Following his popular continuing education course this past spring, “Three Female Film Directors,” Mark Spano’s Fall 2024 course at OLLI will be “George Cukor: A Gay Feature Film Director’s Balancing Act” starting September 12.
Course description: This discussion-based course will introduce the class to an American film director of extraordinary elegance: George Cukor. He is best known for the high-quality and highly popular comedies and literary adaptations he directed during his 50-year career.
He was lauded for his ability to get strong, award-winning performances out of his actors, who adored him — including Katharine Hepburn, who made 11 movies with Cukor. He was also living and working as a closeted gay man in Hollywood, which meant he engaged in a remarkable balancing act with studio brass and the Hays Motion Picture Production Code.
The class will discuss the question, “In today’s cinematic world that’s dominated by Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Baz Luhrmann, the Coen Brothers, and Steven Spielberg, could Cukor’s slower-paced, more thoughtful kind of filmmaking find an audience?” It will also explore the differences between current filmmaking and George Cukor’s smart refinement.
To register for this course, go to https://learnmore.duke.edu/olli
October is Italian-American Month at the Robert and Pearl Seymour Senior Center!
Beginning Wednesday, October 2, the Seymour Center will host a Lecture Series by Sicilian-American author and filmmaker Mark Spano, to be held on four consecutive Wednesdays that month from 1-3 p.m. Topics will be:
October 2 — New Orleans: The Other Ellis Island.
October 9 — Why Mother Cabrini Is More Important Than Christopher Columbus.
October 16 — Italian Americans in Business, Arts, and Science
October 23 — The History of Italian, Neapolitan, and Sicilian Food in the United States
The cost to attend all four lectures is $10 per person.
The Seymour Senior Center is located at 2551 Homestead Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27516. To register to attend the series, call 919-968-2070 or go to the Endless Possibilities Activity Guide.
What: Screening of “Sicily: Land of Love & Strife,” written, directed, and produced by Mark Spano.
When: March 2024
Where: Galloway Ridge, a Seniors Community in Pittsboro, NC.
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What: Mark Spano will teach a course entitled “Three Women Filmmakers”
When: April 2024 (specific dates tba)
Where: Duke University — as part of the spring session at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Duke University.
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What: Two short stories by Mark Spano, derived from his longer work entitled Kidding the Moon, will be included in a very special publication.
When: Late 2020
Where: A Feast of Narrative, a fiction anthology published by Idea Press that showcases the richness of styles and creativity by Italian-American writers. Edited by Tiziano Thomas Dossena.
What: Book Review – Mark’s review of Freud’s Haberdashery Habit & other Stories by Mike Fiorito.
When: September 2020 edition
Where: Ovunque Siamo – New Italian-American Writing
What: Live Chat – Mark discusses his film, “Sicily: Land of Love & Strife,” and the companion book, Sicily: Land of Love & Strife – A Filmmaker’s Journey, with host Gina Andracchio on mi.o Modern Italian Network.
When: Thursday, December 6, 6 pm EST
Where: Modern Italian Network (note: join the network for free to hear the chat. At the link, click on “Request To Join.”)
What: “Sicily: Land of Love & Strife” makes its PBS debut
When: Monday, December 10, 8 and 9 pm EST
Where: KCPT TV, Kansas City, MO’s PBS member station – channels 18 and 19.
markspano.org 