Oscar®-nominated writer-director of two funny and poignant semi-autobiographical features, Tamara Jenkins will appear in the Dryden Theatre on Friday and Saturday, May 30 and 31. A graduate of New York University’s film school, Jenkins found acclaim for her 1993 short film, Family Remains, and was given special recognition by the jury at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival.

Jenkins first feature, 1998’s Slums of Beverly Hills, follows an itinerant Jewish middle-class family in the typically upscale suburbs of Los Angeles, and stars Natasha Lyonne, Alan Arkin, and Marisa Tomei. Her follow-up film, The Savages (2007), focuses on two siblings (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney) thrust into the roles of caregivers when their father (Philip Bosco) begins to succumb to dementia. The Savages earned Jenkins a Best Original Screenplay nomination at the 2008 Academy Awards®. Jenkins will visit George Eastman House on May 31 to present The Savages and Family Remains, and participate in a post-film discussion.

On May 30, Jenkins will also introduce one of the best and rarely shown films of the 1930s, Leo McCarey’s heartbreaking Make Way for Tomorrow (1937). In the movie that Orson Welles declared “could make a stone cry,” an aging couple (Beulah Bondi and Victor Moore) turn to their grown children when faced with financial problems and potential homelessness. Jenkins cites Make Way as a primary influence on The Savages. McCarey’s film also inspired director Yasujiro Ozu and screenwriter Kôgo Noda to make their celebrated masterwork, Tokyo Story (1953).

Surrounding these special events will be screenings of Slums of Beverly Hills (May 29) and Tokyo Story (June 1). No Take-10 tickets or passes will be accepted for the May 31 screening of The Savages.