Come early for the film screening of Clarence Brown’s Intruder in the Dust, a film adaptation released in 1949 of William Faulkner’s novel. The film’s portrayal of a black man falsely accused of murder and the subsequent efforts to prove his innocence highlights the pervasive racism of the era and serves as a powerful critique of racial discrimination.
Claude Jarman, Jr. was discovered by Clarence Brown in 1945 in his fifth-grade classroom in Nashville, Tennessee. As an unknown, he starred in The Yearling, earning a special Juvenile Academy Award for his performance. Jarman went on to make ten other films including Intruder in the Dust, which reunited him with Clarence Brown. He recently released his memoir, My Life and the Final Days of Hollywood (2021).
Gwenda Young teaches film at University College Cork, Ireland and led the development of the film studies program at the University. She is the author of Clarence Brown: Hollywood’s Forgotten Master (2018). Young collaborated with historian and filmmaker Kevin Brownlow on a short retrospective on Clarence Brown at the National Film Theatre in London in 2003, as well as on gala screenings of Clarence Brown films at the Fastnet Film Festival Cork in 2018 and 2019.
Dr. Charles (Chuck) Maland, Professor Emeritus of English and Cinema Studies with the University of Tennessee is a scholar with interdisciplinary interests in film studies, American literature, American cultural and intellectual history in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, and American studies. His specialty is the relationship between film and American culture.
Robert J. (Bob) Booker grew up in the “Bottom” area of East Knoxville, and graduated from Austin High School in 1953. Following a three year stint in the U.S. Army, Booker returned to his hometown to study at Knoxville College, graduating in 1962. At Knoxville College, as a two-term president of the student body, Booker became involved in Knoxville’s Civil Rights movement, organizing sit-ins to advance desegregation. In 1966 he was elected as Knoxville’s first black Tennessee State Representative. For 11 years, he was the executive director for the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. Booker is an authoritative author of Knoxville black history, and his publications include: Two Hundred Years of Black Culture in Knoxville, Tennessee 1791-1991; The 120 Year History of Knoxville College; An Encyclopedia: The Experiences of Black People in Knoxville, Tennessee 1844-1974; and From the Bottom Up.
Clarence Brown Film Festival
This event is part of the Clarence Brown Film Festival, celebrating the work and legacy of Knoxvillian Clarence Brown (1890–1987). Nominated for eight Oscars, Brown directed the biggest stars of the silver screen including Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, and Elizabeth Taylor.