Hillsborough Classic Film Society
Presents
Sunday, May 3, 2026
2PM
PASSMORE CENTER
Gospel According to St. Matthew
(Pasolini)
Ebert Review (3/2004): Pasolini’s is one of the most effective films on a religious theme I have ever seen, perhaps because it was made by a nonbeliever who did not preach, glorify, underline, sentimentalize or romanticize his famous story, but tried his best to simply record it.
Although Pasolini directed some 25 films (most famously “Accattone!,” “Hawks and Sparrows,” “Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom,” “The Decameron,” “Mamma Roma” and “Teorema“) and contributed to the screenplays of Fellini’s “Nights of Cabiria” and “La Dolce Vita,” he considered himself a poet before a filmmaker, and his films are built of images, impressions and words that sometimes function more as language than as dialogue. That is certainly the case with “The Gospel According to St. Matthew,” which tells the life of Christ as if a documentarian on a low budget had been following him from birth. The movie was made in the spirit of Italian neo-realism, which believed that ordinary people, not actors, could best embody characters — not every character, but the one they were born to play."
Our Speaker: UNC Professor Henry Veggian. Henry teaches in the department of English and Comparative Literature. His primary field is 20th century American literature. His writings in the field include, In addition to numerous articles, a book on the American writer Don DeLillo, published by the University of South Carolina Press, and two anthologies, Barack Obama’s Literary Legacy (with Richard Purcell), and East of Eden: New and Recent Essays (with Michael J. Meyer). His other interests include Italian literature and film studies, and it happens that this year he is teaching a course on those movies we refer to as noir. As his website points out, Henry "was raised in and around the editorial offices of Il Progresso Italo-Americano, the historic Italian language newspaper of New York City." He introduced the Italian film Salvatore Giuliano for us , and also "Le Samourai.""
PLEASE REGISTER HERE
FREE! FREE POPCORN TOO!!
SPEAKERS LIST (live link)
CLICK HERE TO MAKE COMMENTS
CLICK HERE TO BE PUT ON MAILING LIST: RSVP
Movie titles that are in bold blue have live links to film information
The 2025-2026 Schedule
Sept. 14 Tarkovsky's Mirror, speaker Gustavo Furtado
Oct. 5 Night of the Hunter, speaker Rose Steptoe
Nov. 2 M, speaker Jeffrey Stern
Dec. 7 City Lights, speaker Francesca Talenti
(The December movie will be shown in the
Orange County Public Library in Hillsborough.)
Jan. 25 …. POSTPONED SEE BELOW
Feb 8 – Orson Welles’ Macbeth, Diana Newton
March 8 – Bertolucci, The Conformist, Gary Hawkins
April 19 – Scorsese, Taxi Driver, Rose Steptoe
May 3 – Pasolini, Gospel According to St. Matthew, Henry Veggian
June 7 – Bresson, Au Hazard Balthazar, Tom Whitesid
We are partnering with the Passmore Center. We are indebted to their staff for their gracious and professional help.
2PM
PASSMORE CENTER
Gospel According to St. Matthew
(Pasolini)
Ebert Review (3/2004): Pasolini’s is one of the most effective films on a religious theme I have ever seen, perhaps because it was made by a nonbeliever who did not preach, glorify, underline, sentimentalize or romanticize his famous story, but tried his best to simply record it.
Although Pasolini directed some 25 films (most famously “Accattone!,” “Hawks and Sparrows,” “Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom,” “The Decameron,” “Mamma Roma” and “Teorema“) and contributed to the screenplays of Fellini’s “Nights of Cabiria” and “La Dolce Vita,” he considered himself a poet before a filmmaker, and his films are built of images, impressions and words that sometimes function more as language than as dialogue. That is certainly the case with “The Gospel According to St. Matthew,” which tells the life of Christ as if a documentarian on a low budget had been following him from birth. The movie was made in the spirit of Italian neo-realism, which believed that ordinary people, not actors, could best embody characters — not every character, but the one they were born to play."
Our Speaker: UNC Professor Henry Veggian. Henry teaches in the department of English and Comparative Literature. His primary field is 20th century American literature. His writings in the field include, In addition to numerous articles, a book on the American writer Don DeLillo, published by the University of South Carolina Press, and two anthologies, Barack Obama’s Literary Legacy (with Richard Purcell), and East of Eden: New and Recent Essays (with Michael J. Meyer). His other interests include Italian literature and film studies, and it happens that this year he is teaching a course on those movies we refer to as noir. As his website points out, Henry "was raised in and around the editorial offices of Il Progresso Italo-Americano, the historic Italian language newspaper of New York City." He introduced the Italian film Salvatore Giuliano for us , and also "Le Samourai.""
PLEASE REGISTER HERE
FREE! FREE POPCORN TOO!!
SPEAKERS LIST (live link)
CLICK HERE TO MAKE COMMENTS
CLICK HERE TO BE PUT ON MAILING LIST: RSVP
Movie titles that are in bold blue have live links to film information
The 2025-2026 Schedule
Sept. 14 Tarkovsky's Mirror, speaker Gustavo Furtado
Oct. 5 Night of the Hunter, speaker Rose Steptoe
Nov. 2 M, speaker Jeffrey Stern
Dec. 7 City Lights, speaker Francesca Talenti
(The December movie will be shown in the
Orange County Public Library in Hillsborough.)
Jan. 25 …. POSTPONED SEE BELOW
Feb 8 – Orson Welles’ Macbeth, Diana Newton
March 8 – Bertolucci, The Conformist, Gary Hawkins
April 19 – Scorsese, Taxi Driver, Rose Steptoe
May 3 – Pasolini, Gospel According to St. Matthew, Henry Veggian
June 7 – Bresson, Au Hazard Balthazar, Tom Whitesid
We are partnering with the Passmore Center. We are indebted to their staff for their gracious and professional help.
