Berry keynotes two-day event
Actress Halle Berry will give the keynote address in a free, two-day program at Princeton that examines Hollywood's portrayal of issues of race and gender.
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The conference begins at 2 p.m. Friday, Sept. 22, with showings of the two movies -- the 1934 film by John Stahl and the 1959 version by Douglas Sirk. Berry will speak at 8 p.m. Friday in McCosh 10.
On Saturday, Sept. 23, the program will continue with three panels of distinguished filmmakers, scholars and authors discussing issues of women, race and the Hollywood depiction of African-Americans on screen. The agenda includes a discussion of how the film might be remade for today's audiences -- if it could be remade at all.
"'Imitation of Life' is an abiding bit of mid-20th century melodrama, which still attracts audiences black and white, old and young," said historian Nell Irvin Painter, director of Princeton's Program in African-American Studies, who is organizing the conference. "It may be dated and flawed, but its subject matter and the story-around-the-story entwine with vital issues in race relations and women's advancement.
Painter noted that the works appeared at "critical moments in the progress of race relations in the 1930s and 1950s. This makes it an excellent marker with which to assess and evaluate the distance society has traveled over the past 65 years and to survey the ground yet left to cover."
Berry won a Screen Actors Guild award and a Golden Globe award for her performance last year as actress Dorothy Dandridge in an HBO film. She also received the NAACP Image Award. "Ms. Berry is a thoughtful descendant of the conditions this conference addresses," Painter said. "We are delighted she has agreed to appear."
The program is sponsored by the Program in African-American Studies, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. A full schedule is available at <http://www.princeton.edu/~aasprog/imitatinglife>.
The conference will be simulcast on campus television Channel 7 and on RCN in the borough of Princeton on Channel A11. It also will be Webcast (real time) at <http://www.princeton.edu/WebMedia>.
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September 10, 2000 Contents • They've
arrived! • New
look debuts for Bulletin • Many
work 'with one accord' to raise funds for
Princeton • Briefs • Rowers
go for the orange in Sydney • Berry
keynotes two-day event
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