Journalism on Screen

Collage of tickets from Loft journalism series

Since 2015, the University of Arizona School of Journalism has co-hosted the Journalism on Screen series at The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway. Other sponsors are the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Arizona Daily Star, the Arizona Daily Wildcat/UA-TV3, The New York Times and Arizona Inn.

The series features Q-and-A sessions with journalists and writers after the screenings.

There are no upcoming events listed.

Past Films and Q&As

'Mike Wallace is Here'

Feb. 23, 2020

Former New York Times opinion page editor Andy Rosenthal and Prof. William Schmidt discussed the challenges facing journalists today and how the late Mike Wallace’s aggressive style on CBS and “60 Minutes” changed broadcast news. Prof. Nancy Sharkey, another NYT colleague, introduced the 2019 documentary.

'Mississippi Burning'

Oct. 19, 2019

The film's screenwriter, Chris Gerolmo, and moderator/screenwriter Will Conroy of the Arizona Inn talked about the making of the movie, which is based on the 1964 disappearance of three civil rights workers. Prof. William Schmidt introduced the 1988 film, which stars Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe as FBI agents.

'Anthropocene: The Human Epoch'

Sept. 25, 2019

Days after the U.N. climate summit, a sold-out crowd attended the premiere of the documentary about humanity's massive re-engineering of the planet. Watch the Q&A with N.Y. Times science reporter Jim Robbins, J-school Prof. Susan E. Swanberg and Prof. Valerie Trouet of the UA tree ring lab. Prof. Nancy Sharkey introduced the film. Trailer

'State of Play'

April 14, 2019

To mark the 10-year anniversary of the Tucson Citizen's closing, Jennifer Boice (moderator), Corky Simpson, Steve Rivera, Gabrielle Fimbres, Chuck Graham and Dylan Smith discussed what the paper meant to the city. Internship coordinator Renee Schafer Horton introduced the 2009 film with Russell Crowe. Citizen video

'Witnesses to Democracy'

March 17, 2019

Prof. Kim Newton, who photographed the 1987 South Korean democracy movement, is featured in the documentary with the mother of slain protester Lee Han-yeol, whose death propelled the student uprising. Watch the Q&A with director Man-jin Kim and UA East Asian Studies professors Sunyoung Yang and Nathanial Smith, and the intro by William Schmidt.

'The Post'

Feb. 17, 2019

First Amendment lawyer George Freeman and Prof. William Schmidt discussed the Washington Post's fight to publish the Pentagon Papers about the U.S. government's role in the Vietnam War. Prof. Nancy Sharkey introduced the Steven Spielberg film starring Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as Ben Bradlee. Trailer

'All the President's Men'

Nov. 18, 2018

Arizona Daily Star metro columnist Tim Steller and Tucson Weekly Editor Jim Nintzel, a former J-school adjunct instructor, talked about today's news climate and the impact of Watergate on journalism. The 1976 film, directed by Alan J. Paula, starred Robert Redford (Bob Woodward) and Dustin Hoffman (Carl Bernstein). Trailer

'Good Night, And Good Luck'

April 8, 2018

A day after being inducted into the UA Journalism Hall of Fame, author Lynne Olson analyzed the 2005 George Clooney film about broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow and his conflict with anti-Communist Sen. Joseph McCarthy with screenwriter Will Conroy. Olson has written eight books of history, many on World War II. Trailer

 

'Seabiscuit'

 Feb. 18, 2018

See part of the Q&A with New York Times sports reporter Joe Drape and moderator Brett Fera, who talks to Drape about sports journalism, including how the press has covered the horse racing industry over the years, and Drape's book on Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. The 2003 film stars Tobey Maguire.

 

• Dec. 3, 2017: "Obit." See the Q&A with Bruce Weber, former obituary writer at The New York Times and J-school Professor Nancy Sharkey. The 2016 documentary looks into the world of obituaries at The Times. Writers are interviewed as they research and compose obits, including one for William P. Wilson, who coached John F. Kennedy on his historic TV debate with Richard Nixon. See the trailer.
 
• Oct. 8, 2017: "Bill Cunningham New York." Hear the Q&A with Guy Trebay, reporter/critic for The New York Times Culture and Style desk who also wrote a 2015 story, "In Tucson, an unsung architectural oasis." Will Conroy, a screenwriter whose family runs the Arizona Inn, was the moderator. The 2010 documentary follows New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham, a Schwinn-riding cultural anthropologist who for decades chronicled fashion trends and high-society charity events for the newspaper's Style section. He died in 2016. See the trailer.
 
• Sept. 17, 2017: "Shattered Glass." See the Q&A about journalism ethics with Jill Jorden Spitz, editor of the Arizona Daily Star and a 1988 UA School of Journalism graduate. UA journalism professor Susan Knight, who teaches Ethics and the News Media, moderated the Q&A with audience members. The 2003 film chronicles journalist Stephen Glass (Hayden Christensen), a young reporter who quickly rose from a minor writing post in Washington to a feature writer at the New Republic, where his sources are questioned. See the trailer.
 
• March 5, 2017: “The Killing Fields.” Craig Whitney, former foreign correspondent and Foreign Editor of The New York Times, and adjunct professor Joe Sharkey analyzed the film and took questions. The two served together in Vietnam, as members of the same U.S. Navy unit. “The Killing Fields” (1984) won three Oscars, and tells the story of journalists Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterson) and Dith Pran (Haing Ngor), who were trapped in Cambodia during Pol Pot’s bloody ascension. See the trailer.
 
• Feb. 12, 2017: "The Insider." See an excerpt of the Q&A with former "60 minutes" producer Lowell Bergman and New York Times lawyer David McCraw. Bergman, director of the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley, is played by Al Pacino in the 1999 Michael Mann film. It tells the story of a research chemist (Russell Crowe) in the tobacco industry who comes under attack when he decides to spill the beans about the industry to Bergman and "60 Minutes." See the trailer.
 
• Jan. 22, 2017: "The Natural." See the Q&A with Arizona Daily Star sports columnist Greg Hansen and screenwriter Will Conroy followed the 1984 film, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert Redford as baseball player Roy Hobbs and Robert Duvall as sports writer Max Mercy. Hansen analyzed the film and talked about UA basketball, including the Alonzo Trier story. See the trailer.
 
• Dec. 4, 2016: "Ace in the Hole." The 1951 film, directed by Billy Wilder, was followed by Q&A with New York Times Phoenix Bureau chief Fernanda Santos. The film is about a former big-city journalist (Kirk Douglas) who is stuck working for an Albuquerque newspaper. He exploits a story about a man tapped in a cave to re-jump start his career. Santos covered Arizona and New Mexico for the N.Y. Times. See the trailer.
 
• Nov. 14, 2016: "All the King's Men." See the Q&A with David Cay Johnston, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author of "The Making of Donald Trump," and J-school Professor Nancy Sharkey. Johnston spoke about a pending Trump administration after the screening of the Oscar-winning 1949 film, which is about the rise and fall of a corrupt politician who retains power with a populist appeal. See the trailer.
 
• Sept. 25, 2016: "Spotlight." The Oscar-winning 2015 drama was followed by an onstage discussion with journalist and former Boston Globe publisher Richard Gilman, a UA journalism alum who was at the helm of the Globe during the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation depicted in the film. See the trailer.
 
• Aug. 23, 2016: "The Witness." See the Q&A with School of Journalism Professors David Cuillier and Nancy Sharkey and The Loft's Jeff Yanc. See the trailer.
 
• March 24, 2016: "Citizenfour." See the Q&A with Glenn Greenwald, journalist and advocate, and J-school Professor David Cuillier. Greenwald's work with the Guardian on Edward Snowden's leak of classified documents was rewarded with a Pulitzer, and the film also won as Oscar as best documentary. See the trailer.
 
• Feb. 6, 2016: "Selma." See the Q&A with Diane McWhorter, journalist and author of the Pulitzer Prize winning book, "Carry Me Home," about the civil rights struggle in her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, and J-school Professor Nancy Sharkey. See the trailer.
 
• Nov. 12, 2015: "Broadcast News." Q&A with Alessandra Stanley, former TV critic of The New York Times. See the trailer.
 
• Oct. 8, 2015: "The Paper." Q&A with Sam Sifton, senior editor at The New York Times. Former national editor at Times. See the trailer.
 
• Sept. 20, 2015: "Absence of Malice." Q&A with Kurt Luedtke (via Skype), Academy Award-winning screenwriter (won Oscar for Out of Africa). Former executive editor of Detroit Free Press. See the trailer.