Homer Goes Hollywood: What Nolan's Odyssey Changes, Keeps, and Reinvents

About this event

Thursday, October 15, 2026, 6 – 7:30pm Meeting Room A, Meeting Room B, Meeting Room C Lovers of film and readers of classic lit, and anyone in-between, please join us for a panel discussion of Homer’s Odyssey as both a written work and an epic film! Homer Goes Hollywood brings classicist Celsiana Warwick and film scholar Andrew Owens together for a lively, all-ages conversation about what happens when a 3,000-year-old epic becomes a modern Hollywood blockbuster. Using Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey as their jumping-off point, they’ll explore Odysseus as hero (and liar), the women of Homer and Nolan, the choices involved in translating and adapting an ancient story, and what we gain—and lose—when Homer goes Hollywood. Audience Q&A will follow the conversation. This event is part of the Society for Classical Studies’ Odyssey Day, a nationwide series community programs celebrating Homer’s Odyssey. Cosponsored by the University of Iowa Department of Classics and Religious Studies, the University of Iowa Department of Cinematic Arts, and the Iowa City Public Library. Open to the public If you need disability-related accommodations in order to participate in this event, please contact the Library.

Description from downtowniowacity.com