News Archive

Department of Theatre and Dance

Academy-Award Winning Director to Talk at UW

Oct. 16, 1998 -- Two-time Academy Award-winning documentary director Mark J. Harris will give a free public talk at 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, in Room 308 of the University of Wyoming Classroom Building. His topic is "Telling It Like It Was - Or Wish It Had Been: Truth and Fiction in Historical Documentaries."

Harris' most recent documentary, "The Long Way Home," received the 1997 Academy Award. Written by Harris, the film powerfully portrays the epic struggle of Holocaust survivors to reach Palestine in the months and years after World War II. The documentary was featured at the Gladys Crane Mountain Plains Film Festival, sponsored annually each fall semester by UW's Department of Theatre and Dance.

Harris, a professor at the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television, has written, directed or produced 19 documentary and educational films since 1969. His films often promote discussion by presenting an objective view of social issues, such as the social and economic changes in the United States after World War II, and coping with breast cancer.

He also writes short stories, articles, screenplays and children's books. Harris now is combining his interest in history and children in a documentary film project about the British mission to rescue 10,000 Jewish children from Germany and Austria in 1938-39.

Harris' public talk is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the departments of Theatre and Dance, and Communication and Mass Media. A reception in the A&S Building lobby follows his talk.

For more information, call the A&S dean's office at (307) 766-4106.

Posted on Friday, October 16, 1998

 

Find us on Instagram (Link opens a new window)Find us on Facebook (Link opens a new window)Find us on Twitter (Link opens a new window)Find us on LinkedIn (Link opens a new window)Find us on YouTube (Link opens a new window)