Author Russell Banks and filmmaker Atom Egoyan discuss the challenges and excitement of using history as a subject for literature and film.

Russell Banks is a novelist whose work spans the bleakest of contemporary stories (The Sweet Hereafter, Affliction) and a dazzling piece of historical recreation, Cloudsplitter, his novel recounting John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry. Banks’ novels turn on the understandings and misunderstandings brought by time, as characters challenge each other’s versions of the truth. Atom Egoyan’s films powerfully evoke the treachery of memory. His eerie and haunting visual style, particularly in his stunning adaptation of The Sweet Hereafter, uses our confidence in what we see to make us doubt what we know. Where Banks plays with the voices of four narrators, each undoing what came before, only to be deconstructed in turn, Egoyan, in films like Calendar, Exotica and Ararat, obsessively transforms vibrant images into memories before our eyes, moving us in and out of time, bringing the dead back and making the old young, just for a moment. 

Bringing these two geniuses of time construction together will open a new conversation about how we learn, forget and lie in time — and how history returns only to mock and mourn for us all.

The two will speak about their individual work, and then we will open a larger conversation about the particular challenges and excitement of using history as a subject for both literature and film and moving between the two media.

Organized by the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Monday 11/23/2009: 7:00 PM

University Park Campus Bovard Auditorium

Smith was the silver medal winner in the 2004 USA International Harp Competition. She made her National Symphony Orchestra debut in 2003 and has been honored in numerous competitions throughout the country. She performs as both an orchestral musician and concert artist.

Monday 11/23/2009: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

University Park Campus Ramo Recital Hall

On November 24, 1859, the world changed. With the publication of a small volume, the modern world unfurled its banner.

Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species sold out instantly, and it has never been out of print since. It is that rare book to be celebrated in everything from T-shirts to bumper-stickers to "monkey trials."

Join USC College faculty and graduate students to celebrate the publication of The Origin of Species with cake, speeches, poems. Perhaps read your own favorite passage from Darwin, or your own favorite modern rewriting. And by all means, wear your Darwin T-shirts!

To RSVP, visit www.usc.edu/esvp and enter the event code "CC1124".

Tuesday 11/24/2009: 4:00 PM

University Park Campus Doheny Memorial Library LiteraTea Teahouse

Undergraduates explore the end times through painting, drawing, photography, videography, printmaking, and mixed media installation.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! These familiar words acknowledge the current sense of alarmism, while evoking the potential for real danger. Based on real or perceived fears, the Apocalypse takes form as a shared social psychosis. The work in "Apocalypse Wow!" reconsiders this phenomenon by questioning the role of dominant structures and irreverently injecting humor into the veins of a serious subject. Working with issues as diverse as environmental vulnerability, the digitization of everything, future dystopia, and the complexity of connectedness, the young artists of "Apocalypse Wow!" are examining a more nuanced set of possibilities for their existence in a time of great uncertainty... while you run for the hills!

The opening reception will be held November 19, 5-8 p.m. The exhibition will run through November 27 and will be open Monday through Friday, 12-5 p.m.

The show will feature the work of Janelle Carabajal, Heber Rodriguez, Isabelle Alford-Lago, Renata Popenhagen, Jen Wohlner, Betsy Lastar, Jon Wingo, Katie Martinez, Nicole Arnell, Mor Germezi, Robin Hextrum, Senna Chen, Max Skeen, Martin Benson and Sydney Mills.

Dates: 11/19/2009, 11/20/2009, 11/23/2009, 11/24/2009, 11/25/2009, 11/26/2009, 11/27/2009: All day

Pacific Design Center B239 8687 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles CA 90069

In this tragic romance about the fickleness of destiny, a hijacker falls in love with a stewardess.

Directed by School of Cinematic Arts alumnus Jeff Pickett ('04)
Written by Eric Jensch and Jeff Pickett
Produced by Molly Brown

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Pickett and Brown.

Admission is free and open to all.

About The Skyjacker

When an unnamed nowhere man decides to take life by the horns by hijacking a plane for money, the last thing he expects is to fall in love. But he does... with a young, preternaturally composed stewardess.

Provided courtesy of Raleigh Hills Multimedia. Not rated. Running time: 71 minutes.

To learn more about the film and to view the trailer, click here.

About the School of Cinematic Arts Alumni Screening Series

During fall 2009, the series will host a wide array of film screenings and filmmaker Q&As, highlighting recent work by School of Cinematic Arts alumni. All screenings are free to the public but will require an electronic reservation, which can be made through the Web site for each individual screening. Many screenings will be overbooked to ensure that capacity is met in the theater. Some screenings will be run from digital sources.

To view the calendar for the Alumni Screening Series, click here.

About Check-In and Reservations

The theater will be overbooked to ensure capacity, and the RSVP list will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis, with no reserved seating. Please bring a photo ID or printout of your reservation confirmation, which will automatically be sent to your email account once you have successfully made an RSVP through the Web site. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday 11/24/2009: 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

University Park Campus George Lucas Instructional Building Fanny Brice Theatre, Room 110

Children from the USC Family of Schools express themselves artistically using only one color.

Each academic year, the USC Fisher Museum of Art plans, curates, and professionally installs four temporary student art exhibitions at the University Village Shopping Center food court for the Art in the Village program.

For this year's first exhibition, elementary school kids belonging to the USC Family of Schools (32nd Street/USC Magnet, Alexander Science Center School, Foshay Learning Center, John Mack Elementary, Norwood Elementary, St. Agnes Parish School, St. Vincent Parish School, Vermont Avenue Elementary and Weemes Elementary) were invited to create and submit artwork fitting the theme "Color Me..."

Each exhibition kicks off with an opening reception honoring the forty students with the best artwork. The children have the opportunity to speak with family, friends and community members about their artwork. They are congratulated for their achievements during an award ceremony, where they receive a certificate signed by Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks. 

Funded in part by a USC Neighborhood Outreach Grant, Art in the Village represents a partnership between the USC Fisher Museum of Art the University Village Shopping Center and the USC Family of Schools. 

Daily: Tuesday 10/27/2009 - Friday 12/04/2009; All day

University Village Shopping Center Food Court 3375 South Hoover Street Los Angeles CA 90007