Unfortunately, they couldn’t snag Quvenzhane for a Q&A after the film.

It’s halfway through the semester, and you know what that means: your shared Wesbox contains another meticulously folded black-and-white calendar containing terse blurbs for approximately 19 critically acclaimed films that you haven’t seen and maybe five that you have. As usual, the lineup was cruelly crafted behind closed doors by an evil-minded, thin-lipped committee of cackling—wait, no, that’s Spring Fling. (Kidding, Will.) If you’re too lazy to trek to Usdan in the rain, here’s a preview.

The no-brainer sell-out feature this time around is Beasts of the Southern Wild, the massively acclaimed semi-apocalyptic New Orleans fantasy by Wesleyan alum Benh Zeitlin ’04 that’s captured the imagination of everyone from Roger Ebert  to Barack Obama. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and played at the Goldsmith over Reunion & Commencement, but that was before the hype really hit overdrive. With serious Oscar buzz mounting, you’ll want to get to the Goldsmith early on Friday, November 19. (Wes hasn’t managed to get Zeitlin back to Middletown yet, but you can read a recent Argus interview with the homegrown director here.)