The Smartest Guys in the Room

Crisis! A Film Series
Using classic and contemporary films and expert commentators, Crisis! engages the community in a discussion about the global economic crisis. Each screening begins with a panel discussion which includes experts from Buffalo State’s faculty and the community. Audiences can expect a broad spectrum of views, lively discussion and debate. All screenings that are part of the Crisis! Film series are free and open to the public. Crisis! takes place on select Thursdays throughout the spring semester of  2014.

The Smartest Guys in the Room
This film documents the spectacular rise of Enron, the energy aggregator, and its spectacular and devastating collapse. Fraudulent accounting, regulatory failure, and financial-industry collusion all played a role in this precursor crisis. The interest-rate history of the mid-1990s to the early 2000s becomes a character in the story: with interest rates so low, investors began looking for greater yields. While it lasted, the Enron bubble was just the ticket. What happened when the bubble burst?

Films featured include: Bonfire of the Vanities (Jan. 30), The Smartest Guys in the Room (Feb. 20), Frontline: Money, Power & Wall Street (Feb. 27), Inside Job (Mar. 6), Margin Call (Mar. 13), Client #9 (Mar. 20), The Madoff Affair ( Apr. 3), Capitalism: A Love Story (Apr. 17), and Inequality for All (Apr. 24). The Crisis! Film series are free and open to the public.