'Hoop Dreams' director headlines Film & Video Festival

Hampton, Va., native Steve James, the producer and director of the acclaimed 1994 documentary "Hoop Dreams," will deliver the keynote address for Old Dominion's Fifth Annual Film and Video Festival, which opens Monday, April 8, and concludes Saturday, April 13, with James' lecture.

The lecture, plus a showing of clips from his films, begins at 7:30 p.m. in room 102 of the Mills Godwin Jr. Building.

After winning the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and every major critic's prize for best documentary of 1994, James followed the success of "Hoop Dreams" with two features, "Prefontaine" and "Passing Glory," both of which he co-wrote and directed.

He currently is at work as executive producer of "The New Americans," a multi-part nonfiction film for public television that interweaves the stories of several immigrants.

Other festival highlights include the regional premiere of the 2002 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, "No Man's Land"; a screening of the Marx Brothers classic, "Duck Soup"; a presentation by film historian Natalie Zemon Davis; and a roundtable discussion of terrorism and the media.

In addition, the festival will premiere several films by Old Dominion students, starting at 11 a.m. Friday, April 12, in the Hampton/Newport News Room of Webb Center.

In all, more than 30 films and events are planned to celebrate the festival theme, "Visions of Peace and War," which took on additional significance following the attacks of Sept. 11. Among the films being screened are Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" (1964), Roberto Benigni's "Life Is Beautiful" (1997), Mike Nichols' "Catch-22" (1970) Robert Wise's "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) and David O. Russell's "Three Kings" (1999).

All events are free and open to the public, with the exception of the showing of "No Man's Land" at the Naro Expanded Cinema, for which there is a nominal admission fee.

For more information and a complete schedule of Film and Video Festival events visit www.odu.edu/filmfest or call 683-3828.