Every time I walk out of the side door here onto the stage, I always think about how few people have actually seen this view.

And I absolutely love it.

A lot of people obviously sitting in here see it, but it's such a great view from here.

Sean, do you ever get bored just walking in here and looking at it?

It's very beautiful.

Never, never.

You know, and when we have artists come in, or if we're giving tours and we're always reminded about sort of how special this place is.

Yeah, it really is.

Ricky, I know with the with the Browning as well, you've got a lot going on there and a lot of Oscar nominated shorts that you're focused on.

Can you tell me a little bit about some of the cinema that you're going to be highlighting over the next month or so?

Of course, as an awards season, this is when, we show a lot of the films that were nominated for Oscars are almost nominated.

So you can have your ballot ready.

And we're doing a full weekend of three different programs.

The films that are nominated for best Animated Short, Best Live Action Short, and Best Documentary Short.

And they're great because you get a sample of the world, different filmmaking techniques and genres all in one setting.

A quick note that the animated shorts might seem kid friendly because they're animated.

But this year's nominations, aren't exactly, for elementary school kids.

So, Ricky, that's some of the things you have going on.

Browning.

Tell me about some of the live performances that we have here as well.

The the DeBartolo.

Sure.

So we're celebrating our 20th anniversary this year.

So this, second semester has been off to, a huge, huge success.

A number of sellout, performances.

And we're continuing that, with a lot of collaboration.

The next performance coming up is the Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra playing with the Sylvan Trio.

What's great about the Sylvan Trio is the cellist is Josh Avery, who is the executive director of the Music Village.

Oh, yeah.

Here in South Bend.

So a great way to connect with the community, with Josh's professional, trio, which is an interesting make up, cello, a piano and a flute.

So that's not necessarily the traditional trio make up.

So they're doing a special concert with the Notre Dame Symphony here.

And the end of February, I know around, Saint Patrick's Day, just after you have a traditional Irish band coming in as well.

That's right.

Altan.

So, again, as part of the 20th anniversary, we like to bring we sort of looked back at some of our favorite artists, and Altan was one of them.

They've been here a couple of times, traditional Irish music.

They've been around for about 40 years or so.

Yeah.

So they'll be coming back just after Saint Patrick's Day to help celebrate, you know, the Fighting Irish.

So it's funny with traditional Irish music because if you listen to it on CD, it's not as amazing.

But when you see them playing together, it's one of my favorite things to see.

So maybe I should actually come for that Ricky.

Okay.

I'm a 20 month old baby.

It's hard to get out of the house.

Okay.

That weekend as well.

You, have another performer the day after all.

And tell me a little bit about her.

Her name is Natalie Joachim She's a flute player.

She was part of an ensemble based in Chicago called eighth Blackbird.

Who's won a number of Grammy.

So, contemporary chamber ensemble.

She has sort of broken out to do some of her own work.

She is of Haitian descent, so her performance is actually her singing, playing electronic music, all sort of telling her heritage story about her work, or her life in Haitian and Haiti.

Excuse me and Ricky, from all of the, films that you have, is there any that really stand out for you as some of your favorites that are like a must see, or are they do they all have that appeal to you?

You know, they I think they all have the potential to be appealing to different, you know, sectors.

I certainly have some winners.

I won't show my hand always, because I don't want people to think like, oh, I did.

My favorite was a his favorite.

But if you come, I, you know, I disclose that stuff.

But we have a lot of interesting new films.

We have the brutalist, which is a long run.

It's over 3.5 hours.

It has an intermission.

But the Jewish Federation here in town will use it as an opportunity as well, to launch and discuss their film festival that will be coming in May, which is a great annual event we have here.

We have Mike Lee's new film, Hard Truth over spring break.

We stay open and we keep showing films, even if campus is a little more dormant.

Jennifer Reeder, who is an academic, she's a professor, but also a great filmmaker, is coming with her short films, and she'll be in conversation with Scott a German visiting professor here at the Brazilian film that has a lot of traction.

I'm still here about the disappearances.

Will be playing after break, as well as universal language, which is this kind of fantasia, about what would happen if you make an Abbas Kiarostami film in Canada.

And Canada's two national languages are French and Persian.

So Sean, we talked about March 22nd and 23rd.

What about later into March and then even into April as well?

What's going on around there?

Again, sort of our year is about collaboration.

So with, the Notre Dame Shakespeare department, we are collaborating with the actors from the London stage in their production of hamlet.

So they're five actors.

They play all characters within hamlet, the very sort of pared down presentation.

So it's really about the text.

I mean, it's really fascinating to see these five, five, people play all of the dozens of characters within, a Shakespeare play.

So that's coming up at the end of March, moving into the beginning of April, we have, a couple of performances, one by Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn, Wu Fei plays this 2000 year old, the Gao Zhang, stringed Chinese instrument, but she pairs it with Abigail Washburn, who plays the banjo.

So you have these two stringed instruments, you know, continents apart, centuries apart.

And just this similarity on sort of the way these instruments tell their sort of cultural, tales is fascinating, the way they put it together.

It's obviously, this probably sounds silly, but instruments seem to play and the variation of instruments and using them in different ways seem to be, big themes.

Right.

What you're talking about as you talk about not the traditional trio.

And then it's pairing this with a banjo, it doesn't seem like something that will be doing.

So it just shows how, you know, how how we think things are so different when in fact they they relate so well, together.

I think that's, you know, sort of a theme throughout the season.

Ricky, can you tell me about some of these live performances that you want to talk about?

Yeah.

We have, we are, streaming in a live performance of Beethoven's Fidelio, if you like, the prison break opera.

And there's also a live score as part of the for a music festival that is put on by IU South Ben and Ryan Keefe, Olivier.

And they'll be live scoring with electronic digital, cookie music.

They will be live scoring, The Terror of Mechagodzilla, which is kind of a B-side in the Godzilla canon, but great and will be a very interesting combination of their music and a classic film when it comes to live performances, when people are watching them, are they kind of getting up and dancing and getting into it?

Or most people just kind of like, what's the atmosphere like during a live performance?

Like, I am no one else, so it's a little awkward, but, people can, you know, you can be you.

Yeah.

Do your thing in there.

Absolutely.

You want to get up and dance?

Going up and dance.

So please, what is this?

Learning beyond the classics is so learning about the classics is a, a course that the community can take, alongside Notre Dame students and various others in the community.

There are two hours to get in.

We have readings, we have introductions, and we have experts who either zoom in or come to the cinema to talk about, a particular subject.

So we are looking at film noir, and this is being led by Professor Emerita Suzanne Omer, and her take on film noir is showing an American version and is it is very much an American genre and then an international analog.

So we'll be starting with a classic Double Indemnity and then a kind of a French, facsimile of that in some ways, which is Lee Miles Elevator to the gallows.

And so we'll have eight of those, starting, in later March.

And you can sign up and take the class and see some great film noir from not only United States, but around the world.

Awesome.

Sean, we're obviously very focused on, March.

And then the start of April is there, like a little sneak peek into anything throughout the year that's also coming up that we didn't talk about this, but I'm just throwing it out there.

Is there any little sneak peek into put it on your calendar.

This is coming up this year.

So again, as the anniversary, year, we're looking back some of our greatest artists.

Nathan Gunn is an opera singer from South Bend.

He's performed here a number of times, but he's also good friends with Mandy Patinkin, who folks may remember from The Princess Bride.

He's on shows like homeland and, Criminal Minds.

But.

But he's a Broadway singer.

He's won some Tonys as well.

So Mandy Patinkin will be performing here with Nathan Gunn in the middle of April.

Awesome.

I know, emphasizing, a lot of, kids and families and documentaries and things going on.

Could you tell me about those as well?

Yeah, we have both.

So we have a slate of documentaries.

Again, these are films that were put forward and nominated for Oscars.

We have no other land, from Palestine.

We have porcelain wire from the Nanavati Institute for European Studies here, which is, about the conflict in Ukraine, the war there, and then Dahomey, which is about art repatriation, back from France, back in Africa, and then Kinshasa as well.

Every Sunday at 1 p.m., we have professor Pfinklepfunder Sunday dollar films as a dollar to get in a dollar for pop, a dollar popcorn.

These are films that are good for all ages.

And we have the 5000 fingers of doctor T. Doctor Seuss's only some that was panned and hated.

And recently reevaluated, and people like it beside the, earwig and the edge from Studio Ghibli.

And then lastly, on Saint Patrick's Eve, we have song of the sea from Ireland.

Nice.

Well, lots of opportunities for the community to come out and, enjoy the campus of Notre Dame.

So thank you so much for allowing me to be here today and talk to you both.

And thanks for choosing and putting a lot of thought into what you do choose, because I'm sure it's a lot of work to pick what will be the right things to cultivate these great lineups.

So thanks very much.