Virginia Film Festival, U.Va.'s Harrison Institute to Screen 'The Good Earth'

October 29, 2010 — The University of Virginia's Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature and Culture and the Virginia Film Festival will offer a special screening of "The Good Earth," a 1937 film based on Pearl S. Buck's classic novel about China.

The film will be introduced by Charles Laughlin, professor of East Asian Studies in U.Va.'s College of Arts & Sciences, who teaches courses on Chinese literature and film. The event is free and open to the public.

The screening, on Nov. 5 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., will be in the auditorium of the Harrison Institute and Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, adjacent to Alderman and Clemons libraries.

Directed by Sidney Franklin and starring Paul Muni and Luise Rainer, "The Good Earth" is an Academy Award-winning film about the life of a Chinese peasant family. It is based on the bestselling 1931 novel by Buck, a West Virginia native.

A first edition of the novel – with a signed inscription by the author – is on display in the library's newest exhibition, "Global Collections at the U.Va. Library: Engaging the World."

The event is sponsored by U.Va.'s Office of the Vice Provost for International Programs.

— By Jane Ford

Media Contact