Buffalo Film Seminars to feature rare superhero film this fall

Over more than 50 semesters, the Buffalo Film Seminars have featured just two superhero films.

That’s mostly because the series’ hosts, UB faculty members Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian, generally avoid films that rely heavily on computer-generated imagery (CGI). After all, their audience of students and nonstudents alike gets served plenty of those films at their local theater or on the ever-growing number of streaming services.

“They don’t need us to get them to look at them,” Jackson says.

But Jackson and Christian have found that sometimes even CGI-heavy superhero films can illuminate how theatrical filmmaking has changed with new technologies and how filmmakers respond to political and social change.

Few superhero films fit that bill better than “Black Panther,” which is why it’s been included in the series’ fall 2026 lineup.

Written and directed by recent Academy Award winner Ryan Coogler, the 2018 Marvel Studios film follows the fictional, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda as it grapples with questions of isolationism and colonialism.

“Black Panther” will screen as the penultimate film in this fall’s series, which begins Aug. 25 with a Zoom discussion of the silent film “The Thief of Baghdad” and continues through Dec. 1 with other classics like “Stagecoach” and “Network.”

This makes “Black Panther” just the third superhero film included in the series since it launched in the spring of 2000. One of the others is critically acclaimed “The Dark Knight” — directed by Oscar winner Christopher Nolan, who is currently dominating the summer box office with “The Odyssey.” The other is Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen,” adapted from the landmark graphic novel known for its realistic and subversive approach to the genre.

While Jackson maintains that practical effects will always be more compelling than CGI — pointing to car chases in “Bullitt” and “The French Connection” as evidence — he and Christian don’t rigidly avoid CGI-heavy films.

“Sometimes the technology fits the subject,” says Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor and James Agee Professor of American Culture in the Department of English. “That was the case with ‘The Dark Knight’ a few years ago and ‘Black Panther’ in this fall’s series.”

Jackson and Christian don’t build their lineups around themes, but they do sometimes find certain films “talking” to one another. That’s once again the case this semester.

“‘Thief of Baghdad’ and ‘Black Panther’ were both breathtaking for their effects — in their times,” Jackson said. “Having both in the same series lets us experience the huge trajectory of filmmaking technology.”

As for what makes “Black Panther” stand out above other superhero films or “Thief of Baghdad” a great example of silent-era filmmaking, Jackson will leave that for the Tuesday night discussions.

“Beats me. They are those things,” he says. “We don’t want to spend a lot of time thinking and talking about films that are inferior — that would be like teaching a class in 20th and early 21st century American fiction and spending time reading and talking about lousy fiction. There is quite enough to do looking at the films that really work and talking about how they do that.”

• “Black Panther” stars UB alumnus Winston Duke (BA ’09) in a supporting role as M’Baku, the leader of a rival Wakandan tribe.
• Burt Lancaster appears in three films — “Sweet Smell of Success,” “Judgment at Nuremberg” and “The Leopard.” Jackson and Christian can’t recall another actor appearing in three films in a single semester.
• Directors Andrei Tarkovsky and John Huston will each make their 13th appearance in the series. Tarkovsky reaches the mark with “Stalker,” his seventh different film to be featured, while Huston reaches it with “The Dead,” his eighth. Only Akira Kurosawa (19 appearances, 10 films) and Stanley Kubrick (14 appearances, eight films) have been featured more.

While the series’ discussions are part of Jackson and Christian’s ENG 381 Film Directors class, they are also open to the public. To participate, email Jackson or Christian to be added to the series’ listserv and receive invitations to the weekly Zoom discussions.

The series used to be held at the Dipson Amherst Theatre across from South Campus until the COVID-19 pandemic, when it moved entirely online. Participants now watch the films on their own before the weekly Tuesday night discussions. Jackson and Christian’s prerecorded introductions and insightful Goldenrod Handouts are sent out the Saturday beforehand.

Most of the films are available to UB email account holders through UB Libraries' film portals, Swank and Kanopy, while the others are either available on subscription streaming services or available to rent through YouTube, Amazon or Apple TV. For information on streaming availability, visit www.justwatch.com/. 

While theaters are having something of a comeback this year, particularly among young people, the series’ virtual format is here to stay.

“We used to say you had to watch movies in film, on a big screen and in company. COVID killed that possibility and we no longer make that claim,” says Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the English department. “As with so much in the changing educational and technological world, we adapt and often see virtual positives, though we also sometimes long for the olden days of the Buffalo Film Seminars.”

While participants no longer watch together, the discussions remain lively, thanks in large part to the students enrolled in the Film Directors class.

“We’re often amazed at how well the students read the films, especially as everyone currently marks a decline of reading,” Christian says. “But often the students’ sense of detail and nuance captures things we miss.”

The full fall 2026 schedule, with plot descriptions culled from the IMDb online movie database and other sources:

Aug. 25: “The Thief of Baghdad” (1924), directed by Raoul Walsh. A rebellious thief, played by silent film star Douglas Fairbanks, embarks on a fantastical quest to win the hand of a beautiful princess.

Sept. 1: “Footlight Parade” (1933), directed by Lloyd Bacon. A Broadway producer races against time to produce spectacular live prologues for movie theaters. The film is notable for its Busby Berkeley dance sequences.

Sept. 8: “Stagecoach” (1939), directed by John Ford. A group of travelers aboard a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn about one another in the process. The film marks Ford’s first collaboration with John Wayne. Watch on Kanopy.

Sept. 15: “The Third Man” (1949), directed by Carol Reed. An American pulp novelist, played by Joseph Cotten, travels to shadowy, mystifying post-war Vienna to visit an old friend, played by Orson Welles, only to find himself investigating a mysterious death. Watch on Kanopy.

Sept. 22: “Sweet Smell of Success” (1957), directed by Alexander Mackendrick. A powerful newspaper columnist coerces an unscrupulous press agent into breaking up his younger sister's romance with a jazz musician. Watch on Swank.

Sept. 29: “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961), directed by Stanley Kramer. In a fictionalized depiction of the 1947 Judges' Trial, American occupying forces prosecute judges of Nazi Germany for their actions. Watch on Swank.

Oct. 6: “Harakiri” (1962), directed by Masaki Kobayashi. When a ronin asks to commit ritual suicide at a feudal lord's estate, he reveals how his past is intertwined with that of another masterless samurai who died there before him. Watch on Kanopy.

Oct. 13: No screening, fall break.

Oct. 20: “Network” (1976), directed by Sidney Lumet. A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about mass media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control. Watch on Kanopy. 

Oct. 27: “Stalker” (1979), directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes. Watch on Kanopy.

Nov. 3: “Once Upon a Time in America” (1984), directed by Sergio Leone. A former New York gangster returns after decades in exile, confronting the friendships, dreams and regrets that shaped his rise from street kid to Prohibition-era mobster.

Nov. 10: “The Dead” (1987), directed by John Huston. An academic and his wife attend an annual holiday gathering in Dublin, an evening which results in an epiphany for both of them. Watch on Swank.

Nov. 17: “Gosford Park” (2001), directed by Robert Altman. Set in the 1930s, a group of wealthy guests and their servants gather for a weekend of hunting at an English country estate when a murder occurs. Watch on Swank. 

Nov. 24: “Black Panther” (2018), directed by Ryan Coogler. T'Challa, heir to the hidden but advanced kingdom of Wakanda, must confront a challenger from his country's past. Watch on Swank.

Dec. 1: “The Leopard” (1963), directed by Luchino Visconti. An aging prince tries to preserve his family and class amid the tumultuous social upheavals of 1860s Sicily.