SXU continues 2009-10 Film Series with “Red Balloon” and “The 400 Blows”

Second feature in “Children on Screen: Film and Childhood” series on Oct. 15

Chicago (Oct. 2, 2009) Saint Xavier University will screen Red Balloon and The 400 Blows as part of its 2009-10 film series, “Children on Screen: Film and Childhood” on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. in McGuire Hall of the Warde Academic Center at the Chicago campus, 3700 W. 103rd St.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Red Balloon, a 1956 French short film directed by Albert Lamorisse, chronicles the adventures of a boy and his pet balloon as they explore the charming neighborhood of Belleville. Of the movie, Entertainment Weekly magazine film critic Owen Gleiberman wrote Red Balloon turns me into a kid again whenever I see it…[to] see the Red Balloon is to laugh, and cry, at the impossible joy of being a child again.”

Like Red Balloon, The 400 Blows follows the antics of a young boy as he skips school, sneaks into movies, runs away from home, steals, gets caught and is eventually sent to a reform school. Directed by François Truffaut in 1959 and heralded by many to be the definitive film of the French New Wave, The 400 Blows combines the sophistication of art cinema with a poignant, exuberant coming-of-age story.

These films are the second feature in a six movie series where themes of childhood and film are explored. The next film in the series is the 1985 Swedish drama My Life as a Dog on Nov. 19.

For more information, contact Film Series Director Alison Fraunhar, Ph.D., at fraunhar@mymail.sxu.edu or (773) 298-3083.

-SXU-

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Jay Foot
Executive Director of Media Relations
(773) 298-3937 or foot@sxu.edu