(LITTLE ROCK, AR) – The Arkansas Arts Center presents the Spring Film Series: The Art of Poetry at the Arkansas Arts Center.  Three films focused on poetry will be shown February 1, March 7 and April 4, 2012, at 7 p.m.  A reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. for each film.  Admission is free.

The first film of the series will be shown on Wednesday, February 1, and is titled The Raven.   “The wheels of horror churn amid touches of humor” (The Film Daily) in this twisted tale of sorcery inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic poem.  Starring Vincent Price and Jack Nicholson, The Raven (1963) is directed by Roger Corman and is about a magician who is turned into a raven and asks a former sorcerer for help.

The second film of the series will be shown on Wednesday, March 7, and is titled SlamNation.  This documentary film, directed by Paul Devlin, follows the 1996 National Poetry Slam held in Portland, Oregon. The film is both a good introduction to the weird world of slam poetry and a hip look at who’s who for performance poetry insiders.

The last film of the series will be shown on Wednesday, April 4, and is titled Poetry.  This South Korean film, directed by Lee Chang-dong, won Best Screenplay at Cannes Film Festival in 2010 and was hailed as “one of the heartening glories of the film going year” by the Chicago Tribune.  Poetry portrays Mija, a beautiful woman in her sixties, who takes care of her ungrateful grandson and makes a living cleaning house for an elderly man. On a whim, Mija enrolls in a poetry class and begins a personal quest to find the perfect words to describe her feelings. However, she’s plagued by the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and the discovery of a horrific crime.  Poetry is in Korean with English subtitles.

For more information, call 501-372-4000 or visit www.arkarts.com.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Contact: 501-372-4000

Location: Arkansas Arts Center – 9th and Commerce, Little Rock, AR  72202. Gallery Hours:  10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday - Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday Closed Monday & Major Holidays

Arkansas Arts Center programs are supported in part by: the City of Little Rock; Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts.