October 24, 2006

Acclaimed film critic Elvis Mitchell speaking at Wayne State University Nov. 8

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Elvis Mitchell

The Center for Citizenship presents acclaimed film critic Elvis Mitchell as part of a series of events focused on the theme of race and citizenship, on Nov. 8, 7 p.m., at Wayne State University’s Bernath Auditorium in the Adamany Undergraduate Library. Mitchell will speak on “Race, Citizenship, and the Cinema” and discuss Spike Lee’s documentary, “When the Levees Broke.” The last segment of Lee’s four-part documentary will be shown immediately preceding Mitchell’s lecture at 6 p.m.

Since 1996, Mitchell has been the host of The Treatment, a nationally syndicated show produced at KCRW and currently airing in 15 markets. He is also the entertainment critic for NPR\'s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon. Mitchell was a film critic for the New York Times for four years, starting in 2000. Prior to that, he was film critic for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for two years, starting in 1997, where he won the 1999 AASFE Award for criticism. He also was film critic for the Detroit Free Press, the LA Weekly and California magazine. In 1993, he was nominated for a Writer\'s Guild of America award for his contributions to "The AFI Achievement Award Tribute to Sidney Poitier."

A graduate of Wayne State University with a degree in English literature, Mitchell hosts the "Independent Focus" interview program for the Independent Film Channel. He was editor-at-large for Spin magazine, and has written for Interview, Esquire and the New York Times Sunday Magazine.

He is a Visiting Lecturer on African and African American Studies and on Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University. In 2002, at the invitation of Dr. Henry Louis Gates, he gave the Alain Leroy Locke lectures for the Department of African American Studies at Harvard University.

There will be multiple screenings of “When the Levees Broke” in the Bernath Auditorium, Adamany Undergraduate Library, preceding Mitchell’s lecture:

• Monday, Nov. 6, 12-4 p.m., parts 1-4

•Tuesday, Nov. 7, 12-4 PM, parts 1-4

• Monday, Nov. 6, 6-8 p.m., parts 1-2

• Tuesday, Nov. 7, 6-8 p.m., parts 3-4

These screenings are free and open to the public, compliments of Home Box 0ffice Television, Wayne State University Libraries, the Center for the Study of Citizenship and the Department of Africana Studies.

Co-sponsors of the events are: the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Wayne State University Libraries, the Department of Africana Studies, the Department of English, and the Department of Communication.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 11 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students.