Semester 4

Arts TRYathlon #1: Choose Your Own Adventure

Event Logistics: Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, AFI Silver Theatre, Boogie Nights (1997) in 70mm

#movie #movienight #AFI #AFIsilver #PTA #paulthomasanderson #film #70mm #onemovieafteranother #boogienights

On a whim last Thursday, I went to Silver Spring's historic and totemic AFI Silver Theatre to see director Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights on 70mm film. Part of their Anderson retrospective following the success of his latest Oscar-nominated film, One Battle After Another (2025), Boogie Nights (1997) is a Scorsese-inspired romp through the American adult film industry of the 1970s. Despite the slightly taboo subject matter, the film plays up the laughs and gags culminating in quite the reveal at the very end. Interestingly, it puts a special highlight on the performers featured in the adult films. We see Anderson's main characters denied custody of their children, denied business loans, and mistreated by others simply because of their professions in a controversial field. The spotlight placed on the performers and their hardships is truly eye opening and revealed to me and the audience a previously unknown struggle faced by an underclass of film workers.

Arts TRYathlon #2: Choose Your Own Adventure

Event Logistics: Friday, March 6, 2026, AFI Silver Theatre, Bebo's Girl (1964), Il Cinema Ritrovato on Tour

#movie #movienight #AFI #AFIsilver #ilcinemaritrovato #restoredcinema #film #cinema #italy #blackandwhite

As part of the University of Maryland's annual edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato on Tour, I visited the AFI Silver Theatre once again to see a screening of the Italian film Bebo's Girl with an introduction by Dr. Mauro Resmini, my professor and a member of the UMD Cinema & Media Studies department. There is truly nothing like the experience of going out to a movie theater to see a film. I believe that film viewership is a communal experience, greatly influenced by the audience surrounding oneself hunched in a seat. I will never forget my experience seeing One Battle After Another for the first time in the same theater space — you could feel the excitement of the packed crowd before the film and hear their gasps during tense moments. Their laughter moved mountains and made hilarious moments even more funny. This screening of Bebo's Girl was not as widely attended as the One Battle After Another showing, but it was still an incredible experience to see a great film with friends, professors, and other students.

Arts TRYathlon #3: Maker Mixer

Event Logistics: Thursday, February 19, 2026, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Gildenhorn Recital Hall, Thomas Hecht, R&R

#thomashecht #piano #pianist #theclarice #theclaricesmithperformingartscenter #r&r #ravel #rachmaninoff

On February 19, I attended Natalie's Maker Mixer at the Clarice where our group listened to the vibrant piano playing of world-renowned pianist Thomas Hecht. Cheekily titled R&R, Hecht played beloved, essential pieces from composers Maurice Ravel and Sergei Rachmaninoff. One of the most memorable elements of the performance was how Hecht channels the music through his body. It's not every day that one gets to see a wizard of the keys resuscitate great works of classical music, and I got to see a window into the process that is ordinarily foreign to me. For Hecht, playing music is a full-body experience: one can witness the swaying of his body, the smacking of the keys, the chattering of his teeth. Such delicate touches of the piano keys were accompanied by enormous emotions, and that experience taught me a little more about how music can pass through people, much like any other art form.

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