As Film Studies becomes Brandeis' newest major, some students may be noticing the Film department's plethora of events as well. Last week, actor Richard Jenkins made an appearance at Brandeis for a question-and-answer session following a screening of his Oscar-nominated film The Visitor. And, this Thursday, actress Melissa Leo is coming to Brandeis to talk about her recent film, Frozen River, while actor Mark Ruffalo will speak on Saturday night about his upcoming film, What Doesn't Kill You.Where are all these events coming from?

Professor Alice Kelikian, chair of the Film Studies department, has been organizing high-profile film events for some time now. Some may remember last month's screening of the documentary The Terror's Advocate with the filmmaker, Barbet Schroeder, or the screenings of both Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure and Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World; all of these happenings were organized by Prof. Kelikian.

Says Kelikian, "My whole role in all of this is to encourage a variegated and rich film culture at Brandeis."

"I don't just want to do art house cinema. I don't want to just do indie film. I want to also include Hollywood," she said.

Recent alumnus Scott Feinberg is helping Kelikian add Hollywood players to her equation. Feinberg, who began blogging about the Oscar race a few years ago, now blogs about film for the Los Angeles Times, which often features taped question-and-answer sessions between its bloggers and high-profile actors. Said Kelikian, "I thought, what better opportunity to have some of these encounters happen at Brandeis? We're taking advantage of Scott's availability to include actors and actresses [in our program of events]."

"Brandeis, I knew, was looking to do exciting things with film and was welcome to having exciting things going on," Feinberg said. "The invitation is from Brandeis to these Oscar contenders, and I'm the middle man. . We videotape the Q&A that follows the screening, and that goes on my blog."

The two screenings taking place this weekend may not be quite the household names that The Dark Knight and Iron Man may have been this year, but they certainly aren't lacking in pedigree. Frozen River, which follows the stories of two working-class women who smuggle illegal immigrants across the border between New York and Canada in order to make money, won the Grand Jury Prize at the recent Sundance Film Festival and was the first DVD screener mailed to Academy members this year. What Doesn't Kill You, a film about two childhood friends from South Boston who get caught up in crime, garnered a lot of praise after its appearance at the Toronto Film Festival in September. According to Feinberg, it's a suspenseful Boston crime drama in the vein of The Departed and Gone Baby Gone. "It's not a slow drama; it's going to keep people on the edge of their seats," he says.

Next semester, the Film department plans to continue its slew of high-profile events with a premiere of Stories on Human Rights, a documentary put together by the non-governmental organization Art for the World, to take place on the 60th anniversary of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "We're doing a bit of everything," says Kelikian.

Some students may wonder where the Film Department comes up with the resources to plan such elaborate events. The Edie and Lew Wasserman Fund, which paid for the creation of the Wasserman Cinematheque, where these events take place, is sponsoring all the events. "Lew Wasserman was basically the biggest agent in Hollywood history," says Feinberg. The Wasserman Fund sponsors a variety of programs across the United States as well as Brandeis' film events. According to Kelikian, the Wasserman Cinematheque, located in the Sachar International Center, is the largest university cinematheque in the Northeast outside of New York City. At 240 seats, the auditorium, which boasts a 35mm projector, is larger than the Harvard Film Archive and Boston University's screening rooms.

"I'm very hopeful that students will come out and attend and take advantage of these really exciting screenings and Q&As," Feinberg said. "If they do, I'm convinced that it will make it much easier for us to appeal to other filmmakers to come in the future.