Clark Art Screens Free Small Town Film Series
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — This March and April, the Clark Art Institute hosts a series of modern and classic films highlighting the charms of small towns.
All films are free and screened in the Manton Research Center auditorium on select Thursdays at 6 pm.
March 6
"The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942)
Director Orson Welles follows the declining fortunes of the wealthiest family in town through its spoiled heir George (Tim Holt). As the Ambersons fall, the town they were once the talk of begins to change too.
(Run time: 1 hour, 28 minutes)
March 13
"George Washington" (2000)
Four children at the edge of adolescence make a mistake that cannot be undone. One of them, George (Donald Holden), emerges as a local hero. David Gordon Green’s film is about the relationship between choice and chance, and the aspirations that still prevail outside of it.
(Run time: 1 hour, 29 minutes)
March 20
"Dazed and Confused" (1993)
It is the last day before summer
vacation at a Texas high school in 1976. Director Richard Linklater captures the students’ mood perfectly through the smoke and angst. He cast local youth—including Matthew McConaughey in his first role—and borrowed names and characters from his own childhood in Huntsville, Texas.
(Run time: 1 hour, 43 minutes)
March 27
"Shadow of a Doubt" (1943)
Teenager Charlie Newton (Teresa Wright) is bored out of her mind. When her worldly Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) shows up, things become much more exciting, as Charlie begins to suspect him of a string of widow murders. This was director Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite of his own films.
(Run time: 1 hour, 48 minutes)
April 3
"Shotgun Stories" (2007)
Jeff Nichols’s debut feature Shotgun Stories hinges on the death of a father who leaves behind two groups of feuding sons. It’s an age-old problem, the town just isn’t big enough for both gangs. A Shakespearean climax awaits.
(Run time: 1 hour, 32 minutes)
April 10
"Stellet Licht" (2007)
Bookended by a sunrise and a sunset, this film unfolds gradually and beautifully in a German Mennonite community in Chihuahua, Mexico. Director Carlos Reygadas follows Johan (Cornelio Wall Fehr), a married man in love with another woman.
(Run time: 2 hours, 16 minutes)
April 17
"The Last Picture Show" (1971)
Teenagers Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) and Duane (Jeff Bridges) navigate friendship and fate, their trajectories intersected by the viper-like Jacy (Cybill Shephard). This may be Peter Bogdanovich’s most important directorial work.
(Run time: 1 hour, 58 minutes)
Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.
