Film expert to show, discuss 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

From the Vermont Humanities Council:

Vermonters will have a rare opportunity to view an American classic on the big screen this October. Rick Winston, one of Vermont’s experts on the world of film, will show and discuss the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird at Montpelier’s Savoy Theater on October 5. The presentation is part of the Vermont Humanities Council's First Wednesdays series and takes place at 7:00 p.m.

After the screening, Winston will facilitate a discussion of the film, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture and is considered one of the finest novel-to-screen adaptations in American movies.

Winston has presented films in central Vermont since 1972, when he founded the Lightning Ridge Film Society. He established The Savoy Theater in 1980 and has been the Program Director of Montpelier's Green Mountain Film Festival since 1999. He has taught film studies at Community College of Vermont, Goddard College, Burlington College, and the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning.

The Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. Talks in Montpelier are held at Kellogg-Hubbard Library unless otherwise noted.

First Wednesdays is also presented in eight other communities statewide: Brattleboro (at Brooks Memorial Library); Essex Junction (at Brownell Library); Manchester (at First Congregational Church, hosted by Mark Skinner Library); Middlebury (at Ilsley Public Library); Newport (at Goodrich Memorial Library); Norwich (at Norwich Congregational Church, hosted by Norwich Public Library and Norwich Historical Society); Rutland (at Rutland Free Library); and at St. Johnsbury Athenaeum. The program is free, accessible to people with disabilities and open to the public.

Upcoming Montpelier talks include “What We Learn When We Learn about History” with historian and professor Woden Teachout on November 2; “Walking with the Great Apes” with national bestselling author Sy Montgomery on December 7; and “The Kashmir Dispute: Historical Origins and Current Prospects” with UVM professor Abigail McGowan on January 4.

The Vermont Department of Libraries is the statewide underwriter of First Wednesdays.

The screening and discussion of To Kill a Mockingbird is sponsored by Primmer Piper Eggleston & Cramer PC. It is a Vermont Reads/Big Read event and a National Endowment for the Humanities We the People project: Sharing the lessons of history with all Americans.

For more information, contact the Kellogg-Hubbard Library at 802.223.3338 or contact the Vermont Humanities Council at 802.262.2626 or [email protected], or visit www.vermonthumanities.org.

The Vermont Humanities Council is a private nonprofit working to bring the power and the pleasure of the humanities to all Vermonters—of every background and in every community. The Council strives to make Vermont a state in which every individual reads, participates in public affairs, and continues to learn throughout life.