Our Walt Disney Studies series is headed down the rabbit hole as present a brand new 4K restoration of the original 1951 classic Alice in Wonderland! And make sure to get their early as our host for the evening, Jeff Kurtti, will be giving a very special presentation before the film!

In this beloved and oft-filmed story, bored young schoolgirl Alice falls down a rabbit hole and lands in a strange world where nonsense rules. She encounters “curiouser and curiouser” characters as she travels through Wonderland, trying to learn the logic of the place and find her way out.

Made under the supervision of Walt Disney himself, Alice in Wonderland and its animation are often regarded as some of the finest work in Disney Studio history, despite the lackluster, even hostile, reviews it originally received, though it did receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score!

In the presentation “Walt in Wonderland”, Jeff Kurtti tells the story of Walt Disney’s lifelong affection for the Lewis Carroll heroine, and how the stories wove a pathway through a lifetime of Disney projects, from the 1923 Disney “Alice in Cartoonland” shorts to coming to life in Disneyland.

Jeff Kurtti is the most prolific nonfiction author in Disney history, with more than 40 volumes to his credit over 25 years. A leading authority on The Walt Disney Company, its founder, and its history, Kurtti is also a writer-director of award-winning documentary content, and a respected public speaker. He was creative director, content consultant, and media producer for The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, and a producer of The Boys: The Sherman Brothers’ Story, a critically acclaimed documentary about the famed songwriters. In June 2024, Kurtti was appointed Presidential Fellow in Walt Disney Studies at Chapman University in Orange, CA.

All schedule details and speaker lineups are tentative and subject to change without notice.