Ayn Rand Institute Announces Film Screenings And 12 Public Events On Ayn Rand.

News/Assignment Editors & Entertainment Writers

MARINA DEL REY, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--April 24, 2002

The Ayn Rand Institute, in partnership with AT&T Broadband and C-SPAN, will host a series of public events discussing the influence of celebrated author Ayn Rand.

Since the release of her best-selling classic The Fountainhead in 1943, Ayn Rand has been a significant influence on American culture. A 1991 survey by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club found that Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged was the second most influential book in Americans' lives after the Bible. The Fountainhead was ranked twelfth.

This Los Angeles-based series of events -- film screenings and symposia -- focuses on the impact and importance of The Fountainhead, climaxing with C-SPAN'S May 12 American Writer's II live broadcast, "Ayn Rand and The Fountainhead." The five days of surrounding programming is free and open to the public, and will involve audience participation in Q and A sessions. The events are of interest to the general public, and of special interest to those interested in cultural affairs, philosophy, architecture, literature, education, modern American history and film.

Film Series and Event Highlights in Los Angeles (unless noted otherwise, all events take place at Harmony Gold in Hollywood):

   May 10
    --  A screening at 7:30 p.m. of Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, an
        Oscar-nominated documentary about Ayn Rand's life and work

   May 11

    --  A talk by Jeff Britting at 10:30 a.m.: "Ayn Rand and
        Hollywood: Soviet Film School to The Fountainhead"

    --  A panel discussion featuring Dr. Michael S. Berliner, Jeff
        Britting and Scott McConnell at 1:30 p.m. on "Ayn Rand,
        Communism and the Hollywood Blacklist"

    --  A lecture by Dr. Harry Binswanger at 3:30 p.m. on "Ayn Rand's
        Philosophic Revolution"

    --  A screening at 7:30 p.m. of We the Living, based on Ayn Rand's
        classic novel about life in the early years of Soviet
        communism

   May 12

    --  A talk by Dr. Shoshana Milgram at 10:30 a.m. on "Ayn Rand's
        Literary Technique and The Fountainhead"

    --  A special profile of Ayn Rand at noon discussing the influence
        and importance of The Fountainhead, to be broadcast live by
        C-SPAN to 85 million households nationally. The profile
        features Dr. Leonard Peikoff, Ayn Rand's heir and the world's
        leading Ayn Rand scholar

    --  A panel discussion featuring Dr. Edwin A. Locke, Dr. Harry
        Binswanger and Dr. Michael S. Berliner at 2:30 p.m. on "The
        Fountainhead and Today's World"

    --  A group discussion on The Fountainhead moderated by Dr. Andrew
        Bernstein at 4 p.m. with Los Angeles high school students

   May 13

    --  Talk by Dr. Yaron Brook at 7:30 p.m. at the University of
        California, Los Angeles: "The World in Crisis: An Objective
        Perspective and Solution," examining the current state of the
        world

   May 14

   --  Talk by Dr. Andrew Bernstein at 7:30 p.m. at the University of
        California, Los Angeles: "Rational Egoism in Ayn Rand's The
        Fountainhead," exploring the rational code of morality
        displayed in the novel by hero-architect Howard Roark

   May 17

   --  Rebroadcast of the live programming featuring Ayn Rand in
        C-SPAN's weekly series "American Writers II: The 20th Century"

For more information about these upcoming events, visit http://www.aynrand.org/cspan/ or contact Larry Benson, 310-306-9232 ext. 213 E-mail: [e-mail]