The camera lens will zoom in on affairs of the heart when Tri-State University’s free film series, Cinema Sampler, opens romantically on Thursday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. The series, “Love is All … Around,” will roll in a much larger venue for the first time. The films are scheduled for Thursdays at 7 p.m. through April 17 in the 320-seat Fabiani Theatre in the new University Center.

“Top Hat,” a 1935 Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical, will open the series as a Valentine’s Day treat, treat with its Art Deco elegance, whimsical storyline, and the ideal chemistry of the two leads dancing cheek-to-cheek to Irving Berlin’s finest film score. The black-and-white film runs 1 hour, 40 minutes, and is not rated.  

“Paris, Je T’aime,” described as sexy, romantic, haunting, dramatic, and beautiful, will show on Feb. 21. Eighteen stories of love will be showcased by world-class directors and top actors, each with a narrative shot in a different section of the City of Love. The 2007 film runs two hours and is rated R.

On Feb. 28, “Ratatouille,” a G-rated creation of Pixar-Disney in 2007, will offer animated entertainment for everyone with eyes, ears, and heart. The Web site rottentomatoes.com called it “the best reviewed film of the year.”

The series will jump to March 13 with an entirely different tone in the film adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic melodrama, “Richard III.” Ian McKellan as the disfigured, ruthless tyrant Richard will stop at nothing, including murder, to lay claim to the English throne. The visually stunning film is rated R, and also stars Maggie Smith and Annette Bening.

“Bringing Up Baby” will be the March 20 film offering. The 1938, black-and-white film runs 1 hour and 42 minutes, and is not rated. The film is described as a “giddy, hilarious romp starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn” in which American filmmaker Howard Hawks “practically invented the modern screwball romantic comedy.”

On April 3, “The Namesake” will inspire viewers with a family saga about the ties that bind us all. According to the Chicago Tribune, the film “brims with intelligence, compassion, and sensuous delight.” The 2007 film is rated PG-13 and runs 2 hours, 2 minutes.

The 2007 film “Into the Wild” will play on April 10. Based on Jon Krakauer’s book, this real-life narrative follows a recent college graduate’s tragic quest to acquire valuable life lessons “on the road.” Sean Penn directs actors Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener, and Oscar-nominee Hal Holbrook in panoramic vistas of America and Alaska which are both bright and forbidding. The film is rated R and runs 2 hours, 28 minutes. TSU’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society is the film’s sponsor.

“Across the Universe,” a 2007 film rated PG-13, will wrap up the series on April 17. Julie Taymor, director of Broadway’s “The Lion King,” has fashioned a colorful, exuberant, and bittersweet tale based on 33 famous songs from the Beatles catalog.

The public is invited to attend the free film series.