Films   

Curated Criterion Cinema, I
FLM-02 (in-person)
Session I: Sept. 16, 23, 30, Oct. 7, 14
Wednesdays 2:00 - 5:00 pm (5 weeks)
Explore the Criterion Collection through a dual lens of timeless world masterpieces and gritty international crime cinema. From J-Noir gems and French polars to essential human dramas, this course unearths restored rarities that captured the cultural zeitgeist. Join us to examine how sharp cinematography and diverse storytelling styles have preserved cinema's most powerful visions.    

Instructor Jeffrey Simonson has been watching and studying cinema, and attending film festivals for over 30 years.

Curated Criterion Cinema, II
FLM-03 (in-person)
Session II: Oct 21, 28, Nov. 4, 11, 18
Wednesdays 2:00 - 5:00 pm (5 weeks)
Explore the Criterion Collection through a dual lens of timeless world masterpieces and gritty international crime cinema. From J-Noir gems and French polars to essential human dramas, this course unearths restored rarities that captured the cultural zeitgeist. Join us to examine how sharp cinematography and diverse storytelling styles have preserved cinema's most powerful visions.    

Instructor Jeffrey Simonson has been watching and studying cinema, and attending film festivals for over 30 years.

Hollywood and the H-Bomb
FLM-01 (in-person)
Session I: Sept. 14, 21, 28, Oct. 5
Mondays 12:15 - 3:15 pm
Four films, all black and white, focusing on the fictionalized consequences of the Cold War and nuclear war between the West and the Soviet Union. “On the Beach” (1959), “Doctor Strangelove” (1964), “Fail Safe” (1964), “The Bedford Incident” (1965). Stellar casting on all four films. The history and background of each film will be covered prior to viewing.

Instructor Steve Heckman is a retired Alaska State Trooper, former adjunct with Tanana Community College, and retired history teacher and vice principal of Monroe Catholic High School. He served as an officer in the United States Army stateside from 1971 to 1973.

Jewish Food and Spirituality in Film & Literature
FLM-06 (in-person)
Session II Add-On: Nov. 16, 18
Monday & Wednesday 10:30 am - 12:30 pm (two meetings)
We will cook together, watch films, and read while exploring diverse Jewish cultures expressed through food, poetry, history, spirituality, generational wisdom, and lived experience. Materials fee: $20, pay instructor at first meeting. Enrollment limited to 20.

A teacher, a writer, and an immigrant, Dafna Young has lived and thrived in Fairbanks for over two decades.

OLLI Films, I: Journeys Around the World
FLM-04 (in-person)
Session I: Sept. 18, 25, Oct. 2, 9, 16
Fridays 2:00 - 5:00 pm (5 weeks)
Where are we: In this world or in Alaska? Films transport us through stories, visualizations, actors and directors, to new/old/imagined places. Let's first journey to other parts of the globe, the later into bits of Alaska hiding in plain sight.

Session I (All With English Subtitles)
The Farewell (2019, 98 mins, mandarin)
Persepolis (2007, 95 mins, French)
Parasites (2019, 132 minutes, Korean)
All Together (2011, 96 mins, French)
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2023 108 mins, English)

UAF retiree Ron Inouye enjoys films and particularly the resulting social commentary of the viewers. How successful were the directors and actors? Through discussion often we learn from each other more than may have been intended by the script, dialog, and the editing.

OLLI Films, II: Journeys in Alaska
FLM-05 (in-person)
Session II: Oct. 23, 30, Nov. 6, 13, 20
Fridays 2:00 - 5:00 pm (5 weeks)
Where are we: In this world or in Alaska? Films transport us through stories, visualizations, actors and directors, to new/old/imagined places. Let's first journey to other parts of the globe, the later into bits of Alaska hiding in plain sight.

Session II (English Audio, No Subtitles)
Spirit of the Wind: The George Attla Story (2014, 98 mins)
The Great Alone (2016, 82 mins)
Strangers on the Earth (2017, 97 mins)
Into the Wild (2007, 148 mins)
The Frozen Ground (2013, 105 mins) or Big Miracle (2012, 107 mins)

UAF retiree Ron Inouye enjoys films and particularly the resulting social commentary of the viewers. How successful were the directors and actors? Through discussion often we learn from each other more than may have been intended by the script, dialog, and the editing.