Sociology Cinema event at Northwest Film Forum:
Professor Mike Mulcahy introduces They Shoot Horses Don’t They?”
Date: Saturday February 28, 2009
Time: 6:15pm
Place: Northwest Film Forum - 1515 12th Ave, Seattle WA, 98122 (map)
Sociological inquiry meets cinematic art and historical deja-vu this Saturday. February 28th when the Sociology Student Association, in collaboration with the Northwest Film Forum, presents “Sociology Cinema: They Shoot Horses Don’t They?” with discussant Dr. Mike Mulcahy (Sociology, University of Washington).
Sociology Cinema pairs films and speakers, with an emphasis on sociological issues. Organized by UW student members of the Sociology Student Association (SSA), the event happens quarterly with new films and faculty discussants. SSA President Sophia Chang speaks of the event, ”not only do students enhance and apply their understanding of the sociological perspective, but also [have a chance to] to share their passion for Sociology [with faculty and other students]”. The February 28th event reaches out to the greater Seattle moviegoing community, bringing to the forefront sociological questions about the substance of the film and the social environment that helped to shape it. This month’s event is held off-campus, at the Northwest Film Forum, a dynamic local organization championing independent cinema and film-making.
About the Presenter
Dr. Mike Mulcahy is a visiting assistant professor in the University of Washington Department of Sociology. He received his BA in English Literature from U.C. Berkeley, followed by a 10 year period living in Germany where he earned another BA and MA in Philosophy with minors in Sociology and Social Psychology with specialization in contemporary continental ethical philosophy. He returned to the U.S. in 1994, spending two years as a researcher in a substance abuse clinic in San Francisco before entering a PhD program at the University of Arizona, where in 2004 he earned his PhD with a concentration in stratification, organizations and political sociology. He has since taught classes in Social Movements, Political Sociology, Comparative Social Change, the Sociology of Labor Movements, Organizational Sociology, Inequality and the Sociology of Human Rights. Professor Mulcahy lives in Seattle with his wife and 9-month old daughter Joon.
About NW Film Forum
Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) is a Seattle-based non-profit organization dedicated to becoming the nation’s leading center for film artists. Founded in 1995 by filmmakers Jamie Hook and Deborah Girdwood, NWFF now operates the region’s first and only non-profit center for the film arts. NWFF programs a true cinematheque, embracing film production as well as film exhibition, with two cinemas, film production and post-production facilities and equipment, educational workshop space, filmmaker offices, a film vault containing over 1,000 titles and a filmmaking library in its space at 1515 12th Ave.
Nearly 1000 members strong, NWFF aides 250 filmmakers in the production of nearly 80 films, and offers more than 60 workshops annually. Our innovative Start-to-Finish grant program partners with a local artist to produce a feature length film, using both for and non-profit funding, a model unique in the non-profit world. The most recent film, The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Our cinemas showcase the best in American and international cinema, 360 days a year, as well as quarterly world premiere live performances. Recent highlights include: a 27 film retrospective of Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu that included ten commissions for live musical scores; Children’s Film Festival Seattle; a lecture and class by legendary designer/filmmaker Pablo Ferro; a retrospective of the documentaries of Ross McElwee that included a visit from the artist; and the strongest music film programming in the nation.
About the Film
“They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” (USA, 1969, 35mm, 120 min, Rated PG), director Sydney Pollack’s dark and impassioned adaptation of Horace McCoy’s novel, reflects the dreams, ideals and overwhelming feeling of disenchantment of the 1930s (and the late 60s). Jane Fonda and Michael Sarrazin star as hopeless Depression-era drifters who struggle to keep their footing in a grueling dance marathon. A moving story of devotion and endurance, They Shoot Horses won one Oscar and was nominated for eight more.
This film is a part of the yearlong Northwest Film Forum’s “69″ series: an exploration of the films of 1969, presenting a diversity of feature films, documentaries and experimental works that were seen on screens during that tumultuous year. 1969 was a moment between times. The year was simultaneously the epitome and the end of an era. With optimism and fear, triumphs and tragedies, freedoms and violations, love and war, a decade of diametric struggles was coming to an end. Forty years later, as we close out the first decade of the 21st Century, 1969 is a reflection of the kinds of issues, dilemmas, creative sparks, contradictions and open future that we face today, in our world and our cinema.
(Image/poster credit: Marianne Goldin)
