PROGRAM ANNOUNCED FOR NYU CONFERENCE ON THE LEGENDARY FILMMAKER ALFRED HITCHCOCK

Actors, Writers, Film Professionals, Musicians, Critics, Historians and Leading Scholars Gather for the Largest Hitchcock Conference Ever Assembled

“Hitchcock: A Centennial Celebration” Takes Place October 13-17

New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and its Department of Cinema Studies have announced the program for what is believed to be the largest conference ever assembled to celebrate the legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock. Entitled Hitchcock: A Centennial Celebration, the five-day international gathering will assemble well-known Hitchcock actors, writers, film professionals, historians, critics and leading scholars to commemorate and explore the 50-year career of one of the most significant artists of the twentieth century. Visit the conference website at www.nyu.edu/tisch/cinema/hitchcock.

Conference highlights include: an opening night concert at Carnegie Hall entitled Music from the Films of Alfred Hitchcock, performed by the NEW YORK FILMharmonic Orchestra, John Mauceri conducting; personal appearances by such well-known Hitchcock stars and writers as John Forsythe, Patricia Hitchcock, Evan Hunter, Arthur Laurents, Janet Leigh, Eva Marie Saint, Joseph Stefano and Teresa Wright; and screenings of three of Hitchcock’s greatest works: Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963), and North by Northwest (1959). (A schedule of conference events, participants and venues is attached.)

Conference dates are Wednesday, October 13 through Sunday, October 17, 1999. The $150 registration fee provides access to all panels and film screenings. There is an additional cost to attend the opening night dinner, opening night concert and the closing reception. For further information: call 212-998-1599, or e-mail hitchcock.conf@nyu.edu.

“It is fitting that one of this country’s premiere departments for the study of the history, theory and criticism of cinema has undertaken the job of conceiving, organizing and hosting this important conference,” commented Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts. “The enthusiastic response to it from scholars, artists and the general public is a measure of the diverse appeal of Hitchcock’s canny storytelling skills and distinctive authorial style.”

Professor Richard Allen, chair of the Cinema Studies Department, editor of Hitchcock: Centenary Essays (BFI 1999) and conference director, stated “The goal of the conference is to celebrate and explore Hitchcock’s unique artistic achievement in the context of the overall history of film in the twentieth century. With some 100 scholarly papers scheduled for presentation, we believe this is the largest international interchange ever convened on the filmmaker’s extraordinary career.”

On Wednesday, October 13, at 8:00 p.m. at Carnegie Hall the NEW YORK FILMharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of John Mauceri, will perform a program entitled Music from the Films of Alfred Hitchcock. Featured will be selections from the film scores of Bernard Herrmann (The Man Who Knew Too Much, Psycho, Vertigo and North By Northwest), Dimitri Tiomkin (Strangers on a Train and Dial M for Murder), Franz Waxman (Rebecca and Rear Window) and Miklos Rozsa (Spellbound), among others. Tickets range in price from $15 to $90 and may be purchased by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800.

Hitchcock: A Centennial Celebration has been organized by the Department of Cinema Studies, Skirball Center for New Media and Film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. It is made possible by the generous support of Lew Wasserman, Dennis Riese, Mitchell Glatt, Fred Rosen, Dr. Keith Brodie, Jonathan Tisch, Macy’s East, St. Moritz Hotel, Regency Hotel, Universal Films, NYU Graduate School of Arts and Science, Pace University, Philip Gelatt Sr., Richard I. Kandel, Donald and Shelley Moorehead, Dr. Damion and Adell Kistler, and Richard and Lisa Vague.

09/23/99