Towering heights and beautiful vistas turn into a haunting mind trip in Abel Ferry’s gripping French scarefest, which will definitely make you think twice about your next mountain climbing trip. In the film, a group of friends on vacation in Eastern Europe embark on an ambitious mountain expedition along a trail that they discover—way too late—is closed for repair. The thrill quickly turns sour as it becomes clear not only that is the path a lot more dangerous than they thought, but that they are not alone. Fear exposes old traumas and brings hidden emotions to the surface. Soon everyone is fighting tooth-and-nail for their survival. In French dubbed into English. The film screens on Friday, January 28 at midnight. Admission is $7 for seniors, University of Miami alumni, faculty, non UM-students, and staff. General admission is $9. Free for UM students. Tickets can be purchased online. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

Shot mostly in sequence in and around a small cabin in upstate New York, this nuanced and funny portrait of marriage and anxiety revolves around one dark night of the soul of Alex Javal (Lee Tergesen), who is feeling so out of sorts that he fails to appreciate his new wife, Alice (Melanie Lynskey), and the new life she represents. The story takes place over the course of a weekend-long New Year’s Eve party that the Javals host for their closest friends and one unexpected guest, the very beautiful Helena (Gillian Jacobs). The film screens on Friday, January 28 at 9 p.m.; Saturday, January 29 at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday, January 30 at 4 p.m. Admission is $7 for seniors, University of Miami alumni, faculty, non-UM students, and staff. General admission is $9. Free for UM students. Tickets are available online. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

Waste Land follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to reimagine their lives. The film offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and of the human spirit. In English and Portuguese with English subtitles. The film screens Thursday, January 27 at 7:30 p.m., featuring a panel discussion with local experts following the film; Friday, January 28 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, January 29 at 6 p.m.; and Sunday, January 30 at 6 p.m. Admission is $7 for seniors, University of Miami alumni, faculty, non-UM students, and staff. General admission is $9. Free for UM students. Tickets are available online. For more information, visit www.cosfordcinema.com or call 305-284-4861.

The 2011 spring semester USpeak season kicks off on Friday, January 28 with a reading by poet Rita K. Wong and an open mic session.

Wong is the author of three books of poetry: Sybil Unrest, co-written with Larissa Lai (Line Books, 2008); Forage(Nightwood, 2007); and Monkeypuzzle (Press Gang, 1998). She received the Asian Canadian Writers Workshop Emerging Writer Award in 1997 for Monkeypuzzleand the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 2008 for Forage. Wong teaches in Critical and Cultural Studies at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She received a fellowship from the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society to develop a course on contemplating water. Wong is currently researching the poetics of water with the support of a Research/Creation grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (http://www.downstream.ecuad.ca).

Wong’s performance will be preceded by an open mic session, during which audience members are invited to share a page of their writing with USpeak’s ever-growing, always appreciative audience.

The event takes place at the Oasis Deli in the Whitten University Center on Friday, January 28. Doors open at 6 p.m., with light refreshments and cookies provided. The program begins at 6:30 p.m., with the featured reading starting at 7 p.m.

USpeak events are free and open to the public, sponsored, in part, by UM’s Department of English, the Creative Writing Program, and Auxiliary Services.

Rescheduling note:The February 25 USpeak, “Movietelling Night: Poets Redub Famous Films,” has been rescheduled for Friday, March 4.

The USpeak series will continue during the spring semester with events on March 11 and April 15. For more information, please visit www.miami.edu/uspeak, where you can also link to Podcasts of previous USpeaks.

Hua Yun Chen, associate professor in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will present “Corrections for Case-Control Design in Secondary Trait Analysis” on Friday, January 28, at 2:15 p.m. at the Clinical Research Building, Room 988. For more information, call Michele Gomez at 305-243-6312.