Making Movies

Independent filmmaker, writer and television director Mary Harron will be the first director-in-residence in Duke's newly revamped Film/Video/Digital Program.

Harron is best known for her controversial and complex films "I Shot Andy Warhol," "The Notorious Bettie Page" and "American Psycho." The films will be shown Jan. 28-30; Harron will introduce each one and take part in a question-and-answer session afterwards.

With Harron's wide experience, "we thought she would be particularly relevant to our students, rather than bringing in a Hollywood honcho," says David Paletz, F/V/D's director. Duke alumnus Daniel Karslake also will screen one of his films in January as part of the F/V/D alumni filmmaker series.

"Making a film is an arduous task," Harron says. "You choose subjects that really engage your imagination and really interest you. It can take years to get a film financed, and a couple of years to make it, edit it and get it out to the world."

Harron spent her teen years in England, where she went to Oxford and left to begin her career as a music and arts journalist. After working in New York and France, she returned to England to work in British television. She made some "little film essays, very stylized," for the BBC and elsewhere, she says, pursuing her career at a time when there were few women in the film production industry.

"I had built it up in my mind that [directing] would be very difficult and very technical, that you'd need to know the names of lenses and be at home with the technical things of cameras and lighting," Harron says. "But, really, you don't need to be. You just have to know what you want to say and how it should look."

During her four-day residency, Harron will speak to classes and continue discussions with faculty and students over lunches and dinners.

Also in January, Karslake, a 1987 Duke graduate, will screen his film "For the Bible Tells Me So," a documentary following five conservative Christian families coming to terms with a gay child. The film has won numerous awards and made the short list for an Academy Award nomination. Karslake will take questions from the audience after the showing.

Bringing in working directors is one of many changes in the F/V/D program, along with revising the curriculum and hiring more instructors, Paletz says.

"We've always thought our program was a player," Paletz says. "Now we're becoming a bigger and better player."