articles to The New York Times as well as Commonweal, Cross Currents and many other journals. He has published over 10 books including Loneliness is For Loving; God, Death, Art and Love: The Philosophical Vision of Ingmar Bergman; Nothing but Love; Walker Percy: Prophetic Existentialist, Catholic Storyteller and most recently, Your Sacred Story.

Father has generously hosted our film series for the past four years. In addition, he regularly offers film festivals at the Immaculate Conception Center at Douglaston and is seen weekly on Channel 25 as the host of "TELECARE Theater."

Encouraging a continuing exploration of films and "Catholic novels" as a source of understanding faith and social relationships, Father Lauder promotes film as the "art form of our age." He believes his "apostolate of film" will help people discover the implications of living the Gospel.

"It is not enough to do good;

it must be done well"

Vincent de Paul

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