The University of Oregon's Schnitzer Cinema, continuing its six-month James Blue Tribute, will screen Blue’s 1962 neo-realist film, “Olive Trees of Justice,” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 12. The screenings, co-sponsored with the Cinema Pacific film festival, include free popcorn and soda.
 
"The Olive Trees of Justice" was the only feature film made during the French/Algerian conflict, otherwise known as the Algerian War of Independence. Director James Blue shot the film in the heart of the Algerian countryside with a cast of nonprofessional actors including Pierre Prothon as the perplexed son, Marie Decaitre as the mother and Jean Pelegri as the old farmer.
 
The film, based on Jean Pelegri’s book of the same name, won the 1962 Critic's Prize at Cannes. It will be screened in French on 16mm film with English subtitles.
 
Schnitzer Cinema will continue The James Blue Tribute in March and April. Blue’s co-director Brian Huberman will present, via Skype, excerpts from “Who Killed the Fourth Ward?” (1977) and “Invisible City” (1979) on Wednesday, March 12. Both films are examples of “The Complex Documentary" - the participatory, socially engaged mode of production Blue espoused and practiced.

The film series concludes with “Kenya Boran” (1974) on April 23, presented by the renowned ethnographic filmmaker David MacDougall, Blue’s co-director on the film. All films take place at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and start at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
 
The series honors Blue, a UO alumnus and independent filmmaker renowned for his socially engaged documentaries and teaching, with a tribute that includes screenings, guest speakers, and panels, along with publications and websites produced by UO faculty and students. Cinema Pacific and the JSMA’s James Blue Tribute is supported by a JSMA Academic Support Grant, and is cosponsored with the Clark Honors College, UO Libraries and the UO Cinema Studies Program.

- from the UO's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art