Each year the Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences presents a variety of events centered on a single idea: the Themester. Through classes, lectures, workshops, performances, and exhibits, the Themester engages with students, colleagues, and the community in starting dialogues on relevant and thought-provoking topics. This year’s Themester topic is Remembering and Forgetting, exploring one of the central and defining characteristics of humanity, and is inspired by the 2019-2020 celebration of Indiana University's Bicentennial.
ALZHEIMER'S: EVERY MINUTE COUNTS
Sunday, November 3 at 3:00pm
Watch as the national public health threat posed by Alzheimer's disease is revealed. Explore an urgent wake-up call about the national threat posed by Alzheimer's disease. This powerful documentary illuminates the impending social and economic crisis for America unless a cure for Alzheimer's is found.
BLOOMINGTON: REMEMBER WHEN 
Sunday, November 24 at 11:00pm
Bloomington: Remember When examines the city of Bloomington, Indiana - and its array of people, places, and interesting features - and the countless changes it has endured through the decades. Through insightful stories, interviews, archive photography, and compelling videography, viewers visit a bygone Bloomington of yesterday, as well as the thriving Bloomington of today. The program features places, locations, and customs of note in Bloomington that have survived for decades, as well as those that have disappeared altogether!
KEEP TALKING
Sunday, November 24 at 3:00pm
Follow four Alaska Native women fighting to save Kodiak Alutiiq, an endangered language spoken by fewer than 40 remaining fluent Native elders. On remote Afognak Island, they inspire young people to learn the language and dances of their ancestors.
MADE IN INDIANA
Sunday, November 10 at 11:30pm
An experimental documentary re-visualizing the inner beauty of the great state of Indiana. By slowing down and taking a look at nature, craftsmanship, people, and our everyday life. Filmed completely in slow motion at 300 frames per second.
MEMORY RESCUE WITH DANIEL AMEN, M.D.
Sunday, November 17 at 10:30pm
In Memory Rescue with Daniel Amen, MD, Dr. Amen talks about how you can improve your memory and even rescue it if you think it's headed for trouble. This very simple idea to strengthen a person's memory is based on treating the 11 major risk factors that destroy brain function. Most of these risk factors are either preventable or treatable. Dr. Amen has developed the mnemonic "BRIGHT MINDS" to help you remember the 11 major risk factors. Knowing one's risk factors and how to overcome them is critical to rescuing one's memory. Your brain's history is NOT your destiny. You can make your brain better with this powerful program from Dr. Daniel Amen.
OUR TOWN: COLUMBUS
Sunday, November 3 at 11:00pm
Through ample interviews with leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, artists, and everyday citizens, embark on a quest to discover and examine the many interesting facets of Columbus.
Explore the history of the Columbus, Indiana and its founding, the role of the early businesses, J. Irwin Miller and Cummins Engine, the notable architecture, connections to Camp Atterbury, its past and present industries, the Regional Hospital, everyday and famous people, important landmarks, the arts, festivals and culture, ending with a peek at its future. This documentary snapshot highlights the unique spirit of the community that makes Columbus such a special place to live.
SONGS TO KEEP: TREASURES OF THE ADIRONDACK FOLK COLLECTOR
Sunday, November 17 at 3:00pm
The Emmy-winning special Songs to Keep: Treasure of an Adirondack Folk Collector opens a musical time capsule from a hundred years ago. Marjorie Lansing Porter (1891-1973) dedicated her life to preserving the rare folk songs of the Adirondacks. Throughout the 1940s and '50s, Porter traveled throughout New York State, interviewing and recording traditional musicians and singers in the hopes of creating a comprehensive collection of previously unpublished folk songs, transcripts and other writings. Like folksong collectors Alan Lomax and Anne and Frank Warner, Porter captured many songs just before the last living tradition bearers died. The Marjorie L. Porter Collection of North Country Folklore consists of more than 300 traditional ballads, songs from lumber camps and iron mines, Irish and French-Canadian songs, and Iroquois chants. The collection also includes dozens of oral histories and Porter's collected writings. SONGS TO KEEP features contemporary folk musicians Lee Knight, David Ruch, Dan Berggren, Alex Smith, and others discussing and performing these traditional tunes.
WILDERNESS PLOTS IN CONCERT
Sunday, November 10 at 1:00pm
At turns romantic, tragic, and comic, Wilderness Plots in Concert features five of Indiana's most treasured singer-songwriters coming together to create a moving and powerful evening of entertainment. Wilderness Plots captures the hardships, ironies, and aspirations of early pioneer life. Wilderness Plots contains lessons for today and holds appeal for people of all ages. Says Scott Sanders, "it's about dwelling more consciously in the present by learning more deeply about the past."