Rice’s Religion Department to host Gnostic Film Festival March 24-26

MEDIA ADVISORY

David Ruth
david@rice.edu
713-348-6327

Jeff Falk
jfalk@rice.edu
713-348-6775

Rice’s Religion Department to host Gnostic Film Festival March 24-26

HOUSTON – (March 14, 2017) – Rice University’s Department of Religion will host a Gnostic Film Festival featuring six movies at the Rice Media Center March 24-26.

The purpose of the festival is to raise public awareness about the significance of the gnostic religious current in modernity and its impact on public culture in America, according to April DeConick, the Isla Carroll and Percy E. Turner Professor of Biblical Studies at Rice and chair of the Department of Religion. DeConick is the author of the recently published book “The Gnostic New Age: How a Countercultural Spirituality Revolutionized Religion From Antiquity to Today.”

The six films – “The Matrix,” “The Truman Show,” “Pleasantville,” “Dark City,” “Avatar” and “Altered States” — will be introduced by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a seminar on gnosticism this semester and will be followed by a discussion, Q&A sessions and readings by DeConick. All screenings are free and open to the public.

What: Gnostic Film Festival.

When: March 24, 7 p.m.: “The Matrix.”
March 25, 10 a.m.: “The Truman Show.”
March 25, 1 p.m.: “Pleasantville.”
March 25, 7 p.m.: “Avatar.”
March 26, 1 p.m.: “Dark City.”
March 26, 5 p.m.: “Altered States.”

Where: Rice Media Center’s Rice Cinema, on the west side of Rice’s campus at Entrance 8 at Stockton Drive and University Boulevard. Media can park nearby in West Lot 1.

Members of the news media who want to attend should RSVP to Jeff Falk, associate director of national media relations at Rice, at jfalk@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.

For a map of Rice University’s campus with parking information, go to www.rice.edu/maps.

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Department of Religion: https://reli.rice.edu.