Hitchcock’s Lessons in Love
HtichCon '21: What’s It All about, Alfie?
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19m
What is the best way to live? For millennia, philosophers, poets and priests have scratched and clawed at this central human question—and for all of it, it might seem we’ve hardly budged an inch. How to live and love is a central theme within Hitchcock’s films as well. The wisdom they contain is as profound and insightful and for the 21st century as it was on the day of their debut.
President & Host, HitchCon. An independent scholar known online as the Alfred Hitchcock Geek, Joel is an award-winning filmmaker and publisher of "The Hitchcockian Quarterly." His fascination with the Master of Cinema commenced at age 12 and never stopped, eventuating in hundreds of scholarly articles, chapters and essays. As a film essayist, Joel adds his personal history to his scholarship, blending the two with special effects that re-examine the duality of subject and object, the imaginal and the real. His latest such film, "Spellbound by L’Amour Fou," won Best Short Documentary at the Medusa Film Festival. He is also producer and director of three essay film series: "How to Watch Hitchcock" (2018-19), "Freak the Geek" (2018-current) and "Alfred Hitchcock, Master of the Surreal" (2019-current). Joel and his partner, Christy La Guardia, live with their beagle, Charlie, in Olympia, Washington.
Up Next in HtichCon '21: What’s It All about, Alfie?
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Right from the Start: Tests of Love i...
In the director’s premier film, 1925’s silent "The Pleasure Garden," we indeed learn something useful, even meaningful, about life and love as Hitchcock’s protagonists turn travails into opportunities, not for greed and covetousness, but for emotional growth—and perhaps even love.
Marc is Profes...
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A Basket of Deplorables: The Possessi...
Hitchcock’s villains often contrast, deepen and clarify the characters of his protagonists and their embodiment—often attained during the film—of true love. As these antagonists illustrate negatively, love has to do with giving, not taking; with self-abnegation rather than assertion of ego.
Lesl...
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Friday Morning Q&A
Thomas Leitch moderates audience Q&A with presenters Joel Gunz, Marc Strauss, and Lesley Brill.
Thomas Leitch is the author of "Find the Director and Other Hitchcock Games" and "The Encyclopedia of Alfred Hitchcock," co-editor of "The Companion to Alfred Hitchcock." Professor of English and Unid...
