91ÖÆƬ

The 65th season of the Ira Holmes International Film Series at the College of Central Florida celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Throughout the season, several of the selected films and accompanying events will reflect the Declaration of Independence’s themes, such as the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

91ÖÆƬ Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bank of America and the Ira Holmes International Film Series are presenting this special lecture.

Beginning at 12:30 p.m., Florida film history expert Dr. David Morton will discuss Motion Picture Paradise: A History of Florida’s Film and Television History, based on his research into the state’s cinematic past.

All films will be shown Tuesdays at 2 p.m. at the Appleton Museum of Art, 4333 E. Silver Springs Blvd., Ocala, and at 7 p.m. at the College of Central Florida, 3001 S.W. College Road, Building 8, Room 110, unless otherwise noted. Films at the Ocala Campus are free and open to the public. Films at the Appleton are free to all museum and film series members; nonmembers pay museum admission. Films may contain mature content.

Dr. David Morton is a Lecturer in the Film and History Departments at the University of Central Florida, where he received his Ph.D. in Texts and Technology in 2019. His primary research is on how mass media perpetuated white surpremacist filmic narratives in the early twentieth century. He published in academic journals including Early Visual Popular Culture, the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, The Palgrave Handbook of New Cinema Histories and Senses of Cinema. His book, Motion Picture Paradise: A History of Florida’s Film and Television Industry, was published in 2025.

For a full series list and more information on the Ira Holmes International Film Series, contact Wendy Adams at 352-873-5800, ext. 1546, or visit www.91ÖÆƬ.edu/filmseries.