Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life” might be a Cannes Film Festival award winner, but for University students, faculty and staff, the scrutiny is not over.

Richard Neupert, from the film studies department, will moderate a roundtable discussion on the film, sponsored by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts.

The discussion will feature four other panelists — including three from other universities, as well as University English professor Hugh Ruppersburg — to weigh in on the topics addressed.

Richard Neupert

“[‘Tree of Life’] is not my favorite movie of the year, but by a number of people I really like and respect, they thought it was perhaps the most interesting movie of the year,” Neupert said. “It won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and Terrence Malick is a really well-known director who kind of divides audiences. So, it’s a well-known American director, won the top prize in the world, and it’s something that will reap a lot of interesting conversation, I think.”

Everyone with an opinion of the film is welcome to attend the event — and to discuss and dissect any part of the film.

It will be a place for participants with varying levels of film expertise to contemplate the techniques and implication of a film with the world’s attention, Neupert said.

“It’s really a discussion, not a lecture where there’s presentations,” he said. “It’s really a smart conversation, we hope, between the audience and the panelists.”

Topics ranging from the film’s camera technique to its social commentary are fair game for discourse.

Malick’s directing style in “Tree of Life” might be contrasted to his prior works as well.

“I’ve got three assistant professors from three different universities coming in and they all teach Terrence Malick in their classes,” Neupert said. “I was kind of curious to see how does his newest movie — which they haven’t taught yet — fit what they expect, what they like about Malick cinema, where does it challenge them? It’s really to see how does it fit the way they think about modern contemporary cinema and how they think about this one director. I’m also hoping that people will compare and contrast it to ‘Melancholia,’ which was the other big movie about … another big pretentious movie from last year, and other types of films that came up this year, too.”

Ultimately, the idea is to get people on campus talking about movies that make it to film festivals rather than the most popular box-office hits.

“One of the things that interests me in roundtable is we have lots and lots of students interested in film studies that really concentrate on just the most generic, most popular movies in the theaters, and I think it’s really important for them to see what is it that film festivals are going to award,” Neupert said. “I think everybody on campus should talk about the movie, and think about it and debate whether this is the kind of film that should get an award, as opposed to ‘Hangover 2.’”

Students are still encouraged to attend, whether or not film studies makes their course schedule.

Also, due to available video clips from the film, attendees do not need to see the movie before the scheduled roundtable, though it may be helpful.

“I think there will be a lot of really interesting things that students will want to ask, and other colleagues around campus will want to ask this panel,” Neupert said. “And I just think that they’re four really smart, really, really good people.”