McKissick Theatre, in the Hendrix Student Center, has seen a boom in popularity through the 2021-2022 school year with an increase in student-run events and exciting film screenings.
Just this semester, TigerLive Entertainment hosted free public screenings with complimentary concessions open to the public. The showings included blockbuster titles such as “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Girls Trip,” “Promising Young Woman,” “Knives Out” and “Last Night in Soho,” with many more feature film events to come next semester. Their most recent screening of Jon Watts’ “Spiderman: No Way Home” was put on in collaboration with The Chronicle, Clemson University’s student literary magazine.
McKissick was also home to the third annual spring film series put on by Clemson’s department of world cinema. This year’s spring film series host was Brodie Blizzard, a junior world cinema major. “The goal of this series was to celebrate film of all decades, countries and styles. I was so surprised and happy to see the amount of positive reception the film screenings received. Film is powerful. It’s an art form that can connect people more than any other. I really hope that students have gained a much greater appreciation of cinema through this series,” said Blizzard.
The headliner and pen-ultimate showing in the series was particularly unique as Clemson World Cinema, with the help of Swank Motion Pictures, was able to secure a 35-millimeter print of a Universal Studios 2000s remastering of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 picture “Rear Window,” presented by Blizzard, himself. The six 20-minute reels were run through two changeover projectors, originally from Walt Disney World in Florida, in celebration of film history to the highest degree.
The series also included presentations of Daniel Pietre’s 1961 film “A Raisin in the Sun,” presented by Dr. Jamie Rogers, lecturer in the department of English, Abbas Kiarostami’s 2002 film “Ten,” presented by Dr. Maziyar Faridi, assistant professor of English and Jan Švankmajer’s 1954 film “Alice,” presented by Dr. Aga Skrodzka, associate professor of English.
The spring film series also brought the Reedy Reels Film Festival of Greenville, South Carolina to McKissick to preview a collection of short films in preparation for their seventh annual festival in Greenville on April 22.
The four short films included “Crab Trap,” directed by Shea Sizemore in 2017, “Catch and Kill,” directed by Geoffrey Gunn in 2017, “Curb Service,” directed by Andrew Huggins and John R. Sexton in 2018 and “Sonora,” directed by Jesse Suchomel in 2018. Each of these took home an award at the 2017 and 2018 festivals, respectively.
McKissick Theatre’s events, unless specified, are not limited to Clemson University students. The public is welcome to attend and experience all the venue has to offer.
With the world cinema major program expanding and on-campus COVID-19 regulations lifting, McKissick Theatre will continue to experience this growth and appreciation in the semesters to come with an increased emphasis on public movie screenings and major-specific events!