Oscar-Winning Director Alexander Payne to Host Digital Seminar On Making and Watching Film

LOS ANGELES, June 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Two-time Oscar-winning writer and director Alexander Payne (Sideways, The Descendants) will be the guest at a digital seminar about things learned during his career as a filmmaker and film buff. The online format will welcome international viewers who want to learn more about how to create and critique films.

Five Things I've Learned About Film Making and Film Watching will see Payne in conversation with Richard Peña, professor emeritus of Columbia University and former Lincoln Center Film Society program director.

The discussion will begin with five ways in which Payne thinks about film, but there's no telling where it will end. "You'll see why film lovers seek one another out – to kibitz about film treasures and film technique, about how to look at movies, of course to gossip, and the discussions always spin in the most delightful, unforeseen directions," Payne wrote in the class synopsis. "All of it comes from the dire need to share the sheer joy of loving movies, which I am convinced is an extension of loving life itself."

Five Things I've Learned About Film Making and Film Watching will air live on Sunday, June 6 at 4 p.m. ET. Tickets cost $40 and give ongoing access to the program after the live discussion ends.

About Alexander Payne:

Director and screenwriter Alexander Payne has a list of successful films behind him, including Sideways, The Descendants, Election, About Schmidt, Nebraska and Downsizing. He's won two Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Descendants (2012) and Sideways (2005.) His films have been nominated for 19 Oscars, and Payne has been nominated as Best Director for Nebraska, Sideways, and The Descendants.

Payne is known for his quirky Midwestern tales inspired by 70s American films that skillfully mix comedy and drama. Payne also serves on two film-related boards — Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation and the Telluride Film Festival — and on the Creative Committee of the Cinema Ritrovato Festival in Bologna, Italy.

SOURCE Alexander Payne