The Carsey-Wolf Center logo Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara

TV at the Pollock: The Sopranos

  • Thursday, January 19, 2023 / 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM (PST)
  • Pollock Theater
  • Screening Format: 2K digital projection (57 minutes)
  • With James Hayman (director)
  • Starring: James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Jamie-Lynn Sigler
Return to events calendar
Part of the Storytelling for the Screen seriesPart of the TV at the Pollock series

David Chase’s The Sopranos follows James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano: husband, father, and mob boss. Across six seasons, Tony is torn between the competing demands of his nuclear family and his mob family, throwing his masculinity into crisis. In episode 51, directed by UCSB alumnus James Hayman, the series’ focus shifts from Tony to his wife Carmela (Edie Falco) and her evolving relationship with her adult daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler). Here, Carmela’s disappointment with her life and her future prospects becomes palpable, as she comes to understand that her daughter will have a future that is entirely foreclosed to her.

Director James Hayman joined moderator Patrice Petro (Dick Wolf Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center) for a post-screening discussion of the “Eloise” episode of The Sopranos (season 4, episode 12) and the series’ enduring legacy.

Biographies

Director James Hayman is shown standing in an urban area facing to the left side of the frame. He has dark hair and glasses, and is wearing a grey tshirt and black jacket.

Director James Hayman

James Hayman is a multiple Emmy Award nominee who is equally adept at both comedy and drama. He has directed numerous cable and broadcast series, from ABC’s Desperate Housewives to HBO’s groundbreaking series The Sopranos. Hayman has also been the Executive Producing Director for two long-running dramatic series: ABC’s Ugly Betty and CBS’s Judging Amy. He has directed nine pilots in his career, six of which have been picked up to series.

Hayman received a BA in Film from UC Santa Barbara and an MFA from New York University Graduate Film School. He won the Hong Kong award for best cinematography for his work on An Autumn’s Tale. He also photographed the 1988 film Tokyo Pop and the feature film version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While working as a cinematographer on the acclaimed television show Northern Exposure, Jim directed the episode “Jules & Joel,” for which he earned a DGA award nomination. In the fifteen years since, Jim has directed numerous pilots, including Dangerous Minds, and To Have and To Hold, as well as many episodes of shows such as ER, Law & Order, and House. He is also known for his work in documentary film. He helped make the film The Man From Hope, which followed Bill and Hilary Clinton through the 1992 campaign. The Man From Hope was showcased at the Democratic Convention that year and later heralded as a strategic aspect of Bill Clinton’s victory in the election.

He is also an accomplished photographer, with shows in Paris, Tokyo, and Florence. His work can be viewed on his website, as well as Instagram.

 

A headshot of Professor of Film and Media Studies, Dick Wolf Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center, and Presidential Chair in Media Studies, Patrice Petro. The image depicts a woman with black hair, wearing a black blazer, with a floral button up shirt. She is smiling and posed in front of a set of doors.

Moderator Patrice Petro

Patrice Petro is Professor of Film and Media Studies, Dick Wolf Director of the Carsey-Wolf Center, and Presidential Chair in Media Studies. She is the author, editor, and co-editor of fourteen books, including Uncanny Histories in Film and Media Studies (2022), The Routledge Companion to Cinema and Gender (with Kristin Hole, Dijana Jelaca, and E. Ann Kaplan, 2017), Teaching Film (2012), Idols of Modernity: Movie Stars of the 1920s (2010), Rethinking Global Security: Media, Popular Culture, and the “War on Terror” (2006), and Aftershocks of the New: Feminism and Film History (2002).

 This event is sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Center.

TV at the Pollock

In recognition of the extraordinary accomplishments of the Center’s namesakes Dick Wolf and Marcy Carsey, the Carsey-Wolf Center is committed to examining television as an institution, industry, and cultural form. Our TV at the Pollock programming celebrates the best in classic and contemporary shows, exploring the evolution of television as a compelling storytelling medium, as a vehicle for political expression, and as a rapidly-changing media technology. The series pulls great television out of the living room, onto the big screen, and into a communal conversation.

Storytelling for the Screen

Since their emergence, cinema and television have been in a state of constant technological and industrial flux. But even as our ways of distributing and accessing moving images have changed, and even as tastes and styles continue shifting with the times, our passion for compelling onscreen storytelling persists. At the Carsey-Wolf Center, we are committed to fostering a nuanced understanding of cinematic and televisual storytelling across genres, formats, styles, and historical periods. To this end, we sponsor a wide range of events, programs, and workshops designed to cultivate a new generation of media storytellers, and to help audiences better understand the evolving role of narrative across diverse media forms.

News & Events

View more events
View more news