{"id":76853,"date":"2026-01-28T08:57:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T15:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=76853"},"modified":"2026-01-28T08:57:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T15:57:32","slug":"a-reel-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/a-reel-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"A reel partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new partnership between Northern Arizona University\u00a0and the\u00a0<\/span>Sedona International Film Festival<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(SIFF)\u00a0marks the beginning of\u00a0an exciting\u00a0collaboration that brings storytelling, creativity,\u00a0education\u00a0and community together. Launching with monthly film screenings, the partnership aims to create a shared space where students, faculty,\u00a0filmmakers\u00a0and the\u00a0public\u00a0can engage with powerful cinema and meaningful conversation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle Carpenter,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0executive director at the School of Communication,\u00a0said\u00a0a conversation with\u00a0professor\u00a0<\/span>Janna Jones<\/span><\/b>\u00a0about the possibility of offering adult education\u00a0in Sedona sparked the idea\u00a0for\u00a0the partnership. Since last fall, she has been working with\u00a0<\/span>Paul\u00a0Quinn\u00a0Helford<\/span><\/b>, a professor emeritus\u00a0of creative media and film,\u00a0to\u00a0get\u00a0more visibility and exposure for NAU in the Verde Valley.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPaul has a long history with Patrick Schweiss, the executive director of the film festival, and\u00a0suggested\u00a0bringing\u00a0the classics to Sedona,\u201d Carpenter said. \u201cWe were really interested in having more visibility in the community,\u00a0and monthly film screenings are a great way to start.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Helford has been\u00a0co-curating and\u00a0co-hosting\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>College of Arts and Letters<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(CAL)\u00a0Film Series\u00a0at Cline Library\u00a0since 2004, bringing\u00a0a different\u00a0theme\u00a0to\u00a0each semester. The screenings for this partnership will follow the same format.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are calling it Northern Arizona\u00a0University\u00a0and the Sedona International Film Festival\u00a0present\u00a0The Classics,\u201d Helford said. \u201cMy idea is to begin with films that are\u00a0recognizable\u00a0in the hopes of really generating interest in the audience.\u00a0Each film will be from a different era, a different\u00a0director\u00a0and different genres.\u00a0We will have an introduction to put the film in some kind of historical aesthetic context,\u00a0and after screening the film, we will have a discussion for as long as people want to talk about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The series\u00a0at the\u00a0<\/span>Mary D. Fisher Theater<\/span><\/a>\u00a0in Sedona\u00a0started with the screening of\u00a0\u201cThe Maltese Falcon\u201d\u00a0on\u00a0Jan. 15.\u00a0\u201cSome Like it Hot,\u201d\u00a0starring\u00a0<\/span>Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, will screen<\/span>\u00a0in March, followed by\u00a0\u201cThe\u00a0Way We\u00a0Were\u201d\u00a0in April, as a tribute to Robert Redford.\u00a0Helford\u00a0said he is\u00a0excited to\u00a0share his love of classic films with an audience that\u00a0will\u00a0appreciate them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are truly honored to have this partnership with NAU for our Classics Series,\u201d\u00a0Schweiss,\u00a0said. \u201cPaul is\u00a0a remarkable and brilliant\u00a0individual\u00a0with so much knowledge and\u00a0expertise\u00a0in the film world. We have been friends and business associates for years, and I have always wanted him to bring his programs here to Sedona to our theatre. That wish is coming true, thanks to him and Michelle\u00a0Carpenter\u00a0making it a reality. What a gift to our audience members and what a great program for our festival and theatres to offer. It is a truly incredible partnership.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of the partnership, students in\u00a0professor\u00a0<\/span>Patricia Murphey<\/span><\/b>\u2019s\u00a0visual design lab class will create a new logo for SIFF and its partners, and\u00a0NAU\u00a0alumnus\u00a0<\/span>James Ward Byrkit<\/span><\/b><\/a>, a filmmaker and storyboard artist,\u00a0will\u00a0present his film \u201cCoherence\u201d\u00a0on\u00a0Feb. 25\u00a0at the SIFF.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Byrkit will also\u00a0lead a screening\u00a0of \u201cPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man\u2019s Chest\u201d\u00a0at\u00a0NAU\u00a0on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. as part of the CAL Film Series at Cline Library.\u00a0He will present some\u00a0of\u00a0his storyboards from\u00a0the film\u00a0and\u00a0will\u00a0teach\u00a0classes\u00a0in\u00a0the School of Communication. \u201cWe are going to try to get as much student and faculty involvement as possible so that we can have a lot of engagement because he is\u00a0really incredible,\u201d Carpenter said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Carpenter hopes the partnership will continue throughout\u00a02026\u00a0and for years to come, with the possibility of offering education to the Sedona community that they might\u00a0otherwise not\u00a0have access to.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel\u00a0like we can create this relationship that can be quite beneficial for both parties,\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cWe can bring them education and just be more present in that community. We are trying to be forward-facing, making sure that NAU is out there visible, active in the community, generating new relationships and new friends.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>32<\/span>nd<\/span>\u00a0Annual Sedona International Film Festival<\/span><\/a>\u00a0takes place\u00a0Feb.\u00a021-March\u00a01\u00a0in Sedona.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new partnership between Northern Arizona University\u00a0and the\u00a0Sedona International Film Festival\u00a0(SIFF)\u00a0marks the beginning of\u00a0an exciting\u00a0collaboration that brings storytelling, creativity,\u00a0education\u00a0and community together. Launching with monthly film screenings, the partnership aims to create a shared space where students, faculty,\u00a0filmmakers\u00a0and the\u00a0public\u00a0can engage with powerful cinema and meaningful conversation.\u00a0 Michelle Carpenter,\u00a0executive director at the School of Communication,\u00a0said\u00a0a conversation with\u00a0professor\u00a0Janna…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":76854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}