William Nolan’s students remember him for the film festivals he took them to and for the extended office hours he offered to anyone who needed help. He held in-depth discussions on all kinds of documentaries and regularly took his students on field trips to watch them.

Nolan died Sept. 27, 2012, when he was electrocuted from faulty wiring on a boat dock in Tennessee. He was survived by his wife and their newborn son. Now, more than a year after his death, the Honors College is holding a film screening in his name. The Will Nolan Documentary Series: “The Look of Things” will be held at the Bama Theatre on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

“Will was larger than life. He was one of the smartest and kindest people I’ve ever met,” Andrew Grace, professor of telecommunication and film, said. “He was a better teacher than I’ll ever be, so I’m not sure there is a way to properly pay tribute to his life. But I believe he would have appreciated this series, and I know he would have loved these movies.”

(See also “TCF department announces scriptwriting contest winners“)

Jacqueline Morgan, associate dean of the Honors College, said Nolan was dedicated to aiding the critical development of his students.

“Will was a film scholar we brought in to help develop what we like to call a critical consideration in our students,” she said. “He was completely invested in their development in that regard. He believed the better students got at receiving, interpreting and analyzing film, the better they got at most everything else. The students in his class confirmed that.”

Grace said the idea for the event formed when Nolan’s family approached the Honors College, wanting to find a way to honor his work and his legacy.

Grace, along with fellow documentarian and TCF professor Nick Corrao, had students select the films for screening at the event, using the Full Frame Documentary Festival as inspiration – the festival Nolan made a tradition of taking students to each year.

“The screening is certainly in honor of an amazing person and an amazing mind, but I hope it doesn’t come off as an exclusively sad affair,” Grace said. “Will would have loved both of these movies – they’re thought-provoking, beautiful, challenging and courageous. I hope students leave with a broadened horizon of the kinds of stories a well-crafted film can tell.”

(See also “Black Warrior Film Festival accepting student submissions“)

The two films to be screened are the Italian film “Da Vinci,” about a highly advanced medical robot that changed the world of surgery, and the Spanish film “Pablo’s Winter,” about the life of a retired miner. Honors College Dean Shane Sharpe said he hopes students take away two key messages from the series.

“One: You don’t have to be a film scholar to appreciate film,” he said. “An ability to thoughtfully consider information is a skill that serves you well no matter what your academic or professional discipline has to be. It enriches your life. And two: that everyone’s story matters and has value. We can all learn something from someone. That curiosity brings about understanding and empathy.”

While his primary focus was documentaries, Nolan served many roles at the University, from advisor for the Honors College Assembly to film instructor, teaching classes from Ideology and the Cinema to Cinema of the Seventies: Hope to Horror.

“Will was especially drawn to documentaries because he loved telling the truth of life – even if sometimes it felt like fiction,” Sharpe said. “The stories are so compelling because they are someone’s experience. And, ultimately, he was interested in people.”

(See also “UA students participate in Sundance Film Festival“)