Credit: Provided

Oscar shorts and ‘Cats!!’

Cornell Cinema will screen all of the past year’s Oscar-nominated short films in advance of the 88th Academy Awards ceremony this month. Live action shorts screen in Willard Straight Theatre Feb. 5 and 7; animated nominees, Feb. 5, 6 and 7; and documentaries, Feb. 9. A free Oscar Night Party with viewing of the ceremony will be Feb. 28 in the Bear’s Den, with fancy food, beverages, Oscar bingo and prizes.

One of Cornell Cinema’s most popular programs last year was the Internet Cat Video Festival. A second annual event Feb. 26 will cap a month-long series of cat-centric films. “Cats!!” features a witch and her talking cat in Hayao Miyazaki’s animated “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” an IthaKid Film Festival program Feb. 6 at 2 p.m., with the voices of Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman and Janeane Garafalo. Chris Marker’s reflection on mysterious cat images appearing in Paris, “The Case of the Grinning Cat,” screens Feb. 10; a houseboat full of cats figures in Jean Vigo’s romantic classic “L’Atalante,” Feb. 14; cats overrun the estate in “Grey Gardens,” Feb. 17; and there’s a sly feline cameo in Francois Truffaut’s “Day for Night,” Feb. 24.

‘Downton Abbey’ fashion

More than 100 items of clothing from the early 1900s are on display in “Hats, Shoes and Accessories of the ‘Downton Abbey’ Era,” through Feb. 29 at Tompkins County Public Library. The objects are on loan from the Cornell Costume and Textile Collection, The History Center in Tompkins County and the Lansing Historical Society.

Catherine Blumenkamp, MPS ’15, a fiber science and apparel design graduate, will lead a tour of the exhibition during “Downton Tea, Tour and Gossip,” Saturday, Feb. 6 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the library. “Downton Abbey”-themed costumes are encouraged at the free event, with tea, scones and muffins in the BorgWarner Room; predictions and hopes for the show’s final season; and the Ithaca Lace Guild demonstrating tatting and bobbin lace crochet.

Nuclear danger

The Foreign Policy Distinguished Speaker Series presents a lecture by Ira Helfand, M.D., “The Growing Danger of Nuclear War – and What We Can Do About It,” Monday, Feb. 8 at 5 p.m. in Lewis Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.

Helfand has published studies of the medical consequences of nuclear war and lectures internationally on the health effects and humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons. As co-founder and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility and co-president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, he presented the report “Nuclear Famine: One Billion People at Risk” at the 2012 Nobel Peace Laureates Summit in Chicago.

His lecture is organized by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and co-sponsored by the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, the Center for Transformative Action and Episcopal Peace Fellowship.

Marlee Matlin

Cornell Hillel’s Major Speaker Series presents Academy Award-winning actress Marlee Matlin, Monday, Feb. 8 at 5:30 p.m. in 155 Olin Hall. No tickets required; the event is free and open to the public.

Matlin’s presentation will be in American Sign Language and interpreted for the audience by her longtime interpreter, Jack Jason. For disability-related accommodations at the event, including reserved seating, email Jodi Tandet, Cornell Hillel program director.

In 1987, the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her debut film, “Children of a Lesser God,” made Matlin the only deaf performer and at 21 the youngest actress ever to win.

She made her Broadway debut in a revival of “Spring Awakening” in September 2015? and has a recurring role on the drama series “Switched at Birth.” Her television credits also include “The L Word,” “The West Wing,” “Seinfeld” and “Dancing with the Stars.” An advocate for the deaf community, Matlin also has written two novels and an autobiography, “I’ll Scream Later.”

History of slavery

Associate professor of history Edward Baptist gives a Chats in the Stacks book talk, Feb. 9 at 4:30 p.m. in 107 Olin Library. The talk is free and open to the public.

In “The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism,” Baptist shows how slavery contributed to the development of early 19th-century capitalism, enriching the South and driving the industrial boom in the North. The 2014 book includes slave narratives, plantation records, newspaper reports and accounts by politicians and escaped slaves. It recently received the 2015 Hillman Prize for Book Journalism and the Organization of American Historians’ 2015 Avery O. Craven Award.

Darwin’s tree of life

Evolutionary trees have been used throughout history to visually represent the idea that all life is genealogically linked. The next Science Cabaret explores their many shapes with “Reading the Tree of Life,” Tuesday, Feb. 9, from 7 to 8:15 p.m. at Coltivare, 235 S. Cayuga St., Ithaca. Free and open to the public.

The program features Rob Ross, science educator and paleontologist at the Cornell-affiliated Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) and Museum of the Earth.

It is part of “Darwin Days: The Tree of Life” Feb. 8-13, hosted by PRI and Cornell. Free public events on campus include a panel discussion, “The Tree of Life: State of the Art,” Feb. 10 at 5:30 p.m. in 132 Goldwin Smith Hall; and a keynote lecture by Quentin Wheeler, “Pruning the Tree of Life: Extinction and the Urgency of Species Exploration,” Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. in G64 Goldwin Smith Hall.

Breaking Bread dinner

The Breaking Bread initiative will host a dinner for the campus community to discuss race, campus climate and religion at Cornell, Wednesday, Feb. 10 from 6 to 8 p.m. in G10 Biotech. Student facilitators and Cornell United Religious Work leaders will facilitate discussions at each of the 10 tables, using recent college campus, national and global events as a backdrop for conversations.

Seating is limited to 90 participants, with priority given to students; RSVP online. Hosted by the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, the Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives, the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity and the Graduate School Office of Inclusion and Student Engagement, with funding support from the Office of the Provost.

Piano etudes

Concert pianist Sara Davis Buechner performs Wednesday, Feb. 10 at 8 p.m. in Barnes Hall Auditorium, presented by the Cornell Concert Series. General admission tickets are $30, $15 for students; $27 for Cornell employees, $12 for Cornell students.

The concert program includes a set of “Elegies” by Ferruccio Busoni, contemporary composer Takuma Itoh’s  “Soliloquy,” Alfredo Casella’s “Six Etudes for Piano” and Franz Liszt’s “Six Grand Etudes after Paganini,” arranged by Busoni.

A prodigious musician with an active repertoire of more than 100 piano concertos, Buechner has won prizes at Leeds, Salzburg and other major piano competitions. Her resume includes prominent commissions and premières of new works, film scores, and dance and performance art collaborations including tours with the Mark Morris Dance Group. She has made 16 critically acclaimed recordings (including several as David Buechner prior to 2002) and teaches piano at the University of British Columbia.