PHILADELPHIA -- The Selling Democracy Symposium and Philadelphia premiere of "Selling Democracy: Films of the Marshall Plan, 1948-53" will be held Jan. 27-29 at the University of Pennsylvania and International House.

Selling Democracy is a film festival and symposium that examines public diplomacy efforts from the end of World War II to the start of the Cold War.  The series covers issues related to public diplomacy, international relations, nation-building and the role that media and communication play in politics at home and abroad. The weekend will start with a Jan. 27 symposium at Penn.

The film series, presented at International House in association with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Schulberg Productions, features 25 films made in Europe by the Marshall Plan Motion Picture Section and by the Documentary Film Unit of the U.S. Office of Military Government after World War II.  It is a cross section of more than 260 films originally produced to hasten the reconstruction of Europe and to encourage the democratization of Germany.  

Only a few of the films have ever been seen in the United States because of a 1948 law, since repealed, that prohibited propagandizing American citizens.

The Philadelphia showings include  "Do Not Disturb,an anti-Communist satire; "The Promise of Barty O'Brien," a drama featuring the cast of Dublin's Abbey Theater; "The Bridge," about the airlift over the Berlin blockade; "The Extraordinary Adventures of a Quart of Milk," a comic ode to productivity; "Rice and Bulls, "about the French owboysof the Camargue; and "Hansl and the 200,000 Chicks," directed by Georg Tressler.  

The national tour of "Selling Democracy" is made possible with grants from the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Goethe-Institut and the George C. Marshall Foundation, with funding for film preservation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the German Historical Museum with cooperation from the U.S. National Archives, where the majority of Marshall Plan films are located, and of the BundesArchiv/FilmArchiv.  

The Philadelphia premiere is hosted by the project for Global communication Studies of Penn Annenberg School for Communication, with support from the Cinema Studies and Slavic Studies departments, and Penn Middle East Center.

SCHEDULE

Friday, Jan. 27, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. in the Terrace Room, Logan Hall, 249 S. 36th St., Philadelphia

SYMPOSIUM

The Jan. 27 morning panel, Public Diplomacy in the Cold War Era,will begin at 11 a.m. and will feature Peter Decherney, Penn assistant professor of English and cinema studies; Victoria de Grazia, professor of history, Columbia University; Nicholas Cull, director, Master's in Public Diplomacy Program, University of Southern California Center on Public Diplomacy, and professor of American studies, University of Leicester; David Eisenhower, director, Penn Institute for Public Service, and Sandra Schulberg, U.S. project director, Selling Democracy, and co-curator of the film series.

The afternoon session will be a panel discussion, the Current Landscape of Public Diplomacy,featuring Monroe Price, director, Penn Project for Global Communication Studies; Martin Rose, director, Counterpoint, British Council; William Burke White, Penn assistant professor of law; and Robert Vitalis, Penn associate professor of political science.

SYMPOSIUM TICKETS

Admission is free.  Seating is limited. Reservations can be made via sbeauvais@asc.upenn.edu.

FILM SCREENINGS

The 25-film Selling Democracy series consists of four two-hour programs (including Q&A), to be screened Jan. 28-29 at International House, 3701 Chestnut St., Philadelphia.  

The film series program book can be accessed at www.SellingDemocracy.org and a complete listing of Marshall Plan films, created by Linda Christenson, can be viewed at www.MarshallFilms.org.  

Tickets are free and will be available one hour before showtimes at the International House box office.

MEMBERS OF THE NEWS MEDIA ONLY

Selected films are available for pre-screening by special arrangement with Sylvie Beauvais at 215-898-9727 or sbeauvais@asc.upenn.edu.  Still photographs and posters to accompany news stories are available for download by the media via the Selling Democracy ftp site.  Sylvie Beauvais can provide information on access.

Additional information is available at www.pgcs.asc.upenn.edu/ and http://www.ihousephilly.org/programs-film-at-IHouse.htm.