Weir directed “Dead Poets Society” and “The Truman Show” with Jim Carrey that are not only remembered as prominent movies in film history but have also become household names.
Weir will be on IU’s campus March 2-4 for a series of public talks as well as film screenings, according to an IU press release.
“It’s a great opportunity to have Indiana University and IU Cinema host Peter Weir, who has created a rich, compelling and movingly accessible body of work over more than 40 years of filmmaking,” said Gregory Waller, a professor of film history in the Media School, in the release.
Weir, who is originally from Australia, will be attending screenings of “Witness” and “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” after which he will take questions from the audience, according to the University.
Weir’s films “Picnic at Hanging Rock” and “The Last Wave” helped put his home country on the international film scene for innovative ?cinema in the 1970s, Waller said in the release.
On Weir’s last day at IU, he will speak on his film “Gallipoli,” which was inspired by World War I.
The film will be shown free of charge and is part of IU’s “WWI: 100 Years Removed” film series, according to ?the University.
“When I was asked by President McRobbie and Provost Robel to organize and coordinate the IU commemoration of World War I, we agreed to diversify ours to distinguish it from those at other academic institutions, where the focus has been mostly on scholarly matters,” said Andrea Ciccarelli, dean of the Hutton Honors College, in the release.
“Gallipoli” will be shown at 4 p.m. March 4, and IU President Michael McRobbie will introduce the film.
“Once a film series was established at the IU Cinema and Peter Weir’s ‘Gallipoli’ was selected as part of the series, it became a logical conclusion to try to bring to our campus one of the most interesting, eclectic and acclaimed directors of our time,” Ciccarelli said in the release.
The cinema will be showing several of Weir’s films in conjunction with his visit.
“Peter Weir has consistently managed to create films that are at once ambitious character studies, fine-turned narratives and beautifully detailed evocations of particular times and places,” he said in the release.
Kathrine Schulze
