The Search for Meaning: Home, Hope, and Identity

BOSTON and NEWTON, Mass., Feb. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Fourth Annual Hollywood Scriptures Film Series, a collaboration of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), and the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (MSPP), will take place March 5-9, 2014 at the MFA in Alfond Auditorium.  The series was created to demonstrate how cinema can enhance our understanding of human nature. This year's theme is the Search for Meaning: Home, Hope, and Identity. A panel discussion by psychologists will follow each screening and CE credit will be available for psychologists and other professionals.

Screening Details:

Cosmopolis by David Cronenberg
Wed, March 5, 6-8:30 pm

In this film viewers will follow a billionaire (Robert Pattinson) in a Manhattan limousine through a day in his life, a day that devolves into an odyssey with a cast of characters who tear his world apart. Cronenberg revisits subjects that fascinate him: how the organic and the psychological are inextricably intertwined, society's anxieties and phobias, and letting repressed impulses and paranoia run wild.

Herman's House by Angad Bhalla
Fri, March 7, 6-7:30 pm

This documentary examines the life of Herman Wallace who has lived 40 years in solitary confinement and how an unusual art project gave him a chance to express his struggle. Artist Jackie Sumell asked Wallace to create his dream home using a full-scale model of his cell. What began as a game became an interrogation of justice and punishment in America.

Departures by Yojiro Takita
Sat, March 8, 11 am – 1:30 pm

Departures examines the rituals surrounding death in Japan with the story of an unemployed cellist who accepts a job as an undertaker. Despite the negative stigma that comes with the position, Daigo begins to take great pride in performing the precise and graceful ritual to ensure the dead receive a proper send-off.  

Homegoings by Christine Turner
Sun, March 9, 11 am – 1:30 pm

Homegoings shows us, through the eyes of funeral director Isaiah Owens, the beauty and grace of African American funerals. Filmed at Owens Funeral Home in New York City's historic Harlem neighborhood, Homegoings takes a close look at the rarely seen world of undertaking in the black community, where funeral rites draw on a rich palette of tradition, history, and celebration. Discussion with the director follows screening.  

Ticket prices: $9 for MFA members, students and seniors; $11 for general admission. Discount matinee prices (weekdays until 5 p.m., weekends until 12:30 p.m.): $7 for MFA members, students, and seniors; $8 general admission. $5 to all screenings for University members with valid student ID.

Tickets may be purchased at www.mfa.org/film, by calling the MFA Ticketing Line at 800.440.6975, or in person at any MFA ticket desk.

Screenings are in Alfond Auditorium (AA) in the Art of the Americas Wing. Alfond is accessed most easily from the Fenway entrance.

Assistive-listening devices are available for all screenings. All films in English or with English subtitles.

All dates and times are subject to change; please visit www.mfa.org/film for the most up-to-date schedule.

MSPP provides Continuing Education credits for psychologists, social workers, nurses, educators and other mental health professionals. In this case, each movie/discussion combination will be 2.5 credits.

The series and the MFA/MSPP collaboration were created by Steven Nisenbaum, a psychologist and lawyer who passionately believes in cinematic arts as an avenue of understanding the human condition. In his clinical work, Nisenbaum integrates selected film segments in discussions with his patients and notes how quickly patients talk about their own lives after viewing a film. "Cinema is a universal language," he says, "and we have especially utilized this form of storytelling in selecting the films of the Hollywood Scriptures Film Series."

About the MFA—The MFA is your opportunity to experience great cinema! See the best of contemporary world cinema and the newest indie releases throughout the year. Catch conversations with directors, see future award winners, and discover emerging talent. Lose yourself in a world of cinema available nowhere else in Boston. The Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Film Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is funded by the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation.

About MSPP—Founded in 1974 as an independent graduate school of psychology, MSPP provides unique training programs for mental health professionals at the doctoral, master's and certificate level, each designed to immerse students in both academic study and real-life clinical experience. Constantly assessing and evolving to meet the needs of of a rapidly changing and increasingly diverse society, MSPP currently offers programs to train highly skilled professionals to care for Latinos, veterans, children and adolescents and families in a variety of settings, including the schools, the courts, the community and the workplace, among others.

SOURCE Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology