By Danielle Stein
Any true movie aficionado should know about the L.A.-based Norman Lear Center. Now, thanks to the Tribeca Film Festival, they will.
The center, a research institute that is part of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication, is at the intersection of entertainment and its many cousins: academia, journalism, politics, and culture. It is named for the man behind such series as “All in the Family” and ‘The Jeffersons,” as writer, producer, and director. He has long been an advocate of the First Amendment. He’s also interested in how entertainment reflects American society.
Film buffs, intellectuals, and media addicts in New York — and there are a lot of us — sadly miss out on the Lear Center’s constant stream of screenings, lectures, and potent panel discussions. Last year’s lineup included “Falling through the Cracks: Stories of America’s Uninsured,” with Noah Wylie, and the executive producer of Law & Order: SVU and “American Power & the Crisis Over Iraq,” which showcased Christopher Hitchens.
Luckily, this May, the east coast will be treated to similarly fine examples of media analysis with a series of Norman Lear panels at the Tribeca Film Festival.
“We saw what they were doing at USC and thought it was quite impressive, and they saw what we were doing here in New York and were impressed, so it was quite a natural collaboration,” said Annie Leahy, the director of the panel series at the Tribeca Film Festival.
“And we at the festival are certainly interested in the economic effect of entertainment in the downtown area, especially post 9/11. Collaboration with a research center that examines the social, political, and economic effects of entertainment was particularly attractive to us.
The lineup for the panels is on par with the Lear Center’s typically powerful and timely fare, but with an emphasis on film. Of the 17 panels at the festival this year, six are co-hosted by the Lear Center.
“We Hate You (But Please Send Us More Austin Powers)” will cover the images of America that both government and Hollywood perpetuate in foreign countries. Meanwhile, comic minds like Robert Siegel, former editor of “The Onion,” and Mike Murphy, a producer at “The Dennis Miller Show” will share their musings on how the serious and the humorous have become intertwined in America with “Politics as Entertainment”.
“Box Office: Movies, Media & Marketing” will explore the logic behind what sells in the public sphere. Peter Jennings, who produced a recent special on the cultural impact of Jesus, will host “Jesus As Celebrity,” made especially relevant by Mel Gibson’s box office takedown with “The Passion of the Christ” (the director of marketing for the film will also appear on the panel.)
Such heavy hitters as Alessandra Stanley, the chief-television critic for the New York Times and Eli Pariser, co-founder of “MoveOn.org” will participate in “The Culture Wars: Reloaded.” It will tackle controversial issues like religious portrayals on the silver screen and the presence of sex in “family” entertainment. And Lear himself will conduct a general discussion about the relationship between entertainment, media, and politics — his forte — in “Tribeca Talks: Norman Lear.”
Leahy said that this series of panels is only the first chapter in a larger partnership between the film festival and the Lear Center, which will allow each organization to acquire a presence in both Los Angeles and New York through co-sponsored events.
“This is the beginning of a relationship that will hopefully bridge the gap between the entertainment industry on the east and west coasts,” she said.
Panel tickets are open to the public for $20-$30. For a complete list of the panels, see page 63.
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