About Us

Professor Alexander Nehamas and Erika Kiss, the director of the Film Forum listening to remarks from the audience

The Film Forum started in the fall of 2005 and a year later now is running its third consecutive season. It is dedicated to the discussion of films that do not only delight us in the spectacular ways cinema most naturally does but also leave us puzzled, challenged, unsettled, or even irritated. The films we show cry out for discussion and have afforded us on many Monday nights with the added pleasure of intelligent and passionate conversation.

The thematic arrangement of our programs serves merely to highlight the ability of the art of cinema to address ideas, reason, and judgment while revealing their roots in perception, fantasy, and emotion. Our themes, therefore, (such as 'war', 'dream', and currently 'freedom') do not mean to limit our discussions, but rather signal that films are also part of the history of ideas that frame our existence as human beings.

Ray Zhong and Glenn Brown, the assistants of the Film Forum among some regular participants

This forum connects the members of the Princeton public inside and outside of the university and a core audience has gradually shaped up from the regularly participating students, professors, and other Princetonians. The Film Forum provides a great opportunity to witness the intellectual talent of Princeton in action and, moreover, to engage with it.

Every Monday night of the academic season, the audience of the Film Forum sits together forging and re-forging its own cinematic canon. We carefully reconsider many canonical pieces and also put some lesser known or new films to the test. The films we show tend to be the kind that are, in a certain sense, not seen until they are viewed at a second time or several times, yet also provide a great experience at first viewing. What a great way to spend your Monday nights in Princeton!

EAK
 
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by RMZ