RIT Faculty Speakers Film Series Continues with “The Great Gatsby” and RIT Assistant Professor Samuel Marks on May 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Little Theatre

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For Immediate Release                                                                                   
Contact: Kristin Tutino, ktutino@wxxi.org, (585) 258-0253/259-5884

(Rochester, New York) May 14, 2013 – RIT Faculty Speaker Film Series, a partnership between the Little Theatre and Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Film and Animation, presents “The Great Gatsby” on Monday, May 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Little. A discussion following the film will be led by Samuel Marks, Assistant Professor of Film and Animation at Rochester Institute of Technology. Tickets for the screening are $5 as part of “The Little Theatre’s $5 Mondays.

The RIT Faculty Speaker Film Series discussions are structured so both casual viewers and film enthusiasts have the opportunity to exchange ideas and learn more about the films in the series. The goal is to gain a better understanding of films—with behind-the-scenes stories and experiences or general analysis.

About Samuel Marks: 
Marks is Assistant Professor of Film and Animation at RIT. He is also a playwright and screenwriter. He recently developed a TV series for the CW Network with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Cooper’s Town Production. He has also developed two of his own plays as TV series -- The Joke with Scottfree Productions and Craft with Tom Fontana. Marks was named “50 to Watch” by The Dramatist Magazine. He is a graduate of Brown’s Graduate Playwriting program where he studied under Paula Vogel and Erin Cressida Wilson.

About the Film “The Great Gatsby”:  
"The Great Gatsby" follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz, bootleg kings, and sky-rocketing stocks. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without of the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.

About the Little Theatre Film Society: 
The Little Theatre opened in 1929 and established not-for-profit status in 1998. The non-profit screens more than 100 American independent and foreign films for the greater Rochester community each year. It also hosts a varied slate of art shows, film festivals and series, and music throughout the year. The Little provides filmmakers, local musicians, and fine artists a professional space to share their visions with a diverse audience and to discuss their work through educational talkbacks. www.thelittle.org

About RIT:

Rochester Institute of Technology is internationally recognized for academic leadership in computing, engineering, imaging science, sustainability, and fine and applied arts, in addition to unparalleled support services for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. RIT enrolls 17,500 full- and part-time students in more than 200 career-oriented and professional programs, and its cooperative education program is one of the oldest and largest in the nation.

For more than two decades, U.S. News & World Report has ranked RIT among the nation’s leading comprehensive universities. RIT is featured in The Princeton Review’s 2012 edition of The Best 376 Colleges as well as its Guide to 311 Green Colleges. The Fiske Guide to Colleges 2012 names RIT as a ‘Best Buy,’ and The Chronicle of Higher Education recognizes RIT among the “Great Colleges to Work For 2011.”

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The Little Theatre opened in 1929 and established not-for-profit status in 1998. The non-profit screens more than 100 American independent and foreign films for the greater Rochester community each year. It also hosts a varied slate of art shows, film festivals and series, and music throughout the year. The Little provides filmmakers, local musicians, and fine artists a professional space to share their visions with a diverse audience and to discuss their work through educational talkbacks.

CALENDAR LISTING
RIT Faculty Speakers Film Series: Screening of “The Great Gatsby” followed by a discussion led by RIT School of Film and AnimationAssistant Professor Samuel Marks,

Monday, May 20, 2013 at 6:30 PM 
Tickets: $5