Sponsored by Sun Valley Opera, join Writer / Director Joseph Itaya for an intimate discussion about using music in film and the challenges of interpreting emotion and tone through music. After sold out screenings in Sedona last week, Mr. Itaya’s feature film “Lost & Found” is playing the Sun Valley Film Festival on Thursday afternoon at 3:30pm at the Magic Lantern Cinemas. In this discussion, Mr. Itaya will focus on the unique challenges filmmaker’s face when combining visual and audio elements in such a complex and intimate art-form. The director and composer must work together to ensure the emotions and themes of every scene blend seamlessly. Mr. Itaya is an accomplished writer, composer, pianist, and director. As a child, Mr. Itaya was a well known concert pianist and conductor. He later received his Master’s Degree in film from the University of Southern California and is a regular guest speaker. He most recently is spearheading the new Virtual Reality company Epicenter Productions based in Santa Monica, CA working with such companies as Mattel and The Annenberg Foundation to create a unique 360 degree experience for their audiences. View the trailer for “Lost & Found” here:
Main Library
A Talk by Douglas Brinkley
The Idaho Humanities Council, in partnership with The Community Library in Ketchum, will sponsor a public lecture by historian Douglas Brinkley, author of the new Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America. Books will be available onsite for purchase, which Brinkley will sign following his talk.
A professor of history at Rice University, Douglas Brinkley is one of the most distinguished historians of our time. He is the author, co-author, and editor of more than two dozen books exploring American history and literature, the American presidency, and contemporary culture. In Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America, Brinkley chronicles the 32nd President’s essential yet unsung legacy as the founder of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and premier protector of America’s public lands. The book touches on some of the important work done by the CCC in Idaho.
In recent years, Brinkley has devoted much research and writing to the history of the conservation movement in America. His Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America was a New York Times bestseller in 2010. That book was followed in 2011 by The Quiet World: Saving Alaska’s Wilderness Kingdom, 1879-1960.
Brinkley’s works range from biographies of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and histories of World War II, to the compilation of letters and unpublished manuscripts of contemporary literary icons Hunter S. Thompson and Jack Kerouac. He is the official historian for CBS news, a frequent commentator on CNN, and a contributor to the New York Times, Boston Globe, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, American Heritage, and many other magazines, journals, and newspapers.
His other books include The Majic Bus: An American Odyssey; The Reagan Diaries; The Nixon Tapes, 1973; Voices of Valor: D-Day, June 6, 1944; Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War; The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast; Wheels for the World; Rosa Parks: A Life; the recent biography Cronkite, about the longtime CBS News anchor; and more.
Based in Boise, the Idaho Humanities Council is a nonprofit, statewide organization dedicated to promoting greater public awareness, appreciation, and understanding of literature, history, philosophy, anthropology, and other humanities disciplines. It is the hope of the IHC to enlist public support for more projects, programs, and similar events exploring the humanities throughout Idaho.
The event is free, but registration is required: Register Here
Tech Class with Paul
Google Beginner Class – Curious about what Google can offer your digital lifestyle? Ever want to explore a bit deeper into its offerings but not sure where to start? Fear not – the first class in a two part series will show you where to begin.
Solarize Blaine Presents: Solar 101 Info Session
Come learn more about the Solarize Blaine program from the Sun Valley Institute for Resilience, a local effort on solar projects. Speakers will explain how the program works, what equipment is involved, local financing options, and tax incentives.
This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP to the Sun Valley Institute for Resilience here.
“Glory Denied? New American Operas” by Mark Junkert
Mark will discuss how new operas like Glory Denied are not getting their due, at least here in the United States. He will mention operas like Cold Mountain, Dead Man Walking, Moby Dick, etc.
MARK JUNKERT (General Director) joined Opera Idaho as Executive Director in 2008 and was named General Director in 2011. He came from New York City and Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. In St. Paul, he was Managing Director of Skylark Opera. Concurrently, he served as Executive Director of the Martina Arroyo Foundation, a New York-based organization dedicated to training young opera singers. Mark has also held executive and marketing director positions with The Collegiate Chorale in New York, The National Lutheran Choir in Minneapolis and Augsburg Fortress, a publisher in Minneapolis. A native of Minnesota, Mark studied voice and opera in the Graduate School of Music at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, studying with William Warfield. He received a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the University of Denver. At Opera Idaho he has directed productions of Pagliacci, Hansel and Gretel and Amahl and the Night Visitors. He has served as a judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions in Pocatello, as well as for the Sun Valley Opera Vocal Competition in Seattle. Mark has lectured extensively for The Osher Institute at Boise State University, the Boise City Department of Arts & History, various area clubs and libraries, and before every Met –Live in HD broadcast and every Opera Idaho opera.
A Reading by Iranian Author Shahrnush Parsipur
Born and raised in Tehran, Parsipur received her B.A. in sociology from Tehran University in 1973 and studied Chinese language and civilization at the Sorbonne from 1976 to 1980. Her first book was Tupak-e Qermez (The Little Red Ball, 1969). As of the late 1980s, Parsipur received considerable attention in Tehran literary circles, with the publication of several of her stories and a lengthy interview in “Donya-ye Sokhanmagazine”. Her second novel was Touba va ma’na-ye Shab (Touba and the Meaning of Night, 1989), which she wrote after spending four years and seven months in prison. In 1990, she published a short novel, again consisting of connected stories, called Zanan Bedun-e Mardan (Women without Men), which she had finished in the late 1970s. The Iranian government banned Women without Men in the mid-1990s and put pressure on the author to desist from such writing. Early in 1990, Parsipur finished her fourth novel, a 450-page story of a female Don Quixote called Aql-e abi’rang (Blue-colored Reason), which remained unavailable as of early 1992. In 1994, she came to the United States and wrote Prison Memoir, her story of her time in prison. In 1996 she wrote her fifth novel Shiva, a science fiction novel. In 1999 she published her sixth novel, Maajerahaaye Saadeh Va Kuchake Ruhe Deraxat (The Plain and Small Adventures of the Spirit of the Tree). In 2002, she published her seventh novel, Bar Baale Baad Neshastan (On the wings of Wind).
Shahrnush Parsipur currently resides in the United States. She is the recipient of the first International Writers Project Fellowship from the Program in Creative Writing and the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.
