Strangers on a Train

Hitchcock — The Wrong Man Theme, the winter quarter Focus on Film at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, wraps up Feb. 23 with Strangers on a Train.

Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 film is based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel of the same name. The sociopath in her story is Bruno Anthony (played by Robert Walker “with elegant creepinesss,” according to the Mondavi Center Web site).

The “wrong man” and bland hero is tennis star Guy Haines (played by Farley Granger).

“While Strangers on a Train lacks the strong male and female leads of North by Northwest and Spellbound (the first two films in the series), the strength of Highsmith’s story makes this one of the best told Hitchcock films before Psycho,” the Web site declares.

The Strangers on a Train screening is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. in the Studio Theatre. Afterward audience members are invited to stay for a reception and open discussion.

Tickets: $10 for adults, and $5 for students and children for single films; and $27 for three-film plans (choose from among this last film of the winter quarter, and four films in the spring quarter series, Paul Haggis Picks.

More information.

Hedwig’s Mitchell to visit

Actor, writer, director, producer John Cameron Mitchell plans a visit to UC Davis for the second year in a row.

His appearance is set for 7 p.m. Feb. 23 in the Technocultural Studies Building (formerly the Art Annex). The event, sponsored by the Technocultural Studies and Film Studies programs, is free and open to the public; however, due to the content of this event, no one under the age of 18 will be admitted.

Mitchell wrote, directed and starred in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001). As a theatrical production, it won a Village Voice Obie Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award. As Mitchell’s first feature film, Hedwig won the best director and audience awards at the Sundance Film Festival, and many other accolades, including best directorial debut from the National Board of Review and performance of the year from Premiere magazine.

His second feature film, Shortbus (2006), premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to a 10-minute standing ovation, and has gone on to play in more than 25 countries, winning multiple awards.

Mitchell served as executive producer of Tarnation (2003), shot for less than $300 and the winner of best documentary awards from the National Society of Film Critics, the Independent Spirits, the Gotham Awards, and the LA and London International Film Festivals.

For more infomation on Mitchell’s visit, contact Jesse Drew, associate professor and director of Technocultural Studies, (530) 752-9674 or jdrew@ucdavis.edu.