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Still from Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life (1959) courtesy Universal / Photofest

Imitation of Life

Douglas Sirk: Torture and Ecstasy

  • Saturday, April 22, 2023
  • 2:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
  • West Building Lecture Hall
  • Films
  • In-person
  • Registration Required

Controversial in its time for directly addressing issues of race and class inequities in American society, Imitation of Life stars Lana Turner and Juanita Moore as mothers of two rebellious young women: one wanting desperately to pass as white, the other in love with her mother’s boyfriend. Sirk’s final Hollywood film before returning to his native Germany. (Douglas Sirk, 1959, DCP, 125 minutes)