Published on March 14, 2012 by Philip Poole  
Posted by Philip Poole on 2012-10-03

Samford University will host a screening of the documentary "Song of a Mockingbird" Saturday, Oct. 20. The documentary celebrates the 50th anniversary of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird. The 1962 Academy Award-winning film version starred Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch and Birmingham natives Mary Badham and Phillip Alford played his children.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. screening in Brock Recital Hall are $15 per person. The event is being cosponsored by the Alabama Humanities Foundation.

Produced by world-renowned artist Nicolosi, the documentary premiered earlier this year in the original "Mockingbird" court room in Monroeville, Ala., Lee's hometown. It was commissioned by the Monroe County Heritage Museum and features celebrity interviews and interviews with friends of Harper Lee. Lee personally endorsed the project after meeting Nicolosi.

Nicolosi will be present and will participate in an audience dialog following the screening.

Proceeds will benefit Samford' honors program through the University Fellows Excellence Fund, which provides financial support for top students to engage in advanced academic research or global service projects.

In addition to the screening, Samford, along with the U.S. Postal Service and the Alabama Humanities Foundation, will host a Pictorial Cancellation Stamp and Commemorative Cachet Envelope unveiling at 12 p.m. in Harwell G. Davis Library. The stamp and envelope were designed by Nicolosi exclusively for the USPS, and he will be present for the unveiling.

"Nicolosi is the ideal choice to create this iconic artwork for the USPS Commemorative Cachet and Pictorial Stamp celebrating the 50th anniversary of 'Mockingbird,'" said Tonya Hadley of the USPS. "The USPS highly values this rare opportunity to work with an artist of Nicolosi's caliber and provenance."

Nicolosi has been included on Guggenheim's list of the Top 100 Most Influential Artists in America Today by the New York Academy of Arts. He has done portraiture for a wide range of political, sports and entertainment personalities, including England's Prince Charles, author Harper Lee, actress Meryl Streep and professional football star Aaron Rodgers, among others.

Earlier in the week, Nicolosi will participate in screenings, lectures and discussions in several Samford University classes, along with retired Auburn University history professor J. Wayne Flynt and Nancy Anderson, associate professor at Auburn University-Montgomery. Nicolosi also will make a personal appearance at an AHF event hosted by Birmingham arts philanthropists Chandler and Jane Paris Smith.

 

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.