Take a study break with a short streaming film!

Sure you could surrender your study breaks to Hulu, but AU also has streaming access to many short films that are arresting, important, and worth seeing. Here are three you might enjoy: A Trip to the Moon (13 minutes): This drama, by director Georges Melies, features Victor Andre, Bleuette Bernon, and Brunnet in a beautifully restored black … Continue reading “Take a study break with a short streaming film!”

Sure you could surrender your study breaks to Hulu, but AU also has streaming access to many short films that are arresting, important, and worth seeing. Here are three you might enjoy:

A Trip to the Moon (13 minutes): This drama, by director Georges Melies, features Victor Andre, Bleuette Bernon, and Brunnet in a beautifully restored black and white edition of the 1902 film about a voyage to the moon in a rocket ship.


La Jetee (27 minutes): Chris Marker, filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor, and now videographer and digital multimedia artist, has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his complex queries about time, memory, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. Marker’s La Jetée is one of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made, a tale of time travel told in still images.


The Red Balloon (34 minutes): Albert Lamorisse’s exquisite The red balloon remains one of the most beloved children’s films of all time. In this deceptively simple, nearly wordless tale, a young boy discovers a stray balloon, which seems to have a mind of its own, on the streets of Paris. The two become inseparable, yet the world’s harsh realities finally interfere. With its glorious palette and allegorical purity, the Academy Award, winning The red balloon has enchanted movie lovers, young and old, for generations.

Happy Studying!

Film Screening: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – Wednesday, March 28th at 6pm in Wechsler Theater

The Tsunami and the Cherry BlossomWednesday, March 28 from 6 – 7pm in Wechsler TheaterThe survivors of the areas hit hardest by the 2011 Japanese tsunami find the courage to rebuild as cherry blossom season begins in this moving film. Critics called The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, “A stunning visual poem about the ephemeral … Continue reading “Film Screening: The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom – Wednesday, March 28th at 6pm in Wechsler Theater”

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom
Wednesday, March 28 from 6 – 7pm in Wechsler Theater


The survivors of the areas hit hardest by the 2011 Japanese tsunami find the courage to rebuild as cherry blossom season begins in this moving film. Critics called The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, “A stunning visual poem about the ephemeral nature of life and the healing power of Japan’s most beloved flower.”

This screening is an SOC Week event and brought to you by React to Film, a national organization that hosts film screenings promoting discussion about social issues.
Sponsor: SOC Ambassadors
Contact: Jett Choquette, socambassadors@american.edu, 202-885-3616
Web: https://www.american.edu/soc/resources/soc-week.cfm
Excerpted from Today@AU

Hot Docs: Fruit of Our Labor now available in Media Services

As the international community reflects on the impact of years of war in Afghanistan, Community Supported Film provides an opportunity to also reflect on the situation from an Afghan perspective through 10 Afghan-made documentaries. Story 1: L is for Light, D is for Darkness, Hasibullah AsmatyStory 2: Searching for a Path, Reza SahelStory 3: Hands … Continue reading “Hot Docs: Fruit of Our Labor now available in Media Services”


As the international community reflects on the impact of years of war in Afghanistan, Community Supported Film provides an opportunity to also reflect on the situation from an Afghan perspective through 10 Afghan-made documentaries.

Story 1: L is for Light, D is for Darkness, Hasibullah Asmaty
Story 2: Searching for a Path, Reza Sahel
Story 3: Hands of Health, Zarah Sadat
Story 4: The Road Above, Aqeela Rezai
Story 5: Knocking on Time’s Door, Ahmad Wahid Zaman
Story 6: Bearing the Weight, Mona Haidari
Story 7: Water Ways, Majid Zarand
Story 8: Beyond Fatigue, Baqir Tawakoli
Story 9: Treasure Trove, Fakhria Ibrahimi
Story 10: Death to the Camera, Sayed Qasem Hossaini

DVD 9504

Excerpt from “‘L’ is for Light, ‘D’ is for Darkness” by Hasibullah Asmaty from Michael Sheridan on Vimeo.

Distributor description

Film Screening of Lia Tuesday, December 6, 7:00 p.m., Wechsler Theater (MGC 315)

Film Screening of LiaTuesday, December 6, 7:00 p.m., Wechsler Theater (MGC 315) DC Premiere of LIA, documentary film by Israeli director Taly Goldenberg, about the life of Lia Van Leer, legendary founder of the Israel Film Archive and cinematheques in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Born in 1924 in what is now Moldovia, her parents … Continue reading “Film Screening of Lia Tuesday, December 6, 7:00 p.m., Wechsler Theater (MGC 315)”

Film Screening of Lia
Tuesday, December 6, 7:00 p.m., Wechsler Theater (MGC 315)

DC Premiere of LIA, documentary film by Israeli director Taly Goldenberg, about the life of Lia Van Leer, legendary founder of the Israel Film Archive and cinematheques in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Born in 1924 in what is now Moldovia, her parents sent her to live in Israel, where she survived the war, but never saw them again. This compelling portrait traces van Leer’s life and passion for cinema beginning in the 1950s. In 1984 Lia created the Jerusalem Film Festival and still serves as director of its board. Throughout the years, van Leer brought the glamorous world of movies to Israel, often casually entertaining famous actors and directors in her Jerusalem home while maintaining her dedication to supporting emerging filmmakers.

The screening of Lia will be preceded by a short, My Mother Was a Coast Guard Spar. The SPARS (Semper Paratus, Always Ready) were Coast Guard Women Reservists recruited during WWII so that men could go to war. One of the initial twelve recruits, the filmmaker’s mother remembers the experience including discriminatory policies of the time.

POST-FILM DISCUSSION WITH filmmaker Aviva Kempner and Fred Lazin, Schusterman, Visiting Israeli Professor at American University.

CO-SPONSORED BY the Washington Jewish Film Festival, Embassy of Israel, American University Center for Israel Studies and America Israel Cultural Foundation

Tickets free for AU students, faculty, and staff.

RSVP for tickets: Laura Cutler, 202-885-3780 or cutler@american.edu
RSVP Required

Cited from the Center For Israeli Studies website.

Film Screening: Professor Julia Reichert’s film – Growing Up Female – Screening at AFI Silver Spring Thursday, Sept 15 at 730 PM

AFI-Discovery Silverdocs presents:Growing Up FemaleA film by Jim Klein and Julia ReichertAFI Silver Theater and Cultural CenterSilver Spring, MDAmerican University School of Communications adjunct professor, Julia Reichert invites everyone to a special screening of her first film (made with Jim Klein), Growing Up Female.The film has been restored and is screening this Thursday, September 15, … Continue reading “Film Screening: Professor Julia Reichert’s film – Growing Up Female – Screening at AFI Silver Spring Thursday, Sept 15 at 730 PM”

AFI-Discovery Silverdocs presents:
Growing Up Female

A film by Jim Klein and Julia Reichert
AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center
Silver Spring, MD

American University School of Communications adjunct professor, Julia Reichert invites everyone to a special screening of her first film (made with Jim Klein), Growing Up Female.
The film has been restored and is screening this Thursday, September 15, 2011 at the American Film Institute in Silver Spring.

Growing Up Female is the very first film of the modern women’s movement. Produced in 1971, it caused controversy and exhilaration. It was widely used by consciousness-raising groups to generate interest and help explain feminism to a skeptical society. The film looks at female socialization through a personal look into the lives of six women, age 4 to 35, and the forces that shape them–teachers, counselors, advertising, music and the institution of marriage. It offers us a chance to see how much has changed–and how much remains the same. Purchased by more than 400 universities and libraries.

DIR/SCR/PROD Julia Reichert, Jim Klein. US, 1971, b&w, 50 min. NOT RATED

“We shot it in Spring of 1970 and first showed it in 1971. I am grateful to New York Women in Film and Television for the grant to make the restoration…. I have added a special treat, a short film made in 1969, Up Against The Wall Miss America. It was made by the women of New York Newsreel. Both of us filmmakers will be there to celebrate and to talk with the audience about the film, and about that era.” –Julia Reichert

Here are some Julia Reichert films currently available to watch in Media Services:

Emma & Elvis – VHS 1799

Last Truck – DVD 7467

A Lion in the House – DVD 2284

Seeing Red – VHS 820

Union Maids – VHS 4421

AU Film Accepted into the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival: “La Pesca Vivencial”

An announcement from Professor Larry Engel: We’re pleased to announce that one of the films produced by students in the interdisciplinary class, “The Practice of Environmentalism: Science, Policy, and Communication” and its summer site visit to the Galapagos was accepted into the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival. “La Pesca Vivencial” . The production was filmed … Continue reading “AU Film Accepted into the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival: “La Pesca Vivencial””

An announcement from Professor Larry Engel:

We’re pleased to announce that one of the films produced by students in the interdisciplinary class, “The Practice of Environmentalism: Science, Policy, and Communication” and its summer site visit to the Galapagos was accepted into the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival. “La Pesca Vivencial” . The production was filmed entirely on location in the Galapagos and features fishermen who are trying to change the way they make a living from the ocean.

The ten-minute film was produced by College of Arts and Science, School of International Service and School of Communication students Megan Barrett, Ingrid Specht, Eileen Keegan, Jen Mandeville, Mark Petruniak, and Chris McMurrow. Chris and Mark participated in a Q & A discussion related to the film’s screening in San Francisco.

To enjoy the film for yourselves, please visit: Vimeo or Youtube

Professors Kiho Kim, Simon Nicholson, Larry Engel and Bill Gentile are proud of these efforts, the new-found collaboration among schools and students, and the impact the work can have.