Film Adaptation: From Page to Screen

COLLIN COLLEGE AUTEUR FILM SERIES 2024-25

 

Beginning with Georges Méliès’ 1899 film Cinderella, literature has long been a rich source for filmmakers. Discussions about film adaptations, both by readers and scholars alike, are often prickly. Readers have a love-hate relationship with their favorite books on the big screen, just as scholars continue to debate the study of film adaptation and its goals over a century after the beginning of the genre. They have yet to arrive at a consensus concerning the aim of film adaptation and the criteria that determine an adaptation’s success as a literary retelling.

 

There is no doubt that film adaptations are some of the most popular movies, but is the goal simply to replicate the “original” text, or is the aim for the film to become a cinematic butterfly—for the story to be transformed into something entirely cinematic and, therefore, new? Can any film adaptation be perfectly faithful to a literary text? And if it can, does such a film do justice to the original story? What is the magical formula for an effective adaptation?

 

Are books inherently better than their filmic versions, or does each medium exist as its own text and offer its own strengths and limits?

 

Join us this year for the Auteur Film Series that celebrates page-to-screen adaptations as our Collin College community discusses the goals, features, and attributes of a film’s adaptive accomplishments.  

 

- Diana C. Gingo, Guest Director

.....

Each film will be followed by a panel discussion led by Collin College faculty and staff. The series supports the college’s core values of learning, creativity and involvement by engaging students through film and discussion.

 

All screenings are free and open to the public. Doors open 30 minutes before the film begins. Seating is limited. Some material may not be suitable for all audiences.

 

THE HATE U GIVE

7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024

Plano Campus Living Legends Conference Center

(PG-13, 2018, George Tillman, Jr., 132 minutes)

Presented in conjunction with the Black American Awareness Committee & the Banned Books Week Committee

Adapted from Angie Thomas’s debut novel of the same name, The Hate U Give tells the story of a teenager who witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood friend and must find her voice and stand up for what’s right.

 

THE PRINCESS BRIDE

7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024

Frisco Campus Conference Center

(PG, 1987, Rob Reiner, 98 minutes)

Presented in partnership with the Frisco Campus Honors Institute

Adapted from William Goldman’s 1973 novel, the movie has become a cult favorite. The beloved fairy tale adventure film features a memorable cast of characters and tells the story of Princess Buttercup and Wesley, her one true love.

 

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION

7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024

McKinney Campus Conference Center

(R, 1994, Frank Darabont, 142 minutes)

In this adaptation of Stephen King’s novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (1982), Andy Dufresne, an innocent man, is convicted of murder and sentenced to two life sentences in Shawshank State Penitentiary.

 

THE BOOK THIEF

7 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025

Frisco Campus Conference Center

(PG-13, 2013, Brian Percival, 131 minutes)

Presented in partnership with the Holocaust International Remembrance Day Exhibition Committee

An adaptation of Markus Zusak’s novel of the same name, the film tells the story of a girl in WWII Germany who embraces the power of books and reading as a means of survival.

 

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU

7 p.m., Tuesday, Mar. 11, 2025

McKinney Campus Conference Center

(PG-13, 1999, Gil Junger, 97 minutes)

Presented in conjunction with the Dignity Initiative in honor of Women’s History Month.

An adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew set in a modern American high school.

 

FIGHT CLUB

7p.m., Wednesday, Apr. 16, 2025

McKinney Campus Conference Center

(R, 1999, David Fincher, 139 minutes)

Presented in conjunction with Quest: An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Journal

Adapted from Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel, the film tells the story of a depressed insomniac and a soap salesman who form a fight club with strict rules.

 

Diana C. Gingo

Guest Director of the Collin College Auteur Film Series

Professor of English

 

Carolyn Perry

Director of the Collin College Auteur Film Series
Professor of Humanities and Film

 

The Auteur Film Series is supported by SAFAC and the Academic Affairs Division at Collin College.