It’s almost time for classes. I must say, this should be a good year. I’m sponsoring the poet Suheir Hammad as a Copeland Fellow, and I think the group in general is pretty fabulous. I hosted the filmmaker Prashant Bhargava (dir., Sangam, 2004) here in 2006, as he worked on developing his new film, Patang.

In Amherst Cinema news, Charles Burnett (dir., Killer of Sheep, 1977) should be coming this Fall, and I am hoping to get him to come for a class visit too. If you’re interested, check out the trailers after the jump!

Finally, I am also co-hosting a visiting scholar, Peter Simatei. Prof. Simatei will in the U.S. this semester as part of Five College, Inc.’s African Scholars Program. He hails from the theater department at Moi University, which is in Eldoret, Kenya, and will be housed in the U.S. at Smith College. His project is on the East Asian Diaspora in East Africa, which he’ll be giving a talk on in November.

And here’s the trailer for Burnett’s Killer of Sheep:

And click here to watch the trailer for Bhargava’s upcoming Patang.

See, summer is ending, but there’s plenty to look forward to!