Film series: Cornell Alums
Cornell Cinema offers another installment of its periodic and popular showcase of films whose making involved a Cornell alumnus either working behind the camera in some capacity or in front of it as a subject of the film.
This semester we will have visits, in person or virtually, by five alumni: film directors Robert Lieberman ’62, Daniel Seller ’82, Tia Lessin ’86, Justin Lerner ’02; and producer Deborah Hoard ’78.
Director Justin Lerner ’02 will join us remotely on September 21 for a post-screening discussion following a screening of his latest film Cadejo Blanco. Winner of 3 ÍCARO awards including Best Cinematography, Cadejo Blanco follows the story of Sarita, a young woman on a desperate search for her sister who disappeared during a night out in Guatemala City. Screen Daily calls it “a nail-biting, evocative and utterly persuasive crime drama that is very much a part of the country’s burgeoning film output.”
The clandestine network of anonymous women abetting safe, illegal abortions in pre-Roe Chicago is the subject of Tia Lessin ’86 and Emma Pildes’ new documentary The Janes, and they will present their film in a special screening here at Cornell Cinema on October 13.
Echoes of the Empire: Beyond Genghis Kahn is a stunning cinematic view of Mongolia’s past and present. New York Times best-selling author Jack Weatherford (Genghis Kahn and the Making of the Modern World) leads us through the remarkable evolution of Genghis Kahn’s Mongol Empire— a realm which once encompassed all of Asia, the Middle East and much of Europe, leading up to the doorsteps of Vienna. Director Robert Lieberman ’62 and producer Deborah Hoard ’78 will be present for a post-screening Q&A.
Dan Geller ’82 will join us remotely on November 11 to discuss his latest documentary, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song. Leonard Cohen spent the greater portion of his career writing and perfecting one of the music world’s most beloved hymns, “Hallelujah.” This documentary by Dan Geller ’82 and Dayna Goldfine chronicles the spiritual journey of the artist and his painstaking commitment to the craft of song writing.
