“War Talks” Series Kicks Off With Peter Davis’ Award-winning Vietnam War Film, October 11

Posted on: September 30, 2017

CASTINE, Maine—Filmmaker and writer Peter Davis will introduce and discuss his film Hearts and Minds (1974), the Oscar-winning documentary on the Vietnam War, on Wednesday, October 11, at 7:00 p.m. at the Maine Maritime Academy Alfond Student Center. Davis’s talk and film is the first of five “War Talks” on the human experience of wars around the globe hosted by the MMA Arts and Sciences Department in conjunction with the course, Documenting War Around the World. All events are free and open to the public.

A longstanding resident of Castine, Peter Davis won the Oscar for Best Documentary (Hearts and Minds) in 1975, followed by other award-winning projects in film, periodicals, and between hardcovers. He wrote his first novel last year, Girl of My Dreams, which was designated “Best Summer Read” by Slate.com and by Vogue. Among his many credits are multiple Emmy awards, a Pulitzer Prize nomination, and Sundance Film Festival selections and awards. Peter Davis has taught at Yale and The New School, which in 2006 extended to him their coveted Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking Award. His articles have appeared in the Boston Globe, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Woman, Esquire, and Huffington Post, among others, and his books have focused on politics, the economy, and the military. His reporting has covered conflicts in Nicaragua, Vietnam, Prague, El Salvador, Iraq, and the United States.

“War Talks” series events will be held on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. in the 1954 Lecture Hall at the Alfond Student Center on the Maine Maritime Academy campus in Castine.

The full “War Talks” series features (REVISED as of NOVEMBER 1, 2017):
· Peter Davis, filmmaker and writer, October 11
· Captain Nathan Gandy of Maine Maritime Academy, October 18
· Writer Sarah Smiley, November 8
· Adria Horn, Director of Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services, November 15
· Educator Joseph Miller, University of Maine and ROTC, December 6

Maine Maritime Academy is a co-educational, public college on the coast of Maine offering 22 programs of study in engineering, management, science, and transportation. The college serves approximately 950 undergraduate and graduate students in career-oriented degree programs. Year after year, the job placement rate for MMA graduates exceeds 90 percent within 90 days of graduation. The college is consistently recognized for providing a high-value education by organizations such as the Brookings Institution, U.S. News and World Report, and Money Magazine, which ranked MMA the number-one Best Public College in America in 2014 and 2015. For more information, visit mainemaritime.edu.