The University of Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television and Theatre (FTT) will present the fourth annual Midwest Undergraduate Film and Television Conference on Friday and Saturday (April 23 and 24) in the Browning Cinema of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

Undergraduate students from 18 institutions across the United States and Canada will give 20-minute papers on film and media history, criticism or theory. This year’s panel topics include re-makes and adaptation, gender, ethnic American cinema, auteur, sound, global audiences, cults and celebrities, and Narrative and Genres.

Friday at 6:15 in the Hesburgh Center Auditorium, keynote speaker Frances Gateward, assistant professor in the Department of Media and Communication 91��Ƶ at Ursinus College will present a lecture, “Karate Kidz and Kung Fu Craziez: Afro-Asian Cinematic Encounters.” Gateward will demonstrate the influence of Hong Kong media on contemporary African-American identity, placing the appropriation of Chinese culture in hip-hop within current political and sociological contexts, while also examining the convergence of Chinese nationalism and black American nationalism in the 1970s that resulted in a cross-cultural relationship between black action films and the wuxia (Chinese knight) tradition.
The conference is event is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit the FTT Website at .

Contact: Aaron Magnan-Park, 574-631-8806, Magnan-Park.1@nd.edu

The University of Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television and Theatre (FTT) will present Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit” April 13 to 18 (Tuesday to Sunday) in the Decio Mainstage Theatre of the University’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

Tickets are $15 for general admission, $12 for faculty, staff and seniors, and $10 for all students. Tickets are available by calling the Ticket Office at 574-631-2800, or by purchasing them online at .

A 2009-10 FTT theater season production, the play is directed by Jay Paul Skelton, an FTT faculty member.

In “Blithe Spirit,” Charles and his charming second wife, Ruth, live comfortably in the country, but all of that is about to change. Charles plans an amusing evening with the Bradmans by inviting Madame Arcati, a medium, to their home to hold a séance. The event turns into a nightmare of hilarity, however, when a very jealous Elvira, Charles’ first wife, returns from the hereafter and attempts to take matters into her own ethereal hands. Coward’s “improbable farce in three acts,” the story takes the audience on an amusing journey through this world and the next in one of the theater’s most enduring comedy classics.

Contact: Jay Paul Skelton, director, 574-631-2636, gskelton@nd.edu

The University of Notre Dame will present Films and Faith Weekend 2010, titled “Faith and Doubt,” Feb. 19 to 21 (Friday to Sunday) in the Browning Cinema of the University’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

Presented by Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television, and Theatre; Department of Theology; College of Arts and Letters and the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, this year’s Films and Faith Weekend will explore the concept of faith and the struggles of doubt within the context of four very different films.

Films to be screened are:

• “The Miracle at St. Anna” (2008), Feb. 19, 7 p.m.

• “Cool Hand Luke” (1967), Feb. 20, 6:30 p.m.

• “Keeping the Faith” (2000), Feb. 20, 9:30 p.m.

• “21 Grams” (2003), Feb. 21, 3 p.m.

Tickets are $6 for general admission, $5 for faculty and staff, $4 for seniors and $3 for students. Tickets may be purchased by calling the center ticket office at 574-631-2800 or online at .

Contact: John Cavadini, 574-631-6662, John.C.Cavadini.1@nd.edu or Don Crafton, 574-631-7054, dcrafton@nd.edu

The University of Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television, and Theatre will present “Natural Selection” by Eric Coble as part of its 2009-10 theater season.

Directed by Tim Hardy, this ironic comedy depicts a future where technology rules supreme: everything is cooked in a microwave, blogging has replaced conversation, school has become virtual and the Coca-Cola flavor of the week is vanilla-cherry-lime.

In “Natural Selection,” Henry Carson, a curator at Cultural Fiesta Theme Park is forced to travel the country in order to restock the Native American Pavilion. He soon finds that “native” can no longer be strictly defined. Technology has a decided disadvantage against mythology and, after years spent making the world artificial, the world begins to fight.

Performances will be held Feb. 23 to 27 (Tuesday to Saturday) at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 28 (Sunday) at 2:30 p.m., in the Philbin Studio Theatre of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

Tickets are $15 for general admission, $12 for faculty, staff and seniors, and $10 for all students. Tickets are available by calling the ticket office at 574-631-2800, or on the Web at http://performingarts.nd.edu.

Contact: Tim Hardy, director, 574-631-0387, skilhardy@yahoo.co.uk