The U-M Library is home to extensive archives and materials documenting the careers of several American filmmakers known for coloring outside the lines including Robert Altman, Ira Deutchman, Alan Rudolph, Nancy Savoca, John Sayles, and Orson Welles. Together they make U-M a major destination for research on these American maverick filmmakers.

The U-M Library will partner with the Cinetopia Film Festival in Ann Arbor to present a symposium celebrating U-M indie film maverick Alan Rudolph. The festival, which features the best feature-length dramas, comedies, and documentaries from the world’s best film festivals, is taking place until June 10, 2018.

Alan Rudolph began his professional filmmaking career as the assistant director to fellow maverick Robert Altman and worked on Altman’s The Long Goodbye and his masterpiece Nashville.  The two remained lifelong friends and collaborators as Rudolph struck out on his own as director (with Altman remaining as producer on many of the projects), making quirky ensemble based examinations of lonely people often in troubled, desperate situations, among them Welcome to L.A., Choose Me, Remember My Name, The Moderns and Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle. He often mashes up genres into something new and unique and peppers his films with elements not always beholden to realism. He created a body of work that is clearly his own vision after his work with Robert Altman.

U-M Library’s collection on Alan Rudolph covers the careers of both Alan Rudolph and his wife, photographer Joyce Rudolph, and includes production notes, script drafts and revisions, and the wondrous photographs Joyce Rudolph took as on-set photographer.

All symposium sessions are free and open to the public, but attendees must purchase tickets to view Cinetopia films. Join for any or all of the symposium.

 

SYMPOSIUM

Monday, June 4	Location: Gallery, Hatcher Graduate Library 913 South University Avenue
1:00 p.m.	Opening Remarks
1:30 p.m.	A Knack for the Unexpected: Why Alan Rudolph’s Films Matter Krin Gabbard, Professor, Stony Brook University Richard Ness, Professor, Western Illinois University Dan Sallitt, Film Director and Critic Caryl Flinn, Moderator and Professor, University of Michigan
3:15 p.m.	Alan Rudolph in Conversation: A Singular Perspective Alan Rudolph, Film Director
Tuesday, June 5	Location: Michigan Theater 603 East Liberty Street, Ann Arbor
6:30 p.m	Making Movies with Alan Rudolph: A Behind-the-Scenes Perspective David Blocker, Producer Ira Deutchman, Moderator and Producer Pam Dixon, Casting Agent Sondra Locke, Actress/Director Carolyn Pfeiffer, Producer Joyce Rudolph, Set Photographer

 

SCREENINGS

Sunday, June 3	Location: Michigan Theater 603 East Liberty Street, Ann Arbor
7:00 p.m. Midwest Premiere	Ray Meets Helen (Alan Rudolph, 2018) Includes Q&A with director and actress, Sondra Locke
Monday, June 4	Location: Michigan Theater 603 East Liberty Street, Ann Arbor
7:00 p.m.	Remember My Name (Alan Rudolph, 1978)
9:00 p.m.	Choose Me (Alan Rudolph, 1984)
Tuesday, June 5	Location: Michigan Theater 603 East Liberty Street, Ann Arbor
8:15 p.m.	The Moderns (Alan Rudolph, 1988)

EXHIBITS

June 1-7	Still Images, Moving Pictures: The On-Set Photography of Joyce Rudolph Location: Gallery, The Institute for the Humanities 202 S. Thayer
June 1 – August 19	Nothing Makes Sense, Except Love: The Cinematic Musings of Director Alan Rudolph Location: Gallery, Hatcher Graduate Library 913 South University Avenue