CSUN Cinematheque

Friday, April 6 at 7 pm Armer Theater Screening Room Manzanita Hall 100

An evening with David Kajganich, writer and producer Showrunner of the AMC miniseries The Terror Premiered on March 26, 2018, on Amazon Prime

Screening of Episodes 1 and 2 Free and open to the public

About the Series Written by David Kajganich (True Story, A Bigger Splash), who also serves as co-showrunner with Soo Hugh (The Whispers, The Killing), this 10-episode series is set in the 1840s, when a Royal Naval expedition crew searching for the Northwest Passage is attacked by a mysterious predator that stalks the ships and their crew in a suspenseful and desperate game of survival. Its point of departure is the story of the ill-fated Franklin expedition and its two ships, the Terror and the Erebus, caught in the Artic ice, and only recently discovered.

The series stars Ciarán Hinds (Bleed for This, Game of Thrones, Red Sparrow) as Captain John Franklin, Tobias Menzies (Game of Thrones, Outlander) and Jared Harris (The Crown, Mad Men). It has been executive produced by Ridley Scott (Blade Runner 2049), David W. Zucker (The Man in the High Castle), and Guymon Cassady (Game of Thrones).

The miniseries is based on the novel The Terror, by , published to critical acclaim in 2006. David Kajganich has noted that the “novel is that rare combination of fascinating actual history, ground- breaking genre storytelling, and the complex character work of literature. He added that “the chance to launch a series that incorporates all of these elements going forward, and with a team of this caliber, is extraordinary”.

Last month, the Canadian Broadcasting Company discussed The Terror, setting up its historical context and showcasing the authenticity in the reconstruction of the period: “Missing for 170 years now, the bodies of the 129 crew members of Sir John Franklin's Northwest Passage expedition likely litter King William Island, Nunavut. The remains that have been found show signs that in their last moments, those men ate each other. If these are the facts of the real-life Arctic mystery, perhaps it's not surprising that the story is getting a fictional horror treatment in an upcoming television series. Named for one of Franklin's two ships, HMS Terror, the show blends facts with Inuit legend. Nive Nielsen, the lead actress, an Inuk woman born in Nuuk, Greenland, said she appreciated the show's commitment to research and accuracy. "There isn't a lot of roles for Inuit people," she said. "I thought it was nice, that they were actually combing throughout the Arctic to find a real Inuk actress, it's nice that they are trying to stay true to the culture because a lot of the times, you see movies and they just put on people from other cultures to play our parts and it's not very accurate. Nielsen is better known for her music, with Nive and the Deer Children, but acted in Terrence Malik’s The New World in 2005”.

The series was filmed in Budapest and an area of Croatia that stood for the Arctic--windswept and treeless. The real Franklin ships are still submerged in the ocean near Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, so the show built a full re-creation in the Budapest studio.

About the Director: David Kajganich was born on November 15, 1969 in Lorain, Ohio. He studied fiction writing at the University of Iowa’s renowned Writers Workshop, teaching writing and literature before selling a spec script, “Town Creek”, and moving to Los Angeles in 2003. IMDb notes that he also worked as a wilderness guide and medic. In 2006 Variety listed him as one of the ten screenwriters to watch. His writing credits include The Invasion (2007, dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel), Blood Creek (2009, dir. Joel Schumacher), True Story (2015, dir. Rupert Goold), A Bigger Splash (dir. ), several episodes of The Terror (2018), and the forthcoming Suspiria (dir. Luca Guadagnino, based on characters created by Dario Argento).

In an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian (October 4, 2016), Kajganich offered a tip that our budding screenwriters in the CTVA Department can put to good use – to the delight of their professors, especially those like myself teaching film history and esthetics: "I hope this doesn't sound cranky, but I think aspiring writers should find a script to use as a model for formatting and then watch great films instead. I've only read one "screenwriting" book in my life and the subject of the book was the importance of ignoring typical narrative models taught by other screenwriting books. It felt like I'd entered some kind of "how-to" death spiral, so I got the hell out of it and went back to just watching terrific films and taking them apart to learn how they were built." Program notes prepared by María Elena de las Carreras, film studies lecturer, Department of Cinema and Television Arts.

Parking & Directions to the Armer Theater Manzanita Hall 100 California State University, Northridge

The Armer Theater is located in the first floor Manzanita Hall (MZ), on the southwest corner of the campus, 18111 Northridge, CA 91330. (The corner of Nordhoff St. & Darby Ave.) A permit is required to park on campus. Parking permits are available for purchase ($6) from automated machines in each lot, or from Information Booths located on Prairie St. on the west side of campus and Lindley Ave. on the south side of campus. The closest parking to the Armer Theater is in lots B1, B2, or the B3 parking structure.