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Author Archive | Alex Kamody

CLJC: Constitution Day with Pamela R. Metzger

Join us Tuesday, September 16th at 7:00 p.m. for the Center for Law, Justice, and Culture’s annual Constitution Day Lecture featuring Sixth Amendment scholar Professor Pamela R. Metzger!

Admission is FREE and open to the Public – Tickets are required*

*Tickets will be available to claim in-person in our lobby during normal business hours leading up to and on the evening of the event

About the speaker

Professor Metzger is the Executive Director of the Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center at SMU Dedman School of Law. She is a nationally recognized expert on the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, public defense, and criminal legal ethics, and her research focuses on combining theory and practice to improve our criminal legal system.

Professor Metzger oversees the Deason Center’s independent research on the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, criminal legal systems in small, tribal, and rural (STAR) communities, prosecutorial discretion, and early-stage criminal procedure. She has helped secure millions of dollars in funding for the Deason Center to conduct innovative research and amplify compelling stories that promote criminal legal reform.

Professor Metzger’s work has appeared in publications such as the Yale Law Journal, George Washington Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, and Southern California Law Review, and has been cited by leading authorities and by the United States Supreme Court.

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Sustainability Series: PLASTIC PEOPLE

Viewing: September 17,2025

Watch Trailer Director: Ben Addleman, Ziya Tong

Join us Wednesday, September 17th at 7:00 p.m. as our Sustainability Film Series continues with an award-winning documentary delving into the relationship between humans and microplastics!

Admission is FREE and open to the public – Tickets are required

About the film

The award-winning feature documentary Plastic People investigates our addiction to plastic and the growing threat of microplastics on human health. Almost every bit of plastic ever made breaks down into “microplastics.” These microscopic particles drift in the air, float in all bodies of water, and mix into the soil, becoming a permanent part of the environment. Now, leading scientists are finding these particles in our bodies: organs, blood, brain tissue, and even the placentas of new mothers. What is the impact of these invisible invaders on our health? And can anything be done about it?

Acclaimed author and science journalist Ziya Tong takes a personal approach by visiting leading scientists around the world and undergoing experiments in her home, on her food, and her body while collaborating with award-winning director Ben Addelman (Discordia, Bombay Calling, Nollywood BabylonKivalina v. Exxon) in an urgent call to action for all of us to rethink our relationship with plastic.

 

Check out the rest of our line-up of films in the Sustainability Film Series

This series was made possible thanks to the following sponsors:

 

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Running Time: 84 MIN84 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Wednesday 09/177:00
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From the Hills and Hollers: THE EVENING HOUR with Carter Sickels

Viewing: September 18,2025

Watch Trailer Director: Braden King
Cast: Philip Ettinger, Stacy Martin, Lili Taylor, Cosmo Jarvis

Join us on Thursday, September 18th at 7:00 p.m. as we kick off our Appalachian Stories Film Series!

This event will include a pre-show presentation by author Carter Sickels

Admission is FREE – Tickets are required

About the film

Based on the critically-acclaimed novel by Carter Sickels, The Evening Hour tells the story of Cole Freeman, a nursing home worker who has made a side-hustle selling the excess prescription pills of his elderly patients to the local people in his rural West Virginia town. Cole’s motive is not profit, however: he sees himself as a more compassionate source of the addicting drugs than the local drug dealer who cares more about money than the lives he is destroying. It’s a delicate balancing act – Cole must make sure that he doesn’t overstep his bounds and draw the ire of his competition. This delicate balance starts to erode, though, when an old friend of Cole’s returns to town with the goal of getting set up in the local drug trade.

About the speaker

Carter Sickels is the author of the novel The Prettiest Star, winner of the Ohioana Book Award in Fiction, the Southern Book Prize, and the Weatherford Award, and selected as a Kirkus Best Book of 2020 and a Best LGBT Book by O Magazine. His debut novel The Evening Hour was adapted into a feature film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020. His writing has appeared in publications includingThe Kenyon Review, The Atlantic, Oxford AmericanPoets & WritersBuzzFeed, and Guernica. Carter is an assistant professor of creative writing at North Carolina State University.

Carter will be discussing the film adaptation of his novel The Evening Hour. The film, directed by Braden King, was shot in Harlan, Kentucky, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.

 

Check out the rest of the films in the Appalachian Stories Film Series

This series is sponsored by the Ohio Honors Program, University Libraries, College of Health Sciences and Professions, The Department of Social and Public Health, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, OU School of Film, and The Office of Signature Academic Experiences.

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Running Time: 114 MIN114 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Thursday 09/187:00
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Hispanic Film Series: MY SEXTORTION DIARY

Viewing: September 23,2025

Watch Trailer Director: Patricia Franquesa

Join us on Tuesday, September 23rd at 7:00 p.m. for the first film in our new Hispanic Film Series celebrating Hispanic cinema and culture!

Admission is FREE and open to the public – Tickets are required

This event will include a Q&A session

About the film

Film producer Pati Franquesa takes viewers inside her personal experiences with being the victim of a sextortion scheme in this powerful documentary.

When her laptop is stolen, Pati’s world crumbles when she receives a disturbing message from a friend: An anonymous hacker is sending intimate photos of her to her contacts. The threat is clear: Pati must pay $2,400 to stop the mass distribution. Caught in a psychological battle, Pati seeks refuge behind her screen, only to discover that thousands of others around the world are being extorted in the same way. Faced with the indifference and inefficacy of the authorities, Pati realizes that only she can find a way out of this nightmare.

Check out the rest of our line-up of films in the Hispanic Film Series

The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of the OHIO School of International Studies and Languages (SISAL), Sigma Delta Pi (National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society), Pragda, SPAIN arts & culture, and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.

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Running Time: 64 MIN64 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Tuesday 09/237:00
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Hispanic Film Series: BOCA CHICA

Viewing: September 30,2025

Watch Trailer Director: Gabriella A. Moses

Join us on Tuesday, September 30th at 7:00 p.m. as our Hispanic Film Series continues with a brilliant example of the New Wave of Dominican Cinema from director Gabriella A. Moses.

Admission is FREE and open to the public – Tickets are required

About the film

Beautifully juxtaposing the realities and expectations of a young girl approaching womanhood in the Dominican Republic, Boca Chica shines a light on the insidious child sex trade and the lives it seeks to destroy. Twelve-year-old Desi is constantly exposed to unwanted advances and crude comments from older men. She works at the family restaurant alongside her mother Carmen, who encourages the behavior of the male patrons, in a once serene beachside town now bustling with foreign tourists. Music is Desi’s escape. She dreams of parlaying her nascent musical talents into a full-fledged singing career. When she stumbles across a group of local rappers that set themselves apart from the scene, her passions begin to boil to the surface. She seeks to avoid the common fate of growing mature before her time and falling prey to the morally bankrupt adults in her life who encourage her to forgo her innocence for profit.

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Check out the rest of our line-up of films in the Hispanic Film Series

The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of the OHIO School of International Studies and Languages (SISAL), Sigma Delta Pi (National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society), Pragda, SPAIN arts & culture, and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.

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Running Time: 97 MIN97 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Tuesday 09/307:00
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PRIDE AT THE ATHENA

Come celebrate Pride with a new and exciting film series — RAINBOW CONNECTIONS!

Join us on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. throughout the month of June as we feature our 2nd Annual Pride Series and help to celebrate the LGBTQ community with a fabulous batch of films, fun pre-show trivia games, raffle prizes, themed cocktails, and more!

Admission to these events is FREE and open to the public – Tickets are required

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Sustainability Series: SEEING THE UNSEEN: AQUATIC INVADERS & WHAT’S AT STAKE

Viewing: October 01,2025

Director: Jessica & Brendan Walsh

Join us on Wednesday, October 1st at 7:00 p.m. as our Sustainability Film Series features an excellent documentary that examines the effects of invasive species that threaten the close-to-home ecosystems in the Lake Erie region!

Admission is FREE and open to the public – Tickets are required

About the film

Lake Erie, one of the most picturesque landscapes and important ecosystems in Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and nearby regions are at risk from aquatic invasive species. In the new film, “Seeing The Unseen: Aquatic Invaders & What’s at Stake,” executive produced by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program staff, you’ll learn how hundreds of aquatic invasive species are negatively affecting Lake Erie and its watershed and nearby regions.

Invasive species – non-native species that do not occur naturally in an area and grow quickly and aggressively, out-competing native species for food, habitat and other limited resources – are threatening the health and biodiversity of this rich and important natural ecosystem. This film provides tangible actions we all can take to prevent the spread of invasives and protect Lake Erie and nearby regions.

Check out the rest of our line-up of films in the Sustainability Film Series

This series was made possible thanks to the following sponsors:

 

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Running Time: 45 MIN45 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Wednesday 10/017:00
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Hispanic Film Series: LOS LOBOS

Viewing: October 07,2025

Watch Trailer Director: Samuel Kishi Leopo
Cast: Martha Reyes Arias, Maximiliano Nájar Márquez, Leonardo Nájar Márquez

Join us on Tuesday, October 7th at 7:00 p.m. as our Hispanic Film Series continues with an an enthralling coming-of-age story about migrant life as seen through the eyes of children.

Admission is FREE and open to the public – Tickets are required

About the film

Mexican filmmaker Samuel Kishi Leopo tells a moving autobiographical story in this film dealing with the topic of emigration.

Young brothers Max and Leo, together with their mother Lucía, have crossed the border from Mexico and have headed north into the United States. Like most everyone who undertakes such a perilous journey into the unknown, the humble trio seeks a better life. However, they soon realize the seemingly-insurmountable difficulties involved in carving out a comfortable niche in their new country. Meanwhile, as Max and Leo spend time together awaiting their mother’s return from her new job, their imaginations compel them to construct an imaginary world  through drawings and fantasize about Lucía’s promise of a visit to a land where dreams come true…namely “Disneyland”.

Genuine, authentic, and heartfelt, Los Lobos interweaves powerful documentary footage, fictional drama, and whimsical animation into a unique and breathtaking film that tells the the story of two brothers who are eager and hopeful to explore the strange new world just beyond  the door of their tiny apartment.

Check out the rest of our line-up of films in the Hispanic Film Series

The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of the OHIO School of International Studies and Languages (SISAL), Sigma Delta Pi (National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society), Pragda, SPAIN arts & culture, and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.

 

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Running Time: 95 MIN95 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Tuesday 10/077:00
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THE PEOPLE’S JOKER

Watch Trailer Director: Vera Drew
Cast: Vera Drew, Kane Distler, Nathan Faustyn, Phil Braun

The DC Comics universe, improv comedy, and gender identity all collide in this wild coming-of-age supervillain parody from Emmy-nominated filmmaker Vera Drew!

Vera is a gender-questioning youth growing up in Smallville, Kansas in a dystopic world overseen by Batman. They’re a huge fan of improv comedy and hope to someday join the cast UCB Live, a comedy troupe whose show is a big hit. When they finally grow up and move to the big city of Gotham, Vera gets a shot at becoming part of the team. However, a computer designates them as a male Joker and puts limits on the type of comedy they are permitted to enact. This prompts Vera to join up with other outlaw comedians to try and start their own troupe. An encounter with “Mr. J”, a transgender comedian, leads Vera to finally recognize that she has the power to buck the system and identify as a transgender woman.

With its humble beginnings as a crowd-funded enterprise, The People’s Joker has become a smash hit among critics and audiences who have praised its creative approach to dealing with transgender issues. Vera Drew serves as co-writer, director, editor, and star of this weirdly entertaining and educational film with a supporting cast of improv comedy greats that includes Tim Heidecker, Maria Bumford, and Bob Odenkirk.

 

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Running Time: 92 MIN92 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

A blasphemous Molotov cocktail of a movie, with a unique and valuable point of view. And it’s hilarious, too!

Katie Rife - Polygon
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CHALLENGERS: Last Day Thursday, May9th

Watch Trailer Director: Luca Guadagnino
Writer(s): Justin Kuritzkes
Cast: Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, Mike Faist

In the game of tennis, “love” means something a bit different than what we’re used to. This is especially evident in CHALLENGERS, the latest film from visionary Italian director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Suspiria). Zendaya stars as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy-turned-coach who comes up with a novel strategy to break the losing streak of her tennis pro husband who has to face his former best friend (and Tashi’s former boyfriend) in an important match: A love triangle!

Guadagnino’s films are known for their steamy sensuality, and this film is no exception — Zendaya’s performance in this romantic thriller has been hailed by critics as one of her best and bravest roles. With a cast rounded out by Josh O’Connor (The Crown) and Mike Faist (Panic), and a soundtrack featuring new music from NIN’s Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Challengers is sure to be the grand slam of the summer!

 

 

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Running Time: 131 MIN131 MIN
Closed Captioning is available for this film. Open Captioning is available for this film. Listening Aids are available for this film. Descriptive Aids are available for this film. This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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