Tickets sold out within the first hour of public sales for next week’s Chicago Humanities Festival event, where actor James Franco will debut his new poetry collection.
The presentation, to be held at Northwestern’s Chicago campus on Feb. 19, will be filmed and made available on the festival’s YouTube site within a week for anyone unable to attend, said festival spokeswoman Anna Marie Wilharm said.
“We really want as many people as possible to see our programs,” Wilharm said. “The recording of the event is just another way of us reaching more people that miss it.”
Franco, the star of popular films “127 Hours” and “Spring Breakers,” will speak about his 2010 short film “Herbert White,” which is inspired by a poem written by poet Frank Bidart. The event will also feature Franco’s new poetry collection, “Directing Herbert White,” which focuses on his filmmaking experience.
“It will be very interesting to see the two poets track Herbert White from a poem to a film and then back to a poem,” Poetry Foundation President Robert Polito, said.
Polito, the event moderator, said the night will focus on the connection between both Bidart and Franco and on Franco’s interpretations of the “Herbert White” poem.
“The program will be an animated conversation on poetry and the experience of adapting a work of art into another medium,” Polito said.
During the event, there will be a screening of the short film and poetry readings by both Bidart and Franco. A book signing will follow the program, but attendees are required to pre-order a book in order to participate.
McCormick freshman Jessica Amaya said she is excited for the event because it will give her the opportunity to see Franco in a different light.
“I’ve always loved James Franco for his movie roles, but I want to see if I like him as a poet,” Amaya said. “Plus, seeing his collaboration with Bidart will be interesting since they’re two completely different artists.”
Weinberg freshman Marco Rodriguez said he is looking forward to seeing Franco’s personal filmmaking skills, in contrast to the movies he has starred in over the past years.
“This will be the first time I see the intellectual side of James Franco since I’m used to his over-the-top humor in movies,” Rodriguez said. “It’s not everyday you get to see an actor come down to present his own work like this.”
The festival’s winter programming will also feature events with authors Karen Russell (Weinberg ’03) and Mohsin Hamid. Tickets for those events can be purchased online.
The poetry event, “James Franco and Frank Bidart, Off the Shelf,” will be held at 8 p.m. at the School of Law’s Thorne Auditorium, 375 E. Chicago Ave.
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