The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art is focusing on the history of the local area with its next film screening.
The next "Life Interrupted" film series event, Oct. 25 at 5:30 p.m. and will show "Red Tails," a movie about a group of Tuskegee pilots serving in World War II.
Sunny Stalter, an Auburn University professor and creator of the "Life Interrupted" film series, said the film features a time that helped define America.
"It's another movie that shows just how tumultuous life was for Americans in the middle of the 20th century," Stalter said. "World War II was such an important time for the United States, a time that in a sense still defines how we think about ourselves as a nation."
Released in January 2012, "Red Tails" stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard and Ne-Yo and is about a group of pilots from Tuskegee and its struggles during World War II.
This installment of the film series brings it close to home, something Stalter said she likes seeing in the series.
"We love to show films set in the area," Stalter said. "We had "Norma Rae" in the last series, which was filmed in Opelika. I think it shows."
The film's message is similar to the current exhibition at JCSM.
"Like the Art Interrupted exhibition, the 'Life Interrupted' series looks at who and what counted as American in this period," Stalter said.
Introducing the movie and leading the discussion is Daniel Haulman, chief of the Organizational Histories Branch at the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
Jay Lamar, director of special projects in the Office of Undergraduate Studies, and Maiben Beard, outreach associate at the Carolina Draughon Marshall Center for the Arts and Humanities, met Haulman through his publisher, New South Books, and thought he would be a great person to include in the film series.
"We worked with them on previous book talks," Lamar said. "I think his perspective and his research will really deepen the experience of the film for people seeing it."
Lamar said she thinks Haulman's years of research are helpful to understanding the topic.
"Because he's been doing research on the Red Tails for years, he really knows that subject so well," Helms said.
"I think he'll really be able to bring additional information and insight into the film itself and into the story."
Directly before the film showing at 4 p.m., Haulman will lead a book talk about his book, "The Tuskegee Airman: an Illustrated History." Copies of the book will be available to buy and have signed at the book talk, Beard said.
"It always benefits us to know our past and to know about the people and the events because those people and events shaped who we are today," Lamar said. "In this case there are so many things you can talk about: civil rights; equity in the military; individual achievement. Those are just a few things that this particular story has a lot of bearing on."
Both the book talk and "Red Tails" film screening are free and open to the public.
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