The Grapes of Wrath (1940, 2hr 8 min)
12 Noon: Panel Discussion with guest speakers Charles Gallagher and UMass Lowell Professor Bob Forrant
1PM: Film Screening
Boott Cotton Mills Museum Events Center, 115 John Street

Hear fascinating historical information on the effects of the Great Depression on the City of Lowell at a pre-film panel discussion. How were local mill workers affected? What role, if any, did Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA (Works Projects Administration) play in the City’s recovery? Hear first-hand historical information on the City of Lowell, the Great Depression, and the WPA at a pre-film discussion featuring native Lowellian, Mr. Charles Gallagher and UMass Lowell professor Bob Forrant.

Immediately following will be a screening of the Academy Award-nominated film that garnered Oscars for John Ford (Best Director) and Jane Darwell (Best Actress). After serving four years in prison for killing a man, Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) heads back to his Oklahoma family farm only to find it has been foreclosed on. Together, the displaced family begins their journey west for a new life.   See the trailer.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, 83 min)
1:30PM
Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack Street

The Lowell Film Festival brings family-friendly fare to the Pollard Library! Disney’s animated classic tells the tale of a beautiful young maiden who escapes from her wicked stepmother, only to find a peaceful life in the shelter of the woods in the home of seven welcoming faces! But Snow White’s life is turned upside down as her stepmother continues to seeks vengeance.   See a clip.

Modern Times (1936, 86 min)
3PM
Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack Street
Guest Speaker: Professor Todd Avery, University of Massachusetts/Lowell

“The Tramp” struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman. Don’t miss this marvelous, subtle exploration of TODAY’S worker and his role in our current industrialized nation. The film’s hauntingly modern themes and Chaplin’s ingenuity will be brilliantly discussed by UMass Lowell Professor Todd Avery.   See the trailer.

About Professor Todd Avery: “I am an associate professor of English at UML, where I came after finishing my doctorate in English and Cultural Studies at Indiana University. My research and teaching centers on relations between literary modernism and broader cultural movements that help to shape literary works. I'm especially interested in connections between modernism and mass culture, and particularly radio in the 1920s and 1930s. As someone who originally went to college to study mechanical engineering, I am also perennially fascinated by ways that poems, plays, and stories dramatize and comment on developments in science and technology---which makes this an exciting event for me, as MODERN TIMES is one of the twentieth-century's most perceptive---and funniest!---commentaries on the human impact of industrial efficiency.”

It Happened One Night (1934, 1 hr 45 min)
7PM
UMass Lowell O'Leary Library (Room 222), 61 Wilder Street

Saturday’s Headline Film, directed by the legendary Frank Capra, swept the 1935 Academy Awards by winning a total of 5 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Clark Gable), Best Actress (Claudette Colbert), and Best Director! Follow the zany, romantic adventures of a spoiled heiress (Colbert) who while fleeing from her family is helped by a charming man who’s actually a reporter looking for a story (Gable). Playful and flirty, Colbert and Gable were the perfect Hollywood match!   See a clip.

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935, 75 min)
10PM
119 Gallery, 119 Chelmsford Street

The Lowell Film Festival comes to an official close with this fabulous late-night film event! The Monster is in need of a bride and Dr. Henry Frankenstein is all to willing to accommodate! See director James Whale’s unforgettable sequel to his 1931 chiller, with Boris Karloff reprising his role as The Monster and the beautiful, mysterious Elsa Lanchester as his worthy mate …. it’s match-making on a whole other level.   See the trailer.