For Oscar completists

Cornell Cinema provides a rare opportunity each year to see all of the Oscar Nominated Shorts, and features three programs of short films this week in anticipation of the Academy Awards ceremony Feb. 9.

Oscar Shorts: Animation screens Jan. 31 at 6:45 p.m., Feb. 1 at 9:15 p.m. and Feb. 2 at 4:30 p.m., with the five nominees and three additional films from the U.S., Ireland and France. Oscar Shorts: Live Action screens Jan. 31 at 9 p.m. and Feb. 2 at 1:45 p.m.; Oscar Shorts: Documentary screens Feb. 4 at 6:45 p.m.

Cornell Cinema has five of the 2020 Oscar nominees for Best Picture on the big screen this semester, including Taika Waititi’s comedy “Jojo Rabbit,” Feb. 7 at 9 p.m. and Feb. 8 at 6:45 and 9:30 p.m. Coming up: “Joker,” Feb. 13 and 15; “Parasite,” Feb. 27-March 1; Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women,” April 17-18; and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time … In Hollywood,” April 29.

Also showing this week: The Ithaca premiere of “Synonyms,” winner of the Golden Bear at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival, Feb. 5 at 6:45 p.m., with a post-screening discussion led by Laurent Dubreuil, professor of French, Francophone and comparative literature in the Department of Romance Studies. The film, directed by Nadav Lapid (“The Kindergarten Teacher”), follows an Israeli (Tom Mercier) struggling to reinvent himself in Paris.

Accessible rock climbing

The Lindseth Climbing Center at Cornell is hosting Adaptive Rock Climbing events, for people with physical disabilities, on the first Saturday of each month, starting Feb. 1 from 2-4 p.m. in Bartels Hall.

The recurring event is free and open to all community members with disabilities, as well as their friends and caregivers.

Climbing is for anyone, and offers both mental and physical challenges for beginners and experts alike. The climbing center provides staff support, instruction and special gear in the form of adaptive systems, with dedicated staff for belaying and coaching. They will work with climbers’ abilities to help them achieve their goals.

First-time visitors to the climbing center can view an orientation video in advance and save time by completing a waiver to bring to the event.

Outdoor adventure on film

The Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour returns to campus Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. and Feb. 2 at 3 p.m. in Bailey Hall, with different big-screen adventure, environmental, action and travel films screening each day.

Sponsored by Cornell Outdoor Education, the festival follows filmmakers’ journeys to exotic locations, visiting remote landscapes and mountain cultures; and outdoor sports, from paddling the wildest waters to climbing the highest peaks.

General admission tickets are $20 at the door; $14 in advance per day or $24 for screenings both days, available at Cornell Outdoor Education, B01 Bartels Hall, or online at Baileytickets.com. The film festival is co-sponsored by South Hill Cider.

Campus voices

The Tatkon Center for First-Year Students and Mann Library have organized a collaborative exhibition, on display starting Feb.3 at four locations on campus.

“Voices on Goodness, Gratitude and Belonging” features photographs and short answers given by students and other Cornell community members to four questions:

• “What does doing good in the world mean to you?” (Feb. 3 to March 31 in the Physical Sciences Building);
• “What are you grateful for?” (Feb. 3 to May 15 in the Tatkon Center in Balch Hall);
• “What does belonging at Cornell mean to you?” (Feb. 3 to March 31 in the Mann Library Gallery); and
• “What kind of world do you want to live in?” (Feb. 17 to March 13 in the Jill Stuart Gallery, Human Ecology Building; a preview of the gallery exhibit will go on display Feb. 3 in the Human Ecology Commons).

Photojournalist and peace activist John Noltner visited the campus in October to photograph volunteer contributors to the project, including members of the Classes of 2022 and 2023 and participants on West Campus and at Mann Library. Noltner’s work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Forbes, the New York Daily News and other publications.

“The portraits are beautiful, and the accompanying words give us an authentic sampling of the spirit and the hopes and dreams of our campus community,” said Margherita Fabrizio, the Jack and Rilla Neafsey Director of the Tatkon Center. “In this way I think the work provides comfort and optimism for the larger challenges of our time.”

A Share the Love Day reception will be held Feb. 13, 3:30-5 p.m. at each site, with light Valentine’s Day refreshments.

Lecture on Alaskan ecosystems

Suresh Sethi, courtesy assistant professor of natural resources, lectures on “The Changing Beauty of Alaskan Ecosystems,” Feb. 5 at 4 p.m. in the Kendal at Ithaca Auditorium, 2230 N. Triphammer Road, Ithaca. The community is invited.

Sethi is a quantitative ecologist whose research in Alaska and around the world addresses resource management in aquatic and marine systems.

The event is part of a free monthly lecture series at Kendal featuring Cornell faculty, presented by Cornell’s Adult University.

Poetry and fiction reading

Fiction writer Emily Fridlund and poet Joanie Mackowski of the Department of English faculty will be featured in the Richard Cleaveland Memorial Reading, Feb. 6 at 4:30 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, 132 Goldwin Smith Hall.

The event is free and open to the public; American Sign Language interpretation will be provided. A reception and book signing will follow in the English Lounge, 258 Goldwin Smith Hall.

Fridlund’s first novel, “History of Wolves,” is set in her native Minnesota and was a finalist for the 2017 Man Booker Prize and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. The novel earned Fridlund the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction and the Great Lakes Colleges Association’s New Writers Award. 

“Catapult,” her debut story collection, won the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction in 2015. Her fiction has appeared in Boston Review, ZYZZYVA, Southwest Review, Painted Bride Quarterly and other literary journals. 

Mackowski is the author of two poetry collections – “The Zoo” and “View from a Temporary Window.” She is a recipient of the Emily Dickinson Prize from the Poetry Society of America, and awards from the Kate and Kingsley Tufts Foundation and the Rona Jaffe Foundation. Her poems have been included in Best American Poetry 2007, Best American Poetry 2009 and The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets; and published in such journals as The Yale Review, Raritan, New England Review and Poetry.

The Cleaveland Memorial Reading provides an opportunity for faculty writers to share their work with the community and their students. It was created in 2002 by family and friends of Richard Cleaveland ’74 and is part of the Barbara & David Zalaznick Creative Writing Reading Series, presented by the Department of English Creative Writing Program.