<rletonian sat down with Student Union Movie Organization (SUMO) Program Assistant Adam Wiener to ask about this season’s film lineup.
Nicole Collins: How did you get involved with SUMO?
Adam Wiener: I worked in the Student Activities Office last year as the Art and Film Program Assistant; I really wanted this job all along, and I got it this year. I wanted this position because I watch a lot of movies and I thought it would be fun to curate the lineup for Carls and others in the Northfield community. It can sometimes be tiring because there are a lot of things I have to do — pick the movies, communicate with the licensor, promote the movies, manage the projectionists, etc. — but it’s a rewarding job because I know a lot of people plan their weekends around these screenings.
NC: How do the SUMO movies get chosen?
AW: At the end of fall and winter term, I’ll send out a poll to the SUMO email list about what movies people want to see, but I choose [the movies on the poll] myself from what’s available from the licensor website. They’re based on movies I think Carleton students will like—I try to get a variety of films, different genres, [ones that] represent different people.
NC: Why did you pick the movies you did this year?
AW: Basically that reason, but also because I’ve watched a lot of movies—I saw a lot of these movies during the summer, and I thought these were really good movies. Or, if I didn’t like them, I knew that a lot of other people did … and that they would be interesting movies people wouldn’t see otherwise.
NC: What do you hope people get out of the movies?
AW: I hope it’s a fun Friday or Saturday night experience. I hope, for some of them, that they learn something, especially with the two documentaries coming up fifth weekend [Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and Three Identical Strangers] which are both very good and very fascinating stories. Yeah, that they’re exposed to perspectives they might not have been otherwise.