A discussion on Alfred Hitchcock's contribution to filmmaking will be held at 10 a.m. at Coastal Carolina University's Myrtle Beach Education Center on Saturday, March 25. The event is free and open to the public.

The discussion, given by CCU lecturer of visual arts Matthew Bell, is part of the American Studies Lecture Series: Images and Icons of America presented by the Department of American Studies and the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Art. The discussion will focus on how Hitchcock balances the demands of the commercial and the personal in his films. Bell will examine how Hitchcock's work evolved from the British thrillers of the 1930s to masterpieces of the 1950s and early 1960s.

Active from the 1920s until his death in 1980, Hitchcock was nominated for five Oscars, and he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Directors Guild of America in 1968. Known as "the master of suspense," Hitchcock is most famous for "Psycho," "The Birds," "Vertigo" and "Rear Window."

Bell earned a bachelor's degree in history from the College of Charleston and a master's degree in film from Boston University. His areas of expertise are art history, American film, and film as art. A coffee social before the discussion begins at 9:30 a.m. The Myrtle Beach Education Center is located at 900 79th Ave. N.

For more information on this event, call 843-349-2421 or visit coastal.edu/humanities.