As HFA screens full works, professor dissects why films like ‘The Shining’ and ‘2001’ still provoke audiences today.
As scrupulous as he was influential, Stanley Kubrick is considered one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century — and he’s one whose legacy seems to only grow.
Through April 27, the Harvard Film Archive will present all 13 of Kubrick’s feature films, as well as his early documentaries, and two more films to which he contributed (including “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” completed by Steven Spielberg after Kubrick’s death), all on 35 mm film. The screenings will run alongside the course COMPLIT 153X/SLAVIC 192: “Cinema of Stanley Kubrick,” taught by Justin Weir, Curt Hugo Reisinger Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Professor of Comparative Literature. In an interview edited for clarity and length, Weir discussed recurring themes in Kubrick’s works and why many of his films, decades later, remain relevant.
What inspired you to teach a course on Kubrick?
I’m thrilled with any chance to collaborate with the Harvard Film Archive and to make use of Harvard’s collection. I’ve taught several of Kubrick’s films in different courses over the years, but never all of them together and never on the big screen. It is a unique opportunity. The HFA is one of Harvard’s treasures. I’m really grateful to them for making this happen.
Founded as a graduate program in 1904 and joining with the undergraduate Literature Concentration in 2007, Harvard’s Department of Comparative Literature operates at the crossroads of multilingualism, literary study, and media history.
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