SPS 2012: One Week, Four Different Movies

In the span of one week, the St. Albans School of Public Service Class of 2012 has seen three different movies in three different settings, with another movie event yet to come to cap off this weekend! 

Film-maker Michael Pack

To start the weekend off, documentary film-makers Michael Pack and Gina Cappo Pack visited the St. Albans School of Public Service to screen their documentary The Rodney King Incident: Race and Justice in America.  The Packs are well known for their innovative approach to documentaries about historical subjects, some in the realm of recent history, such as the Rodney King Incident in the early 1990s, and some going back to the era of the founding fathers (their films Rediscovering George Washington and Rediscovering Alexander Hamilton have both aired on PBS).  (The Packs are also known around SPS as the parents of SPS 2012 student Thomas!)  After SPS 2012 watched the screening of the film, which delved into the relationship between truth and myth emerging from media and popular treatment of the Rodney King incident, the Packs took numerous questions from SPS 2012 about everything from the process of film-making in general to the genesis and nature of their Rodney King project. 

The very next night, many of the SPS 2012 students took the opportunity on an optional basis to visit the Georgetown University campus to see a documentary in an annual summer film series, Voices of Palestine, by and about Palestinians.  After viewing this week's film, Hip Hop Is Bigger Than the Occupation, which chronicled tours by hip-hop artists through the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the group stayed for a panel discussion by some of the artists.

Most recently, last night SPS 2012 headed over the Potomac River to Arlington, Virginia to the Rosslyn Outdoor Film Festival for a screening of the Washington D.C.-based classic, All the President's Men.  All went well except that the last six minutes of the movie was cut off when the park's sprinkler systems went off.  (Hmmm . . . coincidence? )  In keeping with the Presidential Election theme, there is still one more movie to come: this Sunday evening the St. Albans School of Public Service 2012 will watch the movie Recount, an HBO dramatization of the events in Florida in the 2000 Presidential Election starring Kevin Spacey as Vice President Gore's Chief of Staff, Ron Klain. 

So, turn out the lights and get out the popcorn . . .it's almost time for another Movie Night at the St. Albans School of Public Service!