By Joshua Le Suer

Terry McDonald, director of the Center For the Application of Drama to Education and Technology at Buffalo State College, is hosting a film series titled "American Film Classics: Oscar Through the Decades."

The series will run Tuesday nights at 7 p.m., from Feb. 4 through May 6, at the Market Arcade Film and Arts Centre, located at 639 Main St. Series tickets are available at the Market Arcade box office, and there is free parking at the M&T lot on Washington Street. For information, call (716) 855-3022.

Students, faculty and the public are invited. Tickets cost $7.50 for the general public, $5 for students and $4.50 for senior citizens. If people attending use the M&T lot, the $2 parking charge will be subtracted from their ticket.

According to an article posted by McDonald at http://www.americanfilmclassics.com/ theme.html, choices, as much as possible, are restricted to years that end with 2, and "each film was either nominated for an Oscar in at least one category, or was an egregious omission from the Oscar nominations of that year.”

"The series also will occasionally look at foreign or independent films in relationship to commercial American film,” the site says. “This seminar will look at the creative aspects of each film (writing, directing, cinematography, acting, design), as well as important social\political events that happened in the year it was released."

The films in the series include: "Birdman of Alcatraz," "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," Malcolm X," "Lady Sings the Blues" and "Viva Zapata!" For a complete listing of films and dates they are showing, go to http://www.americanfilmclassics.com.

McDonald was inspired to do the film series in the first place because one of his classes, out of 40 students, none of them had heard of Orson Welles or his masterwork, “Citizen Kane,” or could name any of the “Star Wars” films, even the 2 recent ones. McDonald advises that people who wish to attend “Oscar Through the Decades” should “bring someone young, or young at heart.”