Southeast Asian Approaches: Free Film Series Screenings are free events that take place at FedEx Global Education Center at UNC, 301 Pittsboro Street, Chapel Hill. These screenings are open to the public and will be in the Nelson Mandela Auditorium, which can fit up to 250 people.
July 19th, 4 p.m.: The Quiet American
July 20th, 6 p.m.: Bad Genius
July 25th, 4 p.m.: The Ugly American
Read on for information about each film, as well as parking information.
In conjunction with the 2018 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Programs in the Humanities for School Teachers on “Contested Territory: America’s Role in Southeast Asia, 1945–75,” there will be free public film screenings of “The Quiet American,” “Bad Genius,” and “The Ugly American.”
The Quiet American (2002): From the classic novel by Graham Greene comes a murder mystery centered on a love triangle set against the French Indochina War in Vietnam, circa 1952. It’s the story of a veteran English journalist (Michael Caine), a young American (Brendan Fraser), and a beautiful Vietnamese woman caught between them. This is a world where nothing is what it seems — suffused with opium, intrigue, and betrayal.
Bad Genius (2017): Lynn, a genius high school student who makes money by cheating tests, receives a new task that leads her to set foot on Sydney, Australia. In order to complete the millions-Baht task, Lynn and her classmates have to finish the international STIC(SAT) exam and deliver the answers back to her friends in Thailand before the exam takes place once again in her home country.
The Ugly American (1963): American ambassador Harrison MacWhite (Marlon Brando) travels to a Southeast Asian country on a peacekeeping mission. Torn between rival factions, the turbulent nation is on the brink of civil war. But MacWhite’s powers of analysis allow him to view the political situation only in the simplest terms: as a struggle between communism and democracy. And, by the time the ambassador is finally able to see the political upheaval as a something more complicated, it may already be too late.
Free parking available at McCauley Deck after 5pm.
For any questions, please contact Shuyi Lin, Program Associate at shuyilin@unc.edu or 9198439203.
Cosponsored by: National Humanities Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
