Film series: Jane Austen at 250
Jane Austen is one of the most beloved writers in English literature. Born in 1775, Austen grew up in a large and boisterous household in Hampshire, where her father was a clergyman for the Church of England. Though she finished formal schooling at the age of 11, her creative family and access to her father’s library fueled a lifelong passion for reading and writing. This led her to publish six acclaimed novels before her death at the age of 41 in 1817.
Austen is celebrated as a keen social observer, humorist, and moralist whose work offered substantial insights into the lived experiences of British women in the early 19th century. Her novels, including Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abby, and Persuasion, continue to be adapted for film, television, and stage — including an anticipated forthcoming adaptation of Sense and Sensibility starring Daisy Edgar Jones and directed by Georgia Oakley, whose debut feature Blue Jean screened at Cornell Cinema in Fall 2023.
2025 year marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and to celebrate Cornell Cinema will spotlight a selection of contemporary film adaptations of her novels. Screenings will be introduced by colleagues from the Department of Literatures in English, who will share insights on the original texts and how successfully the films capture their complexities.
Cosponsored by the Department of Literatures in English.
