Film historian and author Michael Smith will present a lecture on the history of the Academy Awards from Sunrise (1927) to The Hurt Locker (2009). This lively presentation will use clips from Oscar-winning films from the past hundred years to illustrate how American movies hold up a mirror to our culture, reflecting changes both within Hollywood and society at large.

Michael Smith teaches film studies classes at various Chicago-area colleges and is the author of the White City Cinema blog. His non-fiction account of early film production in Chicago, Flickering Empire, will be released by KWS Publishers later this year.