Sports, Society, and Technology (SST) Film Series

Sponsored by arts@tech and the SST program

The Theater at the Student Center

All screenings are at 7pm

Admission is FREE 

FALL SEMESTER 2015:

Wednesday, September 30, 2015:

Friday Night Lights (Peter Berg, 2004, USA), 118min.

Based on the book by H.G. Bissinger, this film follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers as they make a run towards the state championship in football-crazed Odessa, Texas. 

Wednesday, October 21, 2015: 

Pumping Iron II: The Women (George Butler, 1985, USA), 107min.

A highly staged documentary that follows four women as they prepare for the 1983 Caesars Palace World Cup bodybuilding championship. Tagline: “A Story of Strength, Desire, Courage... and a New Definition of Woman.”

Wednesday, November 11, 2015:

Slap Shot (George Roy Hill, 1977, USA), 123min.

Nancy Dowd wrote this hilarious comedy about a Rust-Belt semi-pro ice hockey team led by Paul Newman. The film serves as a biting critique of violence, machismo, and the media. 

SPRING SEMESETER 2016:

Monday, January 25, 2016:

Love & Basketball (Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2000, USA), 124min.

The story of Quincy McCall (Omar Epps) and Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan), two next-door neighbors in Los Angeles who are pursuing their basketball careers before eventually falling for each other. 

Monday, February 22, 2016:

Training Rules, (Dee Mosbacher, 2010, USA), 63 min.

This award-winning documentary tells the story of Jennifer Harris and her legal challenge to the homophobic climate of Penn State University women’s basketball under then coach Renee Portland. The story introduces a much longer history of struggle over sexuality thus opening up a discussion regarding homophobia and inequality in college sport and in the broader US culture.

Monday, March 14, 2016:

Sports Shorts Program

Putt-Putt Perfection (Mickey Duzyj/Grantland, 2014, USA), 7min.

The story of IT manager Rick Baird's legendary round of perfect putt-putt golf, only the third score of 18 in the Professional Putters Association's 50-year history of putt-putt tournament competition.

Rabbit Punch (Chuck Jones, 1948, USA), 8min.

Bugs Bunny gets in the ring.

Lake Placid ’80 (Nam June Paik, 1980, USA), 4min.

Korean-American artist Nam June Paik, a pioneer of video art, produced this exuberant, high-speed collage as a commission for the National Fine Arts Committee of the 1980 Olympic Winter Games. 

The Devil’s Toy (Claude Jutra, 1966, Canada), 15min.

This short 1966 documentary dedicated "to all victims of intolerance” depicts the dawn of skateboarding in Montreal. A new activity frowned upon by police and adults, skateboarding gave youngsters a thrilling sensation of speed and freedom. This film - the first Canadian documentary ever made about the sport - captures the exuberance of boys and girls having the time of their lives in free-wheeling downhill locomotion. Jutra, the director, was gay, and the film can be read as an allegory of queer subjectivity and social opprobrium.

Dock Ellis & the LSD No-No (James Blagden, 2009, USA), 5min.

Artist James Blagden presents the animated tale of Pittsburgh Pirate’s pitcher Dock Ellis' legendary LSD no-hitter on June 12, 1970. The film’s narration is Ellis’ own account of events, taken from a 2008 NPR interview.

I’m Keith Hernandez (Rob Perri, 2011, USA), 19min

Part baseball documentary, part anti-drug film, part socio-political satire, I’M KEITH HERNANDEZ utilizes a found-footage version of Hernandez life as a vehicle to discuss how male identity is shaped by TV/film, sports, advertising, and pornography. By examining the aforementioned types of media in conjunction with Lacan’s “Mirror Theory”, a clearer picture of masculinity emerges.As part of this discourse, the physical attribute of the mustache is explored as a symbol of male virility. Other topics include the Iran/Contra Affair and the resulting “Crack Explosion”, celebrity obsessed culture, and the subtleties of children’s television programming.

Panyee FC (Matt Devine/TMB Bank, 2011, Thailand), 5min.

Based on a true story. The film concerns a youth soccer team that lived on a little island in the south of Thailand.

Every Day (Gabe Spitzer, 2014, USA), 12min.

At 86, Joy Johnson was the oldest woman to run the 2013 New York City Marathon. This is the story of an inspiring athlete with an uncommon passion for her sport, and for life. 

Monday, April 4, 2016:

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait 

(Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno, 2006, France/Iceland), 90min.

In this hypnotic experimental documentary, seventeen synchronized film and video cameras follow legendary Real Madrid midfielder Zinédine Zidane over the course of a match against Villarreal in Madrid. Scottish art-rock band Mogwai provides the moody, thunderous soundtrack.