Actress and activist Glenn Close will return to Bloomington in April as part of the Jorgensen Guest Filmmaker Lecture Series.

Close will speak at 3 p.m. April 27 and also will be present at that evening’s screening of her thriller “Fatal Attraction” at Indiana University Cinema. The 1987 blockbuster is being shown as part of the series “Mental Illness in American Film.” In recent years the actress started the foundation Bring Change 2 Mind in an effort to end the stigma and discrimination that surround mental illness. The events are made possible thanks to The College Toolbox Project at IU and Distinguished Professor Bernice Pescosolido.

Close is one of six luminaries the lecture series will bring to IU Cinema during the 2015 spring semester.

“We are very excited about our diverse lineup of guest filmmakers this spring,” said IU Cinema director Jon Vickers.

“Having master filmmaker Peter Weir of Australia and Abderrahmane Sissako from Mali will add to the important list of world cinema directors who have visited IU Cinema. And Beth B, MM Serra and Guy Maddin each will bring their unique artistic visions to our audiences. If you have never experienced a Guy Maddin film on screen, you do not want to miss this opportunity,” he said.

“We were very excited to bring French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet in February, but due to an accelerated production schedule on a new project, he will not be able to attend. Though his absence is unfortunate, all of the films in his retrospective will still be screened.”

The Jorgensen Guest Filmmaker Lectures are free and open to the public. Each of these talks will begin at 3 p.m. at IU Cinema. Tickets are not required for the lectures unless otherwise noted, but seating is limited. Additional details on format and any related events may be updated on the IU Cinema website closer to the date of each visit.

• Friday, Feb. 6, Beth B — The longtime member of the underground New York scene is the director of “Exposed,” a documentary that profiles eight young burlesque stars. She also is scheduled to be present for the screening of this unrated film at 7 p.m. Feb. 5. Her film and lecture contain mature content and graphic nudity. Discretion is advised.
• Friday, Feb. 27, MM Serra — The films of another boundary-breaking artist, Serra, cover the territory of sexuality and the darker side of the human psyche. She is slated to attend screenings of “The Short, Radical Films of MM Serra” at 9:30 p.m. and “The Explicit Celluloid Body,” a 6:30 p.m. screening of shorts from The Film-Makers Cooperative, a coalition of artists she helped found. The films and lecture contain mature content and graphic nudity. Discretion is advised.
• Tuesday, March 3, Peter Weir — The Australian director has earned six Oscar nominations for films such as “Dead Poets Society” and “Witness.” IU Cinema will show nine of his films between Feb. 20 and March 4. Weir is scheduled to attend screenings of “Master and Commander: The Far Side of The World” at 7 p.m. March 2, “Picnic at Hanging Rock” at 7 p.m. March 3 and “Gallipoli” at 4 p.m. March 4.
• Friday, April 10, Guy Maddin — In unique films such as “The Saddest Music in the World,” Maddin employs a visual language from the past that is reminiscent of art deco and the silent film era. The night before his talk, Maddin is slated to attend screenings of “My Winnipeg” at 6:30 p.m. and his short films at 9:30 p.m.
• Friday, April 17, Abderrahmane Sissako — This filmmaker from Mauritania/Mali has received an Oscar nomination in the best foreign language film category for “Timbuktu.” He and Kessen Tall, his co-writer and executive producer on the film, will be on campus April 13 to 19 for a series of events. The night before Sissako’s Jorgensen Lecture, he and Tall will attend a 6:30 p.m. screening of “Timbuktu.” A question-and-answer session will follow. Sissako also is expected to attend the showing of “Bamako” at 6:30 p.m. April 17, with a discussion on politics and development to follow.
• Monday, Apr. 27, Glenn Close — A versatile and acclaimed actress, Close is known for roles in “Reversal of Fortune” and “The Big Chill.” In addition to her lecture, she is scheduled to attend the 7 p.m. screening of “Fatal Attraction” as part of the series “Mental Illness in American Film.” Please note: Due to the expected demand for this talk, free tickets will be issued and required. Tickets will become available beginning Monday, March 2. There will be a limit of two tickets per person.

French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet had been scheduled to speak Feb. 13 and attend several film screenings, but the director had to cancel. Jeunet’s personal 2K digital versions of his films will be shown at IU Cinema as scheduled. People who purchased tickets for the Feb. 13 screenings of “Amelie” or “Delicatessen” before his cancellation may obtain a refund at the IU Auditorium box office, if they desire.

Tickets are required for all films at IU Cinema. Most showings are $3 each, though selected screenings are presented free of charge. Tickets for IU Cinema films can be obtained at the IU Auditorium box office from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; at the cinema one hour before any screening; or by phone at (812) 855-1103 for a $10 service fee per order.

The Jorgensen Guest Filmmaker Lecture Series was established through the generosity of Jane and Jay Jorgensen and the Ove W Jorgensen Foundation. The series has drawn world-class filmmakers to IU Cinema since 2011.

“We are honored once again to host such a lineup of prominent guests this spring. Each will share their work, anecdotes, inspiration and vision with our audiences,” Vickers said.

“It is pretty incredible and humbling for me to look back over the past four years to see that the Jorgensen Lecture Series has already brought more than 90 filmmakers to Indiana University, including Werner Herzog, Meryl Streep, Abbas Kiarostami, Christrine Vachon, Albert Maysles, Ava DuVernay, Charles Burnett and Kevin Kline, to name a few.”

Other past guests have included Natalia Almada, Peter Bogdanovich, Roger Corman, Claire Denis, Steve James, Edward James Olmos, John Sayles, Joe Swanberg and Krzysztof Zanussi.