Ethics Film Series

Each spring, the Kenan Institute for Ethics sponsors a film series in collaboration with Duke’s Screen/Society, the Center for Documentary Studies, and the Arts of the Moving Image Program. The films provide popular and accessible vehicles for talking about ethics around a particular theme, and each series as a whole offers rich opportunities for debate and discussion on ethical issues for audiences from both the Duke and Durham communities.

Spring 2013

The theme of the 2013 Ethics Film Series is “Love and Justice.” Each film in this series explores how individuals – both alone and in context of their communities – engage the tension between the demands of justice and the grace of love. Although these ideals may often conflict, when love inspires the pursuit of justice, and when justice executed is seasoned by love, the boundaries of the ethical, social, and political expand in unprecedented ways.

This year, the film series will be in collaboration with the Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival (selections in the series that were featured at the festival are marked by asterisk). Films this spring will include:

Monday January 14: Gran Torino (2008)
Monday, February 11: Le fils (The Son) (2002)
Monday March 18: Brother Number One (2011)*
Monday, April 8: Habibi (2011)*

All films will begin at 7:00pm  in the Griffith Film Theater in Duke University’s Bryan Center, followed by a post-film discussion with faculty. Refreshments and free parking passes provided.

 

Previous series

“Condemned to be Free,” the 2012 series, featured four films focusing on individuals—even in the most restrictive, oppressive circumstances—who claimed their existential freedom by taking responsibility for their decisions and actions. Films included Defiance (2008), Of Gods and Men (2010), Human Terrain (2010), and Little Town of Bethlehem (2010).

The Institute’s 2011 Ethics Film Series featured four films that touch on the theme of community, addressing the tensions that arise between individual rights and the common good and examining how individuals become members of and valued by their communities. Films included The Heart of the Game (2005), Restrepo (2010), Monica & David (2009), and Lars and the Real Girl (2007).