This special film series is presented by The Loft Cinema in conjunction with the University of Arizona College of Social and Behavioral Sciences’ Spring, 2013 class “Meaning in Language and Society,” taught by Linguistics Professor Cecile McKee. The films in this series were chosen to illustrate the linguistic, psychological and social aspects of meaning.
Introductions and post-film discussions by Cecile McKee, Professor of Linguistics, University of Arizona.

All screenings are open to the general public.
Admission: $5.00 all tickets; $50.00 all-series pass (10 films). Update from above: films are now free to the public.

–Children of a Lesser God / Meaning in Language and Society
One showing only! Thursday, Jan 17th 2013

Based on the hit Broadway play, Children of a Lesser God tells the uplifting and complex love story of John Leeds (William Hurt), an idealistic special education teacher at a small New England school for the deaf, and a beautiful, headstrong deaf girl named Sarah (Marlee Matlin).

1987 Academy Award Winner! Best Actress / Marlee Matlin

–The King’s Speech / Meaning in Language and Society

The King’s Speech

One showing only! Thursday, Jan 24th 2013

After the death of his father King George V (Michael Gambon) and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII (Guy Pearce), Bertie (Colin Firth) who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England.

2010 Academy Award Winner! Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay!

–The Color of Paradise / Meaning in Language and Society
One showing only! Thursday, Jan 31st 2013

Director Majid Majidi, whose Children Of Heaven was the first Iranian film to be nominated for an American Academy Award, returned to the screen with another moving, compassionate story of children in need.

–Do the Right Thing / Meaning in Language and Society
One showing only! Thursday, Feb 7th 2013

Spike Lee’s incendiary, ground-breaking look at race relations in America, circa 1989, is a colorful, exuberant and finally devastating modern masterpiece – quite possibly the best film ever made about race in America, revealing racial prejudices and stereotypes in all their guises and demonstrating how a deadly riot can erupt out of a series of small misunderstandings.

–Snatch / Meaning in Language and Society
One showing only! Thursday, Feb 14th 2013

Featuring a stellar cast of highly watchable character actors, including Jason Statham, Dennis Farina, Benicio Del Toro and perhaps most memorably of all, Brad Pitt as a virtually incomprehensible Irish gypsy/boxer, Snatch is a turbo-charged comic caper that doesn’t slow down until the final frame.

–L’Auberge Espanol (The Spanish Apartment) / Meaning in Language and Society
One showing only! Thursday, Feb 21st 2013

The charming French comedy starring Audrey Tautou and Romain Duris!

–Grand Illusion / Meaning in Language and Society
One showing only! Thursday, Feb 28th 2013

Long acknowledged as one of the great classics of world cinema, Grand Illusion received Best Foreign Film awards from the New York Film Critics Circle and National Board of Review, Best Overall Artistic Contribution from the Venice Film Festival (under Mussolini), and an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture – the first ever for a foreign language film.

–Chinese Take-Away / Meaning in Language and Society
One showing only! Thursday, Mar 7th 2013

An imaginative blend of black humor, reluctant romance, fish-out-of-water comedy and odd-couple buddy movie, Chinese Take-Away provides another opportunity for Ricardo Darin (The Secret in their Eyes) to show why he is considered one of the best actors in the world today.

–Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country / Meaning in Language and Society
One showing only! Thursday, Mar 21st 2013

Borrowing its subtitle (and several lines of dialogue) from Shakespeare, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country finds Admiral Kirk (William Shatner) and his fellow Enterprise crew members on a diplomatic mission to negotiate peace with the revered Klingon Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner).

–A Serious Man / Meaning in Language and Society
One showing only! Thursday, Mar 28th 2013

From Oscar-winning writers/directors Joel and Ethan Coen comes this darkly humorous story of an ordinary man’s search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV.

What an interesting assortment of films concentrating on speech and language. Having lived in England (Oxford & Cambridge) where the British English is a tad different than our American English, I know only too well how different language can be, for the art of communication in any society. I’ve seen at least six of these films and hope to view some of the others in this film series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr

I came across one of his famous quotes recently:

“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’
Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’
Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’
But, conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.”

Today let us reflect about Dr. King’s legacy about what is right to do in political issues, especially this year as we embark upon another Presidential election, redistricting of current maps, civility in public discourse.

And FREE today at the Loft Cinema (3233 E. Speedway) at 5 pm.: “Do the Right Thing” 1989 movie directed by Spike Lee:

http://www.loftcinema.com/node/2766

“DO THE RIGHT THING, Spike Lee’s incendiary (and controversial) look at race relations in America, circa New York City in 1989, is a joyful, tumultuous masterpiece – perhaps one of the best films ever made about race in America, revealing racial prejudices and stereotypes in all their guises and demonstrating how a deadly riot can erupt out of a series of small misunderstandings.
Set on one block in Bedford-Stuyvesant on the hottest day of the summer, the movie showcases the whole spectrum of ethnically-diverse life in this neighborhood, raises the heat to a high boil, and then leaves it up to us to decide if, in the end, anybody actually does the “right thing.” Featuring a stellar cast including Danny Aiello as Sal, the pizza parlor owner; Lee himself as Mookie, the lazy pizza-delivery guy; John Turturro and Richard Edson as Sal’s sons; Lee’s sister Joie as Mookie’s sister Jade; Rosie Perez as Mookie’s girlfriend Tina; Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee as the block elders, Da Mayor and Mother Sister; Giancarlo Esposito as Mookie’s hot-headed friend Buggin’ Out; Bill Nunn as the boom-box toting Radio Raheem; and Samuel L. Jackson as deejay Mister Señor Love Daddy.
Brash, bold and highly entertaining, DO THE RIGHT THING is a rich and nuanced film to watch, treasure, and learn from–over and over again.”

Let us remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today and what he stood (and marched) for.

UPDATE: My comments on the MLK events in Tucson below in comment section.