Previous Films

Screenings Spring 2024 will be in-person.

April 19: DRIVING MADELEINE

A seemingly simple taxi ride across Paris evolves into a profound meditation on the realities of the driver and his fare, a 92-year-old woman whose warmth belies her shocking past. Charles (Dany Boon) is a taxi driver in Paris, and he is having a very bad day. Enter Madeleine (Line Renaud), an immaculately groomed nonagenarian, who informs Charles that the trip today will not be a direct one. She is moving into a nursing home and would like to make some stops along the way predicting that this might be her last car ride through the city. Their ride takes them through the momentous locations of her life and their brief friendship deepens as Madeleine listens to Charles confess his own worries. Boon, an actor best known for his comedic work, creates a dramatic portrait of a frustrated man facing a personal crisis of epic proportions. His darker, sharper edges allow Renaud (renowned for decades in France as a singer) to shine as the pure shimmering light that is Madeleine, reminding us that inside every seemingly benign elderly woman we might pass on the street is a warrior, a nurturer, and a spirited adventurer. In French with English subtitles, 91 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qbKuP8H-hs

Sponsors: The French Program the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

April 12: SIGNS OF WAR

After years of work in the Dutch Parliament, photographer Pierre Crom decides that “it might be more interesting to follow the results of their political decisions rather than make propaganda for politicians.” In February 2014, he traveled with a one-way plane ticket to Crimea in Ukraine, one day before its annexation by Russia. From that moment on, he found himself in the midst of a rapidly escalating conflict and decided to stay. The start of the war in Sloviansk, the crash of flight MH17, tank battles in Debaltseve – he gained access to the most significant historical milestones of this war. As a photographer, Pierre had “luck.” However, as a human being, he had to face violent events on a scale he could never have imagined before. In French, English, Russian and Ukrainian with English subtitles, 85 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwxaWZm2G3A

Sponsors: The French Program the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

April 5: PROMISES OF OUR GRANDMOTHERS Multimedia Performance (Film and Live Concert)

Promises of Our Grandmothers is a multimedia program performed by Gingger Shankar (vocals, double violin), Daniel French (jarana, vocals, keys) with other musicians (to be announced). This unique performance includes a documentary film about the Giniw Collective, a diverse resistance group founded by Tara Houska and led by Indigenous women and two-spirit frontline warriors dedicated to protecting Mother Earth, defending the water, and living in balance as they fight Enbridge’s Line 3, a pipeline that will carve trenches through 340-miles of Minnesota’s unspoiled wetlands, poisoning water, Indigenous land, and threatening to destroy their very way of life. With more arrests than Standing Rock, youngsters to grandmas continually put their bodies on the line during a global pandemic to fight the multi-billion-dollar oil giant. With incredible tactical knowledge and skill, alongside their collective wisdom and knowledge of the land and the people, this small group of women and allies in the middle of the woods in northern Minnesota held off Enbridge for almost three years with very little media coverage and serious danger to themselves. In English, Ojibwe, and Lakota.

Sponsor: Department of Art, Design and Art History

March 22: LONG DISTANCE SWIMMER

At 20, Sara was already famous. She fled Syria in 2015 with her younger sister Yusra. When their boat broke down as they were crossing the sea to Greece, Sara and Yusra and two others jumped into the waves and swam for three and a half hours in open water to stop their dinghy from capsizing, saving the lives of everyone on board. Their journey made headlines around the world, and is dramatized in a Netflix film called The Swimmers. Our story begins when the fictionalized drama ends. Sara has spent three years rescuing refugees on the same journey that made her famous, but she was suddenly arrested on August 2018. Sara was accused by Greek authorities of running a criminal enterprise and charged with “international espionage and people smuggling”. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison and the end of her humanitarian career. Banned from Lesbos and waiting for news of the trial, she lives a surreal existence in Berlin. Studying at a liberal arts college by day, and escaping to techno clubs at night, she tries to reconnect with her family, while Yusra trains for the Tokyo, Olympics, a dream the two sisters once shared. In Arabic, Greek, English and German with English subtitles, 89 minutes Trailer: https://vimeo.com/804605082

March 15: JUDGED BODIES: THE FIGHT FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

Between 2000 and 2011, 128 women were prosecuted for abortion or aggravated homicide in El Salvador, a nation that has some of the strictest abortion laws. These laws have been criticized by human rights organizations. Mariana Carbajal, an Argentinian pioneering writer and journalist on gender issues, traveled to El Salvador to interview Evelyn and other victims of the fierce social condemnation and state violence against women. Many poor women have been sentenced to long prison terms after facing obstetric emergencies. Carbajal also profiles Morena Herrera and other activists who fight for women’s reproductive rights. In Spanish with English subtitles. 69 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/861112001

March 8: NEW GODS YANG JIAN

Thirteen years after Yang Jian imprisoned his sister beneath a mountain, the once powerful god now scrapes by as a penniless bounty hunter. When a mysterious woman hires him for a new job, Yang Jian soon finds himself chasing down a familiar figure. He must stop Chenxiang, his long-lost nephew, who is in search of the magical lotus lantern that will free his mother, even if it will bring catastrophe. As Yang Jian confronts the actions of his past, he must face a host of dangerous vigilantes seeking the same treasure with the power to alter the balance of their worlds. This latest entry in the New Gods universe from Light Chaser Animation (White Snake, New Gods: Nezha Reborn) features awe-inspiring action sequences set against breathtaking and wildly imaginative environments. Combining ancient lore with dazzling animation, New Gods: Yang Jian is a timeless adventure of epic proportions featuring one of China’s legendary mythic figures. In Mandarin with English subtitles, 127 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgQwQ-RwKFo

March 1: MARGUERITE’S THEOREM

Directed by Anna Novion, Marguerite’s Theorem tells the story of Marguerite Hoffman, a brilliant mathematics student at France’s top university the Ecole Normale Supérieure. But on the day of her thesis presentation, a mistake shakes up all the certainty in her planned-out life, so she decides to quit everything and start afresh. What will she do? How will she deal with this unfortunate event? In French with English subtitles. 112 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JD-DLEKLfk

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures.

February 23: LUDI

Week 6: February 23: Ludi (2021)

Ludi (2021) by Haitian-American director Edson Jean follows a young Haitian immigrant Ludi Alcidor who works day and night as a nurse at a private nursing home. Her goal is to earn money for her family back in Haiti while struggling to find out what she wants and needs for herself. “America is the land of opportunity”, they say. “You can make it here,” they say. That’s the biggest lie ever told. Black people and immigrants, surviving paycheck-to-paycheck while supporting their families, is what America is truly about. In French, Haitian Creole, Spanish, and English with English subtitles. 85 minutes. Trailer:

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures.

February 16: ARMENIANS IN FILM

Dehatsi – I was Another Place

Anush is a young Armenian woman who travels to Brazil without a return ticket. Once she is welcomed and inserted into the Armenian community in São Paulo, her biggest challenge is to adapt to the large and cosmopolitan city, so far from her roots. Directed by Tatiana Boudakian, 20 minutes.

Crossing the Blue

Anoush, an emigrant, who fled from her abusive husband in Post-Soviet is facing eventual deportation years later… Directed by Victoria Aleksanyan, 12 minutes.

Sunset

With sunlight quickly fading on the horizon, a student goes on a fantastic journey contemplating the importance of happiness and budding friendships versus their studies. Directed by Kristine Khanamiryan, 4 minutes.

Stones

The brutal Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020 ended in a Russian-mediated ceasefire forcing Armenia to cede territory it had controlled to Azerbaijan. As a result, thousands of Armenians living in these regions were forced to leave their homes. Days before the handover deadline, a group of volunteers risk their lives to enter the Lachin region to search for and save beautiful sacred ancient Armenian stone inscriptions known as “khachkars,” from destruction. Directed by Arman Ayvazyan, 17 minutes.

The Road

The poetic vision of director Charlotte Mungomery converges with the spellbinding score of Armenian-Australian jazz band, Zela Margossian Quintet in “The Road.” This international art-film collaboration catches you from its opening, luring you into a liminal desert space, blurring the bounds between diorama and reality. Circumnavigate these stories of isolation and connection through the opulent and atmospheric eye of a filmmaking collective poised from their recent experimental opera film, ‘A Delicate Fire.’ Directed by Charlotte Mungomery, 8 minutes.

The Mud

Rafael is approaching his home. At the entrance he notices a lone goose. No one in the village keeps geese. When he opens the door the goose sneaks inside. Without removing his dirty shoes, Rafael rushes after the goose and catches it. When in the middle of the room he notices that he hadn’t removed shoes and that the room is now dirty. He takes off the shoes and without cleaning the dirt marks on the floor leaves the house to climb the mountain. Shortly afterward Ashkhen, Rafael’s wife, returns home and sees the disappearing footprints and the feathers on the floor and the mystery unfolds…Directed by Vahan Grigoryan, 11 minutes.

Sponsors: Armenian Studies Program, Armenian General Benevolent Union, Greater Fresno

Chapter, and AGBU Arts’ Armenians in Film Series.

February 9: THE OLD OAK

The Old Oak is a special place. Not only is it the last pub standing, it is the only remaining public space where people can meet in a once thriving mining community in northeast England that has now fallen on hard times after 30 years of decline. TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner) the landlord hangs on to the Old Oak by his fingertips, and his hold is endangered even more when the pub becomes contested territory after the arrival of Syrian refugees who are placed in his village. An unlikely friendship develops when TJ encounters a young Syrian with a camera, Yara (Elba Mari). Can they find a way for the two communities to understand each other? So unfolds a deeply moving drama by British director Ken Loach about loss, fear and the difficulty of finding hope. 113 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1rbgF4BpJ4

February 2: CHINATOWN RISING

Against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-1960s, a young resident of San Francisco’s Chinatown named Harry Chuck, armed with a 16mm camera and leftover film scraps from a local TV station, turned his lens onto his community. Totaling more than 20,000 feet of film (10 hours), his exquisite unreleased footage had captured a divided community’s struggles for self-determination. Chinatown Rising is a documentary film brought to the public light by Josh Chuck with the help of his father Harry. It presents the Asian American Movement from the perspective of the young residents on the front lines of their historic neighborhood in transition. Through publicly challenging the conservative views of their elders, their demonstrations and protests of the 1960s through the 1980s rattled the once quiet streets during the community’s shift in power. Forty-five years later, in intimate interviews these activists recall their roles and experiences in response to the need for social change. 85 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/903573609

December 1: ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF ASHA (JULES AU PAYS D’ASHA)

Adventures in the Land of Asha is French-Canadian director Sophie Farkas Bolla’s first feature film. Set in the 1940s, this beautiful film tells the story of Jules and his family who left Montreal and moved to live with Uncle Jovite, the mayor of a settler’s village in northern Quebec. Jules is banned from school because of his rare skin disease. His dog Spark becomes his only friend. When he runs away into the wild forest, Jules has no choice but to venture out to find him. Along the way, he meets Asha, a mysterious First Nation girl who assures him that her mother could cure him. Will Asha’s mom be able to treat Jules’ ailment? Together, Jules and Asha undertake the difficult journey to the other side of the forest, which is not what they had imagined and were nature reveals itself, full of life and secrets. This charming film is for everyone: adults and children alike who believe in the power of imagination. In French, Anishinaabemowin and English with English subtitles. 89 minutes. Trailer: https://youtu.be/Bcia5RFV0Ik.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

November 17: RULE OF TWO WALLS

Rule of Two Walls is an intimate look at the war in Ukraine, as seen through the eyes of Ukrainian artists who remained in their country to make art as a defiant act in the face of aggression. The film presents the invasion of Ukraine as a war of memory, identity and truth. Using live music performance, painting, street art, and the act of filmmaking itself, it aims to illuminate the psychological frontlines of the crisis: how to go to a restaurant or bar amid the near-constant blare of air-raid alarms and missile strikes; how to process, react, and resist, while having to go about the rhythms of daily life. Blurring the lines between what is seen in front of and behind the camera, the film probes what it means to make cinema in a time of war. In English, Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles. 77 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUYvp5-wJiY

November 3: INSIDE RUSSIA: TRAITORS & HEROES

Inside Russia: Traitors and Heroes documents an extraordinary year in the lives of ordinary Russians. As anti-war protests are brutally suppressed across the country, a local politician condemns the war on social media. The authorities decide to press charges. She must decide whether to face a criminal conviction or flee the country. A group of young graffiti artists begins a campaign of subversive art to mock the government’s pro-war propaganda. Soon one of their members is arrested. It has been dangerous for ordinary Russians to speak up against Vladimir Putin’s regime for years. New censorship laws, introduced since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, have made it tougher than ever. Since then, many thousands have fled Russia and those who stayed have had to choose: to stay silent, or to oppose, or to support the Russian government. 52 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/852708473

October 27: ORCA

Based on a true story, Orca by Iranian director Sahar Mosayebi follows the tribulations of Elham Asghari, a young divorced Iranian woman who survives a horrific assault by her estranged husband. Trying to rebuild her life, she finds solace in the water and becomes an amazing endurance swimmer. In the fight of her life, she faces political, religious and personal obstacles in a bid to swim further than anyone else has done. Will she realize her dream of a Guinness Record and be recognized in Iran for her astonishing feat? In Farsi with English subtitles. 107 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/705608646/bb51043291

October 20: WITHOUT PRECEDENT: THE SUPREME LIFE OF ROSALIE ABELLA

Despite the political ill-winds that blow over our border, Canadians still do many things differently. Our respective Supreme Courts are a case in point. The U.S. Supremes are celebrities, infamous ones in some cases. By contrast, Canadian Supreme Court justices fairly fly below the radar. Which is why acclaimed Canadian director Barry Avrich’s Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella commands our attention. The film chronicles the career of Rosalie Abella, the former Supreme Court Justice of Canada, who stood up for many marginalized communities during her long legal career. Without Precedent features interviews with friends, colleagues and admirers from diverse political and ideological backgrounds, such as author Margaret Atwood, former Canadian PMs Brian Mulroney and Paul Martin, essayist, New Times staff writer Adam Gopnik and many others. This timely documentary presents a fascination personality of whom the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once said “If I have a Canadian sister, her name would be Rosie Abella.” US supreme court Justice Sonia Sotomayor who was present at the film’s world première in Toronto, Canada, stated this: “Rosalie Abella forces each of us to examine our conscience. Where else does justice come from? From our conscience.” In English. 84 minutes. Trailer: https://youtu.be/ACrw1IECtZE

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

October 13: LA CIVIL

Inspired by true events, La Civil by Mexican director Teodora Mihai tells the story of Cielo, a mother in search of her daughter, abducted by a criminal gang in Northern Mexico. As the authorities fail to offer support in the search, Cielo takes matters into her own hands. She begins her own investigation and earns the trust and sympathy of Lamarque, an unconventional army lieutenant based in the region. He agrees to help Cielo because her research data could be useful to his own investigations. Cielo’s collaboration with Lamarque pulls her further into a vicious cycle of violence. The film focuses on Cielo’s emotional rollercoaster, as she is drawn into increasingly dangerous circumstances. The camera stays close, we never lose sight of her as she gradually transforms from housewife into avenging activist. As events unfold, she gets closer to the truth: discovering a mass grave, obtaining official DNA analyses, confronting one of the presumed kidnappers, but corruption and apathy keep her from finding resolution. Until the end finally comes, unpredictable and uninvited. In Spanish with English subtitles. 140 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_bR3WdrFFQ

October 6: TOWN DESTROYER

Town Destroyer by Bay Area-based directors Alan Snitow & Deborah Kaufman explores the ways we look at art and history at a time of polarized national debate over the power of images, racism, trauma, and what should be taught in schools. The story focuses on a dispute over historic murals depicting the life of George Washington as a slave owner, general, land speculator, President, and a man Native Seneca leaders called “Town Destroyer” after he ordered their villages destroyed during the Revolutionary War (1775-83). The murals, at San Francisco’s George Washington High School, were painted in 1936 by Russian-born American painter and professor of art Victor Mikhail Arnautoff (1896-1979), a student of world famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886-1957). The film addresses current debates over trauma, student safety and cancel culture. Do images trigger trauma in students? How should a changing society deal with controversial works of art? Do the intentions of the artist matter? Or just the impact on viewers? Is it censorship to destroy murals that show painful histories? What does our country owe people who have been historically wronged? 53 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQji26e05K0

September 29: LIGHTING UP THE STARS

Lighting Up the Stars follows the story of a mortician named Mo San Mei (Zhu Yi Long) recently released from prison and facing an uncertain future. His father considers him a disgrace to the family but still sees fit to give his son a chance to turn his life around. Hoping to retire, he decides the time has come to pass the family business along to his wayward son. Without any real say in the matter, San Mei finds himself the new director of the family’s small funeral home. Living and working at the funeral parlor, he settles comfortably enough into his new life. But things take an extremely unexpected turn when a little girl named Wu Xiaowen, orphaned after the death of her grandmother, walks into his life. He has no choice but to take Xiaowen in. Can this ex-con find a way to become the father this little girl needs? A truly charming story about life, love, and loss, Lighting Up The Stars is a 2022 Chinese drama comedy by Chinese director Liu Jiangjiang. In Mandarin with English subtitles. 112 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgh3Ac8Hp1I

September 22: RISE

Rise is a drama by renown French director, screenwriter and producer Cédric Klapisch. It tells the story of Elise, a 26-year-old prima ballerina Elise, who is injured during a live performance. Her life is be turned upside down upon learning that she can no longer dance. From then on, she tries to find a new purpose in her life while moving between Paris and Brittany, through encounters and experiences, as well as from moments of profound disappointment and glimmers of hope. What will she do with her life? Will she find a new calling and therefore a new way of life? This touching feature film, shot in real-life documentary style, invites us to become immersed in the world of dance focusing on Elise, played by the superbly talented Marion Barbeau, a real ballerina from the Paris Opera Ballet in her first film role. In French with English subtitles. 117minutes. Trailer: https://youtu.be/nYuukZndeAU

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

September 15: The INVESTIGATOR

A former investigator for The Hague Tribunal in The Hague, The Netherlands, returns to the Balkans, to places in Southern Europe where war crimes were committed in the 1990s. Can justice be brought from the outside? Czech film director Victory Portel tells the story of Vladimír Dzuro, the first Czech investigator to have worked for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Dzuro collected evidence against war criminals and hunted perpetrators of ethnic cleansing. The two biggest cases include the Ovcara massacre related to Vukovar‘s mayor Slavko Dokmanovic, and the ethnic cleansing committed by the Serbian nationalist warlord Željko Ražnatovic Arkan. We join Vladimír Dzuro on his metaphorical and real journey across the places of investigation in the former country of Yugoslavia and meet some survivors of these cases. What is the landscape of the Balkans, which saw a fratricidal conflict twenty-five years ago, like today? What happened to the people who still live there and to their memory? What is the significance and meaning of justice brought from the outside? The film is inspired by Vladimir Dzuro’s bestselling book The Investigator – Demons of the Balkan War (Grada, 2017, and Potomac Books, 2019). In Czech, Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian with English subtitles. 74 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/793687774

September 8: STAY WITH US

Stay with Us is a comedy by French-speaking Moroccan-Canadian stand-up comedian, actor and director Gad Elmaleh, who was born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco, to a Berber Jewish family. The film tells the story of Gad, played by himself, who decides to leave New York and move to Paris, to convert to Catholicism. In spite of his attempt to hide the truth from his family, played by members of his own family, his parents discover their son’s unconditional love for the Virgin Mary… and for them it is a nightmare. Determined to bring Gad back to reason and to his Jewish roots, they turn his attempt to conversion into a battlefield. Will Gad follow his heart and convert or surrender to the wishes of his family? This heart-warming and charming comedy by “the Seinfeld of France” is about faith, family and acceptance. In French with English subtitles. 93 minutes. Trailer: https://youtu.be/oa30YSyWvGs.

Sponsors: Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

September 1: AURORA’S SUNRISE

At only 14 years old, Aurora lost everything during the horror of the Armenian genocide. Two years later, through luck and extraordinary courage, she escaped to New York, where her story became a media sensation. Starring as herself in Auction of Souls, an early Hollywood blockbuster, Aurora became the face of one of the largest charity campaigns in American history. With a blend of vivid animation, interviews with Aurora herself, and 18 minutes of surviving footage from her lost silent epic, Aurora’s Sunrise revives a forgotten story of survival. In Armenian, English, Turkish and German with English subtitles/ 96 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIl2_Rsha7Q

Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

Screenings Spring 2023 will be virtual.

May 8 – 12 Watch KAMLI

Kamli by Paksitani director Sarmad Sultan Khoosat is a tale of love, love and cloaked secrets. The film revolves around two women, Sakina and Hina. The live in a remote village in Pakistan and are bound together in a relationship through Saqlain, a man missing for 8 years. Sakina’s reluctance to accept that her brother is no longer with them and her rigid idea that their lives must continue in the same way forever conflicts with Hina’s quiet discontent with an unfulfilled marriage with Saqlain and her loneliness as her youth flies by. Into Hina’s life walks a young and handsome photographer named Amaltas who wanders in the countryside saving bird eggs from falling out of nests, philosophizing about love and swimming in the clear pool near Sakina and Hina’s village. Fascination turns into affection. Affection onto passion… and Hina begins to imagine a life with Amaltas as they fall in love. Will they be able to be with each other and live as man and wife? 130 minutes. In Urdu, Punjabi and English with English subtitles. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb-7sTVoQvw

May 1 – 5 Watch LIKE FATHER LIKE SON

Which would you choose your biological child, or the child you believed was yours? Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu addresses this difficult question in his film Like Father, Like Son. Following an unexpected phone call, affluent architect Ryota Nonomiya and his wife, Midori, are told that their six-year-old son, Keita, was switched at birth and is not their biological child. Seeing Midori’s devotion to Keita even after learning this distressing news, and observing the humble yet caring family who has raised their biological son for the last six years, Ryota begins to question his own values on fatherhood as he must choose between ‘nature’ and ‘nurture,’ a decision that will change their lives forever. In Japanese with English subtitles. 121 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9ZU0_RFiDQ

April 23 – 28 Watch Pakistani Short Films

Baadi: Director Marya Javed

Baadi is a coming-of-age story about a young girl’s desperation to make sense of her inner world, which is in conflict with her outer world. It is a story about repressed female sexuality and highlights the dearth of conversation or information for teenagers about their changing bodies in a society where their latent desires are often shamed as a means of control. Baadi is the Punjabi slang word for bra, derived from “body”, since saying “bra” is considered taboo in Pakistan. In Urdu with English subtitles. 20 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTjYw7XOGSU

May I Have This Seat: Director Tabish Habib

It is smog season in Lahore, Pakistan. Sonia is 25 years old and 8 months pregnant. Late for her doctor’s appointment and short on cash, she tries to grab a rickshaw whose driver makes her very uneasy. Instead she takes the local city bus and ends up sandwiched between an ocean of male shoulders, arms and heads. Extremely uncomfortable, she asks Masood, a harmless looking man for his seat but to no avail. As she prepares to look elsewhere the bus lurches suddenly, she loses her balance and falls on Masood who grabs her. She immediately gets back up and accuses him of harassment while he maintains his innocence. As the two argue with each other the travelers watch in shock, awe and amusement. In Urdu with English subtitles. 10 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-CjyXJQqBw

Kiran: Director Fatimah Sattar

In between the mandalas and paisleys on the lines and pores of the bride-to-be’s palms, a Mehndi applicator finds a space for herself. Belonging to a culture where there is no room to even think about one’s identity, let alone question it, Kiran faces a wave of emotions. She knows nothing can be changed drastically in her life and small unnoticeable footprints are all that she leaves. In Urdu with English subtitles. 17 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13gyCuJSxEM

City of Men (Hira): Director Hira Sheraz Yousafzai

A orthodox Muslim Pashtun household in Peshawar, Pakistan, is led by a strict patriarchal mother who is greatly alarmed by her two naïve and rebellious daughters. As the chronicles of their rebellion unfold, the cost of dreams may be consequential for them, who mustn’t flee from the ‘City of Men’. In Pushto with English subtitles. 19 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kjz-RfAliY

It’s a Boy: Directed by Marya Javed

Neha and Taimoor, a fairly educated and emancipated couple, are open to the ideas of homosexuality and gender fluidity. They seem to have no prejudices. But when it comes to their own son, displaying “unconventional” behavior for a boy, their introjected fears start to surface. They struggle to answer this simple question, how do we know, it’s a boy? In Urdu with English subtitles 8:36 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzmzFOrVsF0

April 17 – 21 Watch I’LL MEET YOU THERE

I’ll Meet You There by Pakistani director Iram Bilal is a dramatic thriller following the father-daughter journey of Majeed, a Chicago policeman, and Dua, his teenage ballerina daughter. Eager for a raise, Majeed is cherry-picked to go undercover in a mosque for a special FBI co-assignment. Shortly after, Baba, Majeed’s long-estranged father, shows up unannounced from Pakistan. Majeed uses Baba as an excuse to reenter the mosque after a decade. Counter to his liking, Dua and Baba take to each other. Baba urges Dua to question her passion for dance in the name of religion. The family explores new truths about their present, past, and future until everything comes to a head in a surprise bait and switch by the FBI. In Urdu and English with English subtitles. 90 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/499268885/3663cacc3c?embedded=true&source=video_title&owner=6857131.

April 7 – 14 Watch MOTHERLAND

It took 106 years before the United States formally recognized the Armenian Genocide of 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. On April 24, 2021, President Joe Biden became the first United States president to officially recognize the Armenian genocide and to recommit preventing such an atrocity from occurring again. Tragically, history is repeating itself with Turkey’s ongoing genocidal attack and ethnic cleansing against Armenians as we’ve witnessed recently in Artsakh. Motherland is a 120-minute documentary feature film about Azerbaijan’s, Turkey’s unprovoked genocidal attack and ethnic cleansing against Armenians of Artsakh, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh, starting on September 27, 2020. Through a journalist and activist’s lens, Motherland focuses the world’s attention on the atrocities, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed by Azerbaijan and Turkey against Artsakh and Armenia. Motherland tells the story of this ongoing tragic chapter through the lens of Armenian-American journalist and LGBTQ+ activist, Vic Gerami. In English, Armenian, and Turkish with English Subtitles. 115 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/714287976.

Sponsor: The Armenian Studies Program

March 20 – 24 Watch OCCUPIED: OUR SECRET LIFE IN KHERSON

Dmytro Bahnenko, a Ukrainian journalist in Kherson, southern Ukraine, spent three months secretly recording his city’s resistance to the Russian occupation. In this extraordinary film for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s investigation unit BBC Eye, Dmytro chronicles the harsh reality of life under occupation, as food and medicines become scarce, people flee, and others begin to disappear. Dmytro and his wife Lidia struggle to shield their four-year-old daughter Ksusha from the war, and make the difficult decision to try to escape. In English and Ukrainian with English subtitles. 47 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwrFqgVqBaA

March 12 – 17 Watch THE ERIE SITUATION

“Something was clearly wrong with Lake Erie”, the fourth largest lake by surface area, the shallowest and smallest by volume of the five Great Lakes in North America, as well as the eleventh-largest globally. Indeed, in 2014, the citizens of Toledo, Ohio had to go without running water for three days when a bloom of highly toxic algae entered the drinking water plant from Lake Erie. This should have been a wake-up call for politicians, big agriculture, and citizens everywhere that freshwater resources are at risk of becoming toxic. Directed by David J. Ruck, the documentary The Erie Situation explores the confluence of science, public sentiment, politics, and the powerful farming lobby as Ohio wrestles with how to confront the drivers of toxic algae in one of the Great Lakes. What’s at stake? Who’s at risk? And will volunteer measures be enough to confront this growing crisis, both in Ohio and beyond? 72 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJLCPedUiPg

Sponsor: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

March 6 – 10 Watch A MAN OF INTEGRITY

A Man of Integrity by Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof features Reza who, having distanced himself from the urban quagmire, leads a simple life along with his wife and young son, somewhere in a remote village in Northern Iran. He spends his days working on his goldfish farm. Nearby, a private company with close links to the government and local authorities, has taken control of nearly every aspect of regional life. Its shareholders, accumulating wealth, power and economic influence, have been pushing local farmers and small owners to sell off their belongings, farms and estates, to the benefit of the Company’s influential network and its monopoly. It is under their pressure that many villagers have themselves become local links in the larger network of corruption. Director Mohammad Rasoulof, whose latest feature There Is No Evil won the Golden Bear at last year’s Berlinale, has been making scathing social commentary of the Iranian regime for over a decade, but he remains relatively unknown and underappreciated in the US—despite winning numerous prizes at such top world film festivals as Cannes and Berlin. A Man of Integrity reveals the corruption and state cronyism at the heart of one of the most powerful and influential regimes in the Middle East. In Farsi with English subtitles. 117 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eKp7J04omE.

February 27 – March 3 Watch The Forger

The Forger by German director Maggie Peren takes place in Berlin, Germany, in 1940. It tells the story of Cioma Schönhaus (Louis Hofmann, star of the hit Netflix series Dark), a young Jewish man who won’t let anyone take away his zest for life, especially not the Nazis. Since the best hiding spots are in plain sight, Cioma audaciously adopts the identity of a marine officer to escape being deported like his family before him. Drawing on his art school background, he joins a network of underground rescuers and becomes infamous for his masterfully forged IDs – created with just a brush, some ink, and a steady hand – that save the lives of hundreds of Jews by allowing them to escape the country. Meanwhile, he throws himself into the city’s nightlife and even finds a fragile hope for love during the darkest moments of the war. His talent and propensity for boldness puts him in more and more danger, however, until his only chance of survival is one last forged document – with his own name on it. Based on a true story. In German with English subtitles. 115 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggRS4sAkIz8.

Sponsors: Jewish Studies Program and the Jewish Studies Association.

February 18 – 24 Watch THE INVESTIGATOR

February 18 – 22 Watch PAPICHA

Papicha (2019) by Algerian-French director Mounia Meddour takes placed in the 1990s. Within a group of female students in Algiers, during the Algerian civil war also called the “dark decade”, Nedjma (Lyna Khoudri), a French student, dreams of becoming a fashion designer. She regularly sneaks out of her university residence with her friend Wassila to go to a nightclub and takes the opportunity to sell her creations to other young women. But she is facing the violence of the civil war and growing pressure to conform to the strict moral code and dress standards dictated by Islamists. She refuses to submit, decides to organize a fashion show in her university residence and to create her clothes from the haik, the large rectangular piece which is the traditional clothing for Algerian women. Will Nedjma be able to have her fashion show in spite of the many obstacles she is facing? Will there be consequences to her actions? This engaging and moving film received many accolades including two Césars for Best First Film and Best Promising Actress at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France, the Audience Award and the Best New Director Award at the Seminci International Film Festival in Valladolid, Spain. It was also selected for the Oscars in 2020 to represent Algeria in the Best Foreign Film category. 106 minutes. In French and Algerian Arabic with subtitles in English. Trailer: https://youtu.be/MTlrOULY5ss.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures.

February 13-17 Watch Goliath

Directed by Frédéric Tellier, Goliath is a thriller that deals with environmental and agricultural issues. The film was inspired by the “Monsanto Papers” and Monsanto File“ investigated by the French daily Le Mondepublished in Paris. These two cases involved the American agro-industrial corporation Monsanto and its glyphosate-based herbicide sold under the name “Roundup.” Tellier’s film features three main players: a tenacious lawyer called Patrick specializing in environmental law; France, a school teacher, who becomes an activist after her husband develops cancer from exposure to Thérazine, a fictional glyphosate-based pesticide; and Matthias, an ambitious lobbyist working for an international chemical corporation. The paths of these three characters collide as the lives of thousands are affected by a tragic act that sparks a powerful movement while the corporation fights to prevent the truth from being revealed. In French with English subtitles. 122 minutes. Trailer: https://youtu.be/tUJ_WCRih0M.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures.

February 5-10 Watch A Family for 1640 Days

A Family for 1640 Days is Fabien Gorgeart’s second feature film. This touching film is inspired by true events that happened when the French director was a child. It tells the story of Anna (Mélanie Thierry) who lives happily with her husband Driss (Lyes Salem), their two boys Adrien and Jules, and Simon, a 6-year-old boy, who was placed with her by Child Care Services when he was only 18 months. However, Simon’s father decides that he is ready to take his son back. What will happen to Simon? Will he go back to his father? What about Anna’s family who treated Simon as their son and brother? This “remarkable, sensitive and highly accurate drama” explores what makes a child happy and what it means to be a family. It has received a number of awards including the Jury Prize and the Valois for Best Actress at the Angoulême French-Language Film Festival in Angoulême, France, as well as the Bayard for Best Acting Performance at the International Francophone Film Festival in Namur, Belgium. In French with English subtitles. 102 minutes. Trailer: https://youtu.be/k5VE5erwW1w.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures.

January 29 – February 3 Watch MAP OF LATIN AMERICAN DREAMS

Between 1992 and 2013 the Argentine artist, Martín Weber, photographed powerful yet intimate people in Latin America. He asked them to write their dreams with chalk on a wooden board. Decades later, he wondered if any of those wishes had been fulfilled. This film is a new journey in the search for the same people to give testimony from their lives. For the last 8 years Martín filmed in Argentina, Peru, Nicaragua, Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico. During his trip, he witnessed the economic, political, social and military violence that mark the continent. Martín ventured beyond the conventional limits of observation and entered situations that clearly show the consequences of migration, and the degradation of the social fabric. His experiences reveal the fractures and gaps in the dreams portrayed. His resilient characters, struggle between hope and despair, between emigrating and remaining home. This journey invites the spectator to identify with communal and private stories. If a photo freezes a moment, this film melts these past moments and provides them the strength of the present. Getty Images: https://www.reportagebygettyimages.com/features/a-map-of-latin-american-dreams/ In Spanish, Portuguese and Quechua with English subtitles. 92 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/430048118.

January 25-27 Watch CHILDREN OF THE MIST

In a village hidden in the mist-shrouded Northwest Vietnamese mountains resides an indigenous Hmong community, home to 12-year-old Di, part of the first generation of her people with access to formal education. A free spirit, Di happily recounts her experiences to Vietnamese filmmaker Diễm Hà Lệ, who planted herself within Di’s family over the course of three years to document this unique coming of age. As Di grows older, her carefree childhood gives way to an impulsive and sensitive adolescence, a dangerous temperament for what will happen next; in this insular community, girls must still endure the controversial but accepted tradition of “bride kidnapping.” One night, when the young girl’s parents return home from celebrating the Lunar New Year, they are shocked to find their house is silent: Di has disappeared. Winner of the Best Directing award at IDFA, the leading festival for documentary film and new media, held every November in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Diễm’s documentary is a tender portrait of a community on the cusp between tradition and modernity, and one girl tragically stuck in the middle. It is also the first Vietnamese film to make the Oscars documentary shortlist. In Hmong and Vietnamese with English subtitles. 90 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGrh3qXusUE.

Sponsor: Hmong Studies Program

November 13 – 18 Watch THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT (Une part d’ombre)

The Benefit of the Doubt is a Belgian film directed and written by Samuel Tilman in his directorial debut. It tells the story of David a happy young father married to a wife he loves, two adorable young children, and a tight-knit tribe of friends he and his family always go away on holiday with. However, on returning from their last trip away in the Vosges in Eastern France, near its border with Germany, he is taken in for questioning by the police as part of a murder investigation. Before long the investigation reveals that all is not what it seems behind the happy and respectable facade of David’s life. The film had its world premiere at the Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur, in Namur, Belgium in Fall 2017. It also received several nominations including Best First Feature Film and Best Actress and won the Special Jury Price at the Beaune International Thriller Film Festival in Beaune, France. In French with English subtitles. 95 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/252346113

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

October 30 – November 4 Watch THE LUNCHBOX

Middle class housewife Ila is trying once again to add some spice to her marriage, this time through her cooking. She desperately hopes that this new recipe will finally arouse some kind of reaction from her neglectful husband. She prepares a special lunchbox to be delivered to him at work, but, unbeknownst to her, it is mistakenly delivered to another office worker, Saajan, a lonely man on the verge of retirement. Curious about the lack of reaction from her husband, Ila puts a little note in the following day’s lunchbox, in the hopes of getting to the bottom of the mystery. This begins a series of lunchbox notes between Saajan and Ila, and the mere comfort of communicating with a stranger anonymously soon evolves into an unexpected friendship. Gradually, their notes become little confessions about their loneliness, memories, regrets, fears, and even small joys. They each discover a new sense of self and find an anchor to hold on to in the big city of Mumbai that so often crushes hopes and dreams. Still strangers physically, Ila and Saajan become lost in a virtual relationship that could jeopardize both their realities. In Hindi with English subtitles. 104 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENgWVvQYCxg

October 23 – 28: Watch BALZAC AND THE LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS

Chinese-French author, screenwriter and filmmaker Dai Sijie directed this feature film based on his own semi-autobiographical novel set in the early 1970s during the later stages of China’s Cultural Revolution. It tells the story of two young men, university students, who are sent to a remote mountain village in southwest China for three years of Communist re-education to purge them of their decadent Western education. Amid the back-breaking work and stifling ignorance of the community, they fall in love with a local beauty, the daughter of the most renowned tailor in the region. When they discover a hidden suitcase filled with banned books by western writers, they read these works to the little seamstress for hours on end in a secret meeting place. Thirsting for knowledge of the world beyond, she is mesmerized by the novels of nineteenth-century French writer Honoré de Balzac and eventually falls in love with the two young men who read this author’s stories to her. On her mystical journey, the Little Seamstress finds the courage to leave her village for broader horizons. In Chinese with English subtitles. 111 minutes.

October 17 -21: Watch PEACEFUL

Peaceful is French director Emmanuelle Bercot’s newest feature film. It is the moving story of a mother (Catherine Deneuve) facing the unbearable and her son (Benoît Magimel) in denial of a serious illness and facing his approaching death. Between them a doctor (Gabriel Sara) and a nurse (Cécile de France) fight to do their job and bring them to acceptance. Mother and son have one year, four seasons, to “dance with the disease, tame it, and understand what it means: to die while still alive”. The film is deeply poignant while realistic at the same time. Filmmaker Bercot raises the bar of realism by having Dr. Gabriel Sara (renamed Dr. Eddé in the film), more or less play his own role of a real oncologist whose unorthodox treatments for end-of-life patients use music and speech. Peaceful had its world premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Benoît Magimel won a Cesar and a Lumière Award Best Actor earlier this year. In French with English subtitles. 120 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upCym_xcJfo

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

October 10-14: Watch COSTA BRAVA, LEBANON

Costa Brava Lebanon is Lebanese director Mounia Akl’s first feature film. This contemporary fiction tells the story of three generations of the Badri family who resides in an idyllic mountain home. Though the location is picture-perfect, familial arguments bubble up beneath the surface. Grandmother Zeina, ex-singer Soraya and teenager Tala yearn to return to Beirut. On the other hand, father and husband Walid and Rim, the youngest child, refuse to leave their eco-paradise. The whole family’s resolve wavers… but then the government seizes their property and proceeds to carve it into a landfill. What will happen to them? Will they stay or have to leave their threatened haven? This film, which “masters the universal and the local at once”, received numerous accolades and prizes at several international film festivals around the world and was selected as the Lebanese entry for Best International Feature Film at this year’s Academy Awards. In Arabic with English subtitles. 105 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlKwa-MKGgo.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

October 3-7: Watch OLGA

Olga is French-born Swiss director Elie Grappe’s first feature film. It is set against the backdrop of the Euromaidan upraising and civil unrests in Kyiv, Ukraine, in late 2013. Olga is the story of a 15-year-old gymnast struggling with her dual identity: she is both Swiss and Ukrainian. She trains for the Olympic as a Swiss athlete thanks to her deceased father’s nationality, while her mother, a free-lance journalist, reports on the ground in Kyiv and faces daily dangers. What will happen to Olga? Will she win a place on the Swiss team competing in the Olympics? Striving for authenticity, Grappe has cast real gymnasts in the film’s main roles. Olga won the prize for Best Screenplay at the 74th International Critics Week of the Cannes Film Festival. The film was selected as the Swiss entry for Best International Feature Film at this year’s Academic Awards. Additionally, it won Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay and Best Sound at 2022 Swiss Film Awards. In French and Ukrainian with English subtitles. 85 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaVAoiRlTyA.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

September 25-30 Watch FATHER

As told by Serbian Director Srdan Goluibovic, Nillaka, a day laborer and father of two in a small town in Serbia, is ordered to give up his children to social services after poverty and hunger drive his wife to commit a desperate act. Until he can provide adequate conditions for their upbringing, the children will be placed in foster care. Despite Nikola’s best efforts and several appeals, social services refuse to return his children, leaving him feeling hopeless. But when Nikola discovers the local administration may be corrupt, he decides to travel across Serbia on foot and take his case directly to the national ministry in Belgrade. Against all odds and driven by love and despair, this father refuses to give up on justice and his right to raise his children. In Serbian with English subtitles, 120 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/684844319

September 19-23: Watch MARIUPOL: THE CHRONICLES OF HELL

Ukrainian filmmaker Ielyzaveta Tatarinova documents the fall of one of Ukraine’s tenth-largest Mariupol – ruined but not conquered. The city in the east of Ukraine, with almost half a million people, has survived the occupation, total destruction, and a humanitarian catastrophe. The occupiers were murdering civilians, preventing them from escaping. This film tells the story of the survivors, their life in hell, and ultimately salvation. In Ukrainian with English subtitles, 81 minutes. Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc4M7NQyDWI

September 12-16: Watch ETERNAL SPRING

In this animated documentary Canadian director Jason Loftus, tells the story of what happened in March 2002, when a state TV signal in China is hacked by members of the banned spiritual group Falun Gong. Their goal is to counter the government narrative about their practice. In the aftermath, police raids sweep Changchun City in northeastern China, and comic book illustrator Daxiong (Justice League, Star Wars), a Falun Gong practitioner, is forced to flee. He arrives in North America, blaming the hacking for worsening the violent repression against this religious movement. But his views are challenged when he meets the lone surviving participant to have escaped China, now living in Seoul, South Korea. Combining present-day footage with 3D animation inspired by Daxiong’s art, Eternal Spring retraces the event on its 20th anniversary, and brings to life an unprecedented story of defiance, harrowing eyewitness accounts of persecution, and an exhilarating tale of determination to speak up for political and religious freedoms, no matter the cost. The film has received numerous awards, and is Canada’s Oscar nomination for Best International Feature film. In Mandarin with English subtitles, 86 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/671330916

September 5-9: Watch AS FAR AS I CAN WALK

As Far as I Can Walk directed by Serbian director Stefan Arsenijevic, follows a couple who left Ghana with a dream of a better life in Europe and now live as refugees in Belgrade, Serbia. 22-year-old Siisi, nicknamed Strahinja, is doing everything to integrate. He volunteers for the Red Cross in the camp where he lives, looks for work, plays on the local soccer team… His biggest challenge, however, is to win back the woman he loves. When she disappears one day, Strahinja sets out to find her. As Far as I Can Walk is a re-imagining of a traditional medieval epic in which contemporary African migrants take the place of Serbian national heroes. Urgent and timeless at the same time, the adaptation raises questions about identity, tradition, race and love. In Serbian and English with English subtitles, 92 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/682377530?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=19418010

September 5-9: Watch SKIES OF LEBANON (Sous le ciel d’Alice)

Skies of Lebanon is Lebanese-French director Chloé Mazlo’s first feature film. This charming film received the Grand Prize at the Francophone International Film Festival in Tübingen, Germany, and was a selection at the 2020 International Critics’ Week of the Cannes Film Festival. It combines live action with animation to create a vivid picture of Lebanon, inspired by the family history of the filmmaker. Using stories told to her by her grandmother of life during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-90), Mazlo crafts a touching and heart-breaking story of love during wartime. “A poetic blending of the personal and political”, this moving film tells the story of Alice, a young Swiss woman who moves to Beirut in the 1950s and falls in love with Joseph, a Lebanese astrophysicist with dreams of sending his fellow citizens into space. Joseph and Alice appear to lead the perfect life… However, after years of bliss, the civil war threatens their Garden of Eden and nothing will ever be the same again. In French and Arabic with English subtitles. 90 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtfEQkhSo1k

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

April 10-12: Watch RIVER’S END CALIFORNIA’S LATEST WATER WAR

Screenings during Spring 2022 and will be virtual.

May 7– 13 Watch MAIZE

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Growing “la milpa” is an act of resistance, a profoundly political one. Maize In Times Of War, directed by Mexican Director Alberto Cortés, traces the yearly cycle of four Indigenous maize farmers in different regions of México. This film draws the exceptional process of growing maize, the delicacy of selecting seeds and preparing the land, and the tenacity required throughout the whole process until the harvest arrives. In Tseltal, Ayuujk, Wixárika & Spanish with English Subtitles. 88 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/321904731

April 30 – May 7 Watch CHILDREN OF THE EXODUS

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Directed by Mexican Director Wilma Gómez Luengo, Children of the Exodus documents the displacement of hundreds of communities in the Tierra Caliente de Guerrero, a region in Southern Mexico. Many have been forced off their land by organized crime that wants to control drug traffic and exploit the natural resources in that area. Refugees in a strange city, the children reveal the humanitarian crisis of forced displacement as well as the consequences of relocation and violence in their lives. In Spanish with English subtitles. 84 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/635935271.

April 25 – 29 Watch THE VELVET QUEEN

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Directed by Marie Amiguet, The Velvet Queen follows world-renown French wildlife photographer Vincent Munier and French geographer, writer and traveler Sylvain Tesson on an urgent quest in a remote and mountainous region of Tibet. They hope to photograph the elusive snow leopard with no guarantee of success. Due to poaching and an increasing loss of habitat, the global population of this magnificent feline is estimated to be fewer than 10,000 and expected to further decline. The snow leopard is listed as “vulnerable,” i.e., threatened with extinction, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and is featured on the Tibetan flag, still used by the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, based in Dharamshala, India. A beautiful documentary, The Velvet Queen offers stunning landscape and wildlife photography, wonderful music and a fascinating narrative by writer Tesson, that is alternately, poetic, meditative or philosophical. In French with English subtitles. 92 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXP-Nd58d4o.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

April 16 – 22 Watch The DESIRE TO LIVE

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Directed by Mariam Avetisyan, a filmmaker from Artsakh, The Desire to Live tells the stories of the indigenous people of Artsakh, after the recent 44-day war with Azerbaijan and suffering a devastating loss of lives and land. The desire to live is really a right to live on their lands and be protected by the threat of war, genocide and crimes against their humanity. In Armenian with English subtitles. 90 minutes. Film website: https://thedesiretolivedoc.com/ Trailer: https://vimeo.com/650680281

Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

April 4 – 8 Watch XUETA ISLAND

Xueta Island by director Dani Rotstein explores the fascinating legacy of the Xuetas (pronounced Chuetas), a unique group of families on the Balearic island of Majorca, Spain, who are believed to be descendants of the island’s Inquisition-era Jewish population. Though they were practicing Catholics, the Chuetas were discriminated against until the middle of the 20th century, always forced to marry within their subgroup population. This film follows Rotstein, a Jewish-American expat, who moved to the island recently and quickly became fascinated with the story. Rotstein currently works as a social activist and filmmaker on the island, where he uses discoveries from his ongoing investigation to help build a new community. In Catalan, English and Spanish with English subtitles. 63 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3P9B3A_TDSs.

Sponsors: Jewish Studies Program and the Jewish Studies Association

April 2 – 6 Watch TOKYO SHAKING

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On March 11, 2011, an extremely powerful underwater earthquake caused the biggest tsunami Japan had ever experienced. This gigantic tsunami triggered a terrible nuclear disaster, at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, including the meltdowns of three of its reactors, the discharge of radioactive water in Fukushima, and the associated evacuation zones affecting hundreds of thousands of local residents. Directed by French filmmaker Olivier Peyon,Tokyo Shaking tells how the health risks to the Japanese population were being downplayed while the foreign community in Tokyo was terrified by this tragic event and the fact that no one was capable of assessing its scope. Alexandra, a French executive newly arrived from Hong Kong to work in a French-owned bank, has to face this nuclear crisis with her employees. Torn between following the company’s instructions and going back to her husband and children who are still in Hong Kong, she will find herself defending her honor and given word, despite the pervading terror and chaos. 101 minutes. +In French and Japanese with English subtitles. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osVVBIwfHtc

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

March 28 – April 1 Watch KUESSIPAN

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Directed by Quebec filmmaker Myriam Verreault, Kuessipan is a dramatic and poetic adaptation of First Nation Innu novelist Naomi Fontaine’s bestselling 2012 novel. The film takes place near Sept-Iles in Quebec, Canada, which is located on the North shore of the Saint Laurence River, some 560 miles east of Montreal. In a series of colorful and stunning vignettes, Kuessipan narrates the coming of age story of two young Innu girls, Mikuan and Shaniss, inseparable since childhood, who promise to always stay together no matter what. Will their relationship falter when their respective dreams of a future take different paths? In French and Innu. 117 minutes. Trailer: https://youtu.be/RVtRbCltm5g.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

March 28-25 Watch THE CARER

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The Carer by Hungarian director János Edelényi tells the story of a British theatre legend, Sir Michael Gifford, who is terminally ill. He is also foul-mouthed, irascible, and generally impossible. Into his fraught household comes Dorottya, a Hungarian immigrant, to act as yet another in a long line of badly treated caregivers. She secretly hopes to become Michael’s acting pupil but Michael bullies and exploits her until an impromptu exchange from Hamlet reveals a mutual love of Shakespeare and their relationship gradually changes. As Michael mellows, she transcends her own selfish ambitions, and they learn some valuable lessons from each other. When Michael is offered a Lifetime Achievement Award Dorottya persuades him to accept it in person. Together they make it to the Awards Ceremony, which initially seems like a mistake. Michael looks completely out of his depth and the audience fears for his health. But then he rises to the occasion with a show-stealing speech and ends, prompted by Dorottya, with the illustrious question To be or not to be? And he responds in his famous thundering voice: “And the answer is TO BE!” 89 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hu0duNTy4A

March 13- 18 Watch WHERE THERE ONCE WAS WATER

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A story about water. A song for the sacred in all of us. A documentary centered on solutions. Directed by director Brittany App based in San Luis Obispo, California, Where There Once Was Water takes a look at the driest of places – California and the Southwest of the United States – and the deepest of spaces – our inner worlds. It presents an invitation to change our perspective and heal our relationship with water … one watershed, one meal, one raindrop, at a time. 74 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wherethereoncewaswater/496133512.

Sponsor: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

March 7-11 Watch TAZEEKA

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Tazzeka is French director Jean-Philippe Gaud’s first feature film. It is a delightful and bittersweet dramatic comedy about a young man’s dream faced with social realities. The story starts in the heart of a Moroccan village, Tazzeka, where Elias is raised by his grandmother and learns from her the tastes and secrets of Morocco’s traditional cuisine. Years later, he meets a famous Parisian chef and a beautiful young woman named Salma who motivate him to leave home. Will he succeed in making his dream a reality? You will enjoy this film for its inspiring narrative, beautiful photography and wonderful music and, above all, you will want to savor the many mouthwatering dishes that Elias creates in front of your eyes. In French and Arabic with English subtitles. 95 minutes. Trailer: https://youtu.be/qODP5nJzmP4

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

SALT OF THE EARTH (This film is available in the public domain.)

Salt of the Earth is set in a small mining community in New Mexico. Written by Michael Wilson and directed by Herbert Biberman, both blacklisted Hollywood filmmakers during the Red Scare for their alleged involvement in communist politics, the film chronicles the true events of a 1951 miners’ strike in the area using local people and non-actors to re-enact their experiences. Banned in the USA for 11 years, the film centers on Esperanza Quintero (Rosaura Revueltas), the wife of a protesting miner, who must combat sexism and racism on both sides of the conflict to build a better future for her family. Completed against all odds, (including the deportation of Revueltas), Salt of the Earth highlights the complexity of gender, labor, and family relationships during a hostile political climate. 94 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Ro8dvYpsM.

Sponsors: Jewish Studies Program, the Jewish Studies Association.

February 25-March 2 Watch SOL

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A Son is Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui’s first feature film. It received numerous accolades and prizes at many international film festivals around the world, which started this filmmaker’s international career. The film tells the story of a Tunisian couple, Fares and his wife Meriem, who live in France and are vacationing in Tunisia with their son Aziz. While driving in southern Tunisia with their son, they are ambushed by terrorists. They escape, but Aziz is seriously injured in the abdomen and needs an organ transplant. This creates a series of seemingly impossible complications and reveals a deeply hidden family secret. In French and Arabic with English subtitles. 96 minutes. Trailer: https://youtu.be/_K4qawhyasA.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

February 21-25 Watch A SON

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Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

February 14-18 Watch Why Is We Americans?

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By turns kinetic and intimate, Why is We Americans? by director Udi Aloni is an in-depth, cinematic exploration of Newark’s legendary Baraka family. Spanning decades of social activism, poetry, music, art, and politics, this kaleidoscopic family saga is illustrated by on-camera interviews with singer and rapper Lauryn Hill as well as rare archival footage and revealing personal testimonials. As we connect with the iconoclastic poet Amiri Baraka, his wife, Amina, and their son, the current mayor of Newark, Ras, a portrait of a city emerges with an inspiring call to arms in the fight for class and racial justice. 102 minutes. Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=109TZtGf-ug.

February 7-11 Watch THE CITIZEN

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Directed by Hungarian filmmaker Roland Vranik, The Citizen tells the story of Wilson, a black African in his late fifties Wilson, whose family was killed during an outbreak of civil war in Guinea-Bissau. Wilson had entered Europe as a political refugee and later settled for a sedate life as a security guard at a shopping center in Budapest, Hungary. His main desire is to acquire Hungarian citizenship. The story follows Wilson as he attempts to find his place in Hungarian society in his daily life, at work, with Mari, a history teacher who helps him study for his citizenship exam, and Shirin, a young Iranian woman whose only hope to avoid deportation is to marry a Hungarian citizen. The Citizen is an Award-winning drama that poignantly dwells on some of the most complex issues of contemporary European society. In Hungarian with English subtitles, 108 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WKJnrCfPZ8

January 31- February 4 Watch MADE IN BANGLADESH

Made in Bangladesh by Bangladeshi director Rubaiyat Hossain tells the story of Shimu, a 23-year-old textile worker, who toils in a clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She resolves to fight for employee rights after one of her co-workers is killed in a fire at her factory. Faced with difficult conditions at work, she decides to start a union with her co-workers. Despite threats from management and the disapproval of her husband, Shimu is determined to go on. Together the women must fight and find a way. Public Award for the Best Film Directed by a Woman of Color – ADIFF 2019, London BFI. In English and Bengali with English subtitles, 95 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/366947967.

January 25-28 Watch Hive

Filmed by Kosovar filmmaker Blerta Basholli in her directorial debut and Sundance triple award winner, Hive is a searing drama based on the true story of Fahrije, who, like many of the other women in her patriarchal village, has lived with fading hope and burgeoning grief since her husband went missing during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo. In order to provide for her struggling family, she teams up with the other widows in her community to launch a business selling a local food product. Together, they find healing and solace in considering a future without their husbands—but their will to begin living independently is met with hostility. The men in the village condemn Fahrije’s efforts to empower herself and the women around her, starting a feud that threatens their newfound sovereignty—and the financial future of Fahrije’s family. Against the backdrop of Eastern Europe’s civil unrest and lingering misogyny, Fahrije and the women of her village join in a struggle to find hope in the face of an uncertain future. Winner of the Audience Award, Directing Award, and World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Hive is a compelling but devastating portrait of loss and arduous journeys to freedom. In Albanian with English subtitles, 84 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39cIMHLPFMU.

October 31- November 5 Watch Room Without a View

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In Room Without a View, Catalan Director Roser Corella narrates the harsh reality of foreign domestic workers in Middle East countries. Combining multiple perspectives, it offers an intimate look at the lives of employers, intermediary agents and maids. The documentary opens an unprecedented window into a silenced reality and helps us understand the power structures that allow the existence of this evil system of modern slavery. From the legal framework that creates a control structure that promotes abuse and corruption, to the private sphere of the home that perpetuates a patriarchal system discriminating against Lebanese women and in turn violating the rights of foreign domestic workers. A courageous look at a form of contemporary slavery that reflects on the role of women and domestic work in capitalist societies. In Bengali, Arabic, French and Amharic with English subtitles, 73 minutes, trailer: https://vimeo.com/480819719

October 24-29 Watch Couleur de Peau: Miel (Approved for Adoption)

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Couleur de peau: Miel was co-directed by French director Laurent Boileau and Korean-born Belgian comic book artist Jung Sik-jun. It tells Jung’s own story who, as a young boy, was adopted by a Belgian family and grew up in Belgium. Based on Jung’s eponymous comic book series, this film chronicles the important moments of his childhood and adolescence and alternates between documentary footage of live action, animation sequences in 2D and 3D, and archival images. The film received several awards in 2013 including: the Grand Prize for Animation at the Japan Media Arts Festival, and both the Grand Prize and Audience Award at the World Festival of Animated Films in Zagreb, Croatia. 75 minutes. In French and Korean with English subtitles. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykhM8qNWxRk

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

October 17-22 Watch Carlos Jáuregui: The Unforgettable Fag

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The Unforgettable Fag by Argentinean director Lucas Santa Ana is the life story of Carlos Jáuregui, the most important LGBTQ activist in Argentina in the 1980s and 90s. His leadership and tenacity led greater equality, dignity and visibility for the LGBTQ movement in Argentina. He was the first gay to come out on the cover of an Argentine magazine in the 1980s. His courage changed the lives of Argentine LGBT community and the history of the country and its laws. He fought for the visibility of gays, lesbians and transgenders. Carlos Jáuregui led the first Pride March in Argentina. It unified the LGBTIQ movement. He also drafted what became Article 11 of the Statute of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, which prohibited discrimination against people on the basis of their gender identity or sexual orientation. In Spanish with English subtitles, 81 minutes, trailer: https://vimeo.com/429947986

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

October 10-15 Watch The Sower (El Sembrador)

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Amongst the mountains of Chiapas, a rural schoolteacher is dedicated to sowing the seeds of learning in a group of fifty Tseltal children of different ages. Bartolomé has been a father to the children of the community and has made the school a second home for all of them. He knows education is not based on textbooks and cannot fit inside the four walls of a classroom. A true sower of knowledge, Bartolomé’s approach to teaching based on curiosity, respect and the love of nature, makes his humanistic philosophy of teaching a beacon of hope to his community. In Spanish with English subtitles, 86 minutes, trailer: https://vimeo.com/567906323

October 4-8 Watch You Will Remember Me

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Tu te souviendras de moi is a drama film, directed by French-Canadian Éric Tessier and based on the 2013 theatrical play by French-Canadian writer François Archambault. It narrates the story of Édouard Beauchemin (Rémy Girard), a historian and highly visible media intellectual who prides himself on a broad philosophical insight and encyclopedic memory, but is now developing dementia and severe short-term memory loss. The film shows how this can affect Beauchemin’s family. Much of the film’s drama lies in the scenes between Beauchemin and a college-age but blasé Berenice who brings the film to a cathartic resolution. The film’s premiere, originally slated for March 20, 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. The film instead premiered at the Sarajevo Film Festival in August 2020, was screened at the 2020 Whistler Film Festival, British Columbia, Canada where Girard won the Borsos Competition award for Best Performance in a Canadian Film. In French with English subtitles, 108 minutes, trailer https://vimeo.com/428584421

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

September 25 – October 1 Watch Gate to Heaven

Centered on the 2016 April War in Artsakh, Gate to Heaven by Armenian director Jivan Avetisyan tells the story of Robert Stenval, a journalist who returns to Artsakh, formerly known as Nagorno-Karabakh, to investigate and cover the Four-Day War. While in Artsakh, Stenval meets a young opera singer, Sofia Martirosyan – the daughter of missing photojournalist Edgar Martirosyan, who Stenval had met during the fall of the Armenian village of Talish to the Azerbajanis in 1992 during the 1991–1994 Nagorno-Karabakh War. As the film progresses, Sofia and Robert’s friendship develops into a more romantic relationship. In English, Armenian (Artsakhian dialect), 91 minutes, German and French with English subtitles trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lhm6paGM74

Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

September 13-17 Watch Beans

Beans is the first feature film by Tracey Deer, a prolific First Nation (Mohawk) documentary film maker from Quebec, Canada. The semi-autobiographic story is based on historic events that Deer lived through as a child. It is about the 1990 Oka Crisis, a land dispute between the Mohawks living on their ancestral lands at Kanesatake, and the neighboring town of Oka, located northwest of Montreal. The story is told through the eyes of Tekehentahkhwa, a twelve-year-old Mohawk girl nicknamed ‘Beans,’ who is caught between her childhood innocence and teenage delinquency, and whose perspective on life is radically changed by these events. The film premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was second runner up for the People’s Choice Award. It was also featured at the 2021 New York Children’s International Film Festival in March 2021 and it won several awards, among them the Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards held virtually in May 2021. In English & French, 92 minutes, trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCFC-M0vqnY

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

September 6-10 Watch Coming Home Again

Based on a personal essay by Korean-American novelist Chang-rae Lee that was published in The New Yorker, Coming Home Again by Hong-Kong-American Wayne Wang is an intimate family drama about a mother, a son, and the burden of family expectations. Chang-rae, a first generation Korean-American, has returned to his family home in San Francisco to care for his ailing mother. Wanting nothing more than to fulfill his role as the supportive son, Chang-rae must come to terms with his own conflicted emotions towards his mother. The film takes place over the course of one full day. During this day, he attempts to prepare a traditional Korean New Year’s Eve dinner. The one she always cooked for the family. The care and precision that goes into preparing this meal gives him time to reflect on the intense relationship between them. Memories about their relationship become a doorway into a woman who was so much more than the mother he thought he knew. Chang-rae is now faced with the dilemma of living with the permanent scars of family sacrifice unresolved, or the risk of opening new wounds with his mother dying. Hong-Kong-American director Wayne Wang continues to authentically pioneer exploring the lives of Asian-Americans on screen, and the roles of women today. 87 minutes, trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CmAlgRCEAI

August 31-September 3 Watch A Letter to the President

A Letter to the President (Namiye Ba Rahess Gomhor) was shot in Afghanistan, indoors and out, and stars Leena Alam as Soraya, a chief police inspector who lands up on death row after being accused of killing her husband. Soraya writes to the President, who, counseled by his wife, agrees to hear her story. As the film unfolds, former law student Sadat also tells a story of political power. The plot actually rests on the power struggle between the official authorities and the local elders in the countryside, as well as former warlords and the Taliban. Soraya’s faux-pas, in the eyes of her father-in-law and thus her husband, is that she defends a teenage girl married to a much older man accused of adultery and who is bent on killing his young spouse. Soraya is then forced to choose between her work, and her husband and her two children. Meanwhile, the film has attracted attention for one particular scene which may be a spoiler for those who have not had the chance to watch A Letter to the President. It’s the slap-on-the-stairs scene where Soraya responds in kind to her violent and alcoholic husband who lands one on her face in front of, and to please, his father, her father-in-law. A love of cinema and a strong hope of change in Afghan society, especially through culture and with the advent of a younger generation give Sadat (Director) and Dildar (Producer) the determination to continue. Their faith in cinema to help bring about change goes beyond their own films, as they a few years ago they launched an annual Women’s film festival in Afghanistan. In Dari and Farsi with English subtitles, 83 minutes, trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_txke5_nnXY

May 3-7 Watch The Guardian of Memory

The Guardian of Memory tells the stories of Mexican men, women, and children seeking safety in the US. El Paso immigration lawyer Carlos Spector fights tirelessly to obtain political asylum for Mexicans fleeing extreme violence. This is the story about the kindness and hope that still exists in people who have endured tremendous suffering. Mexican Academy Award Winner (2020) for Best Feature Length Documentary. In Spanish and English with English subtitles, 93 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/322529104

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

April 26-30 Watch A Regular Woman

Based on the tragic “honor killing” of Hatun Aynur Sürücü in 2005, the film A Regular Woman portrays a glimpse of the life of a free-spirited young woman living with an ultra-conservative Turkish Muslim family in Berlin. After escaping a forced marriage in Turkey with her abusive cousin, Hatun provokes the ire of her family by embracing a westernized lifestyle. Enduring constant harassment, she finally leaves her family and tries to survive alone with her child, with whom she had escaped Turkey while pregnant. The threats and harassment continue and the German authorities refuse to do anything unless physical harm takes place. This soon materializes as the family decides to task Hatun’s youngest brother with a deed that would end the family’s “shame,” and thrust the horrific practice of honor killings into the national spotlight. In German and Turkish with English subtitles, 90 minutes. Film website: http://corinthfilms.com/films/a-regular-woman/. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=725vRifpuQg

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

April 19-23: Watch Beate

The workers of a factory in Northeastern Italy, which produces lingerie, are about to be fired. Not far away, a handful of nuns, skilled in the art of embroidery and devoted to the Blessed Armida, risk being removed from the beloved convent. To oppose their respective fate, the factory workers and nuns create a “business” outside of societal norms. However, for everything to turn to the best, one almost needs a miracle. A modern social fairy tale narrated with the right irony. A hymn to women, a really funny comedy. In Italian with English subtitles. 95 minutes. Film Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt_9fKyY494.

Sponsors: The French and Italian Programs and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

April 12-16: Watch The Last Inhabitant

Evicted as a result of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, Abgar stays behind alone in a gradually shrinking enemy ring. He is waiting for his daughter, who has become a witness to her husband’s tragic death and was hospitalized with a trauma disorder. An Azerbaijani neighbor finds Abgar’s daughter Yurga, in one of the psychiatric hospitals of Baku and brings her to her Father. In exchange for finding his daughter, Abgar constructs a mosque for his neighbor. A powerful historical drama that delves straight into the heart of the Artsakh conflict, resulting in the mass deportation of Armenians from Azerbaijan prior to the fall of the Soviet Union. The film is based on the story of “The Last Inhabitant of Gyurjevan” by Tsovinar Khachatryan, about the expulsion of an Armenian village in Azerbaijan in 1988. In Armenian, English, Russian and French with English subtitles, 82 minutes. Film website: http://thelastinhabitant.com/

Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

April 10-12: Watch River’s End California’s Latest Water War

River’s End reveals California’s complex struggle over who gets fresh water, and how moneyed interests game the system. Constant battling over uncertain water supplies heralds an impending crisis—not just in California, but around the world. Using California as a microcosm, River’s End explores the global water crises. It draws the parallel between the draining of the Owens Valley by LA, made famous by CHINATOWN, and what is happening in real time in Northern California’s Bay-Delta. Winner of both the Jury Award and the People’s Choice Award at the 2021 Wild & Scenic Film Festival, River’s End implores viewers to learn where their water comes from so that we can save our rivers and the ecosystems and communities that depend upon them.81 minutes.

Sponsor: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

April 5-9: Watch Coup 53

While making a documentary about the Anglo-American coup in Iran in 1953, Iranian director Taghi Amirani and editor Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, The English Patient) discover extraordinary never seen before archive material hidden for decades. The 16mm footage and documents not only allow the filmmakers to tell the story of the overthrow of the Iranian government in unprecedented detail, but also lead to explosive revelations about dark secrets buried for 67years. Working with Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Schindler’s List, The English Patient) to help bring the lost material to life, what begins as a historical documentary about four days in August 1953 turns into a live investigation, taking the filmmakers into uncharted cinematic waters. The roots of Iran’s volatile relationship with Britain and America have never been so forensically and dramatically exposed. COUP 53 is a politically explosive and cinematically innovative documentary that grips like a thriller. In Italian, English and Farsi with English subtitles. 120 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSK6wdqo0xY.

March 22-26 Watch Les parfums (Perfumes)

Directed by Grégory Magne, Les Parfums is an utterly charming French comedy bringing together two very unlikely characters. The film tells the story of Anne Walberg (Emmanuelle Devos, The Other Son and The Law), a feared, temperamental, and reclusive ‘nose’ who has fallen from grace but whose skills are still in demand, and her troubled relationship with Guillaume, her new chauffeur also down on his luck with a nasty divorce and an unhappy young daughter. They strike up an unlikely friendship and might be able to repair their lives… Who knows? In French with English subtitles. 100 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBkTaKPTUoI.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

March 15-19 Watch Driveways

Kathy (Golden Globe Nominee Hong Chau), a single mother, travels with her shy eight-year-old son Cody (newcomer Lucas Jaye) to Kathy’s late sister’s house which they plan to clean and sell. As Kathy realizes how little she knew about her sister, Cody develops an unlikely friendship with Del (Golden Globe, Tony winner and acting legend Brian Dennehy), the Korean War vet and widower who lives next door. Over the course of a summer, and with Del’s encouragement, Cody develops the courage to come out of his shell and, along with his mother and find a new place to call home. 83 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-j1p-U7nKw&feature=youtu.be.

March 8- 12: Watch Two Films: The Illegal & 10 jours sans maman (10 Days with Dad)

The Illegal

A gritty, realistic story about a student (Suraj Sharma from Life of Pi) arrives in the U.S. from Darygani, India, ready to seize his dream of attending UCLA’s film school. But that dream quickly turns sour. When his uncle’s family admits they are too poor to house and feed him, they leave him on the street with nowhere to go, testing his core values and integrity forcing him to choose between his family and his dream. He ends up working illegally at an Indian restaurant to survive and the struggle of living inside a system set up for his failure challenges him to look within to find inner strength, overcome obstacles, and never give up. 86 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xODabHmmLbc.

10 jours sans maman (10 Days with Dad)

Directed by Ludovic Bernard, this zany French remake of the Argentinian comedy Mama se fue de viaje tells the story of Antoine Mercier, the head of HR of a big company in Grasse, France. When his wife decides to take a vacation and leaves him with the responsibility of their four kids, he knows it will not be easy. But he had clearly underestimated the mess that four mischievous and unsupervised kids can cause. In French with English subtitles. 97 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42hFreb2JF8.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

March 1-5: Watch: Belly of the Beast

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When an unlikely duo discovers a pattern of illegal sterilizations in women’s prisons, they wage a near impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. Filmed over seven years with extraordinary access and intimate accounts from currently and formerly incarcerated people, Belly of the Beast exposes modern-day eugenics and reproductive injustice in California prisons. The pastoral farmlands surrounding the Central California Women’s Facility, the world’s largest women’s prison, help conceal the reproductive and human rights violations transpiring inside its walls. A courageous woman who was involuntarily sterilized at the facility, teams up with a radical lawyer to stop these violations. They spearhead an investigation that uncovers a series of statewide crimes, primarily targeting women of color, from inadequate access to healthcare to sexual assault to illegal sterilization. Together, with a team of tenacious heroines, both in and out of prison, they take to the courtroom to fight for reparations. But no one believes them. As additional damning evidence is uncovered by the Center for Investigative Reporting, a media frenzy and series of hearings provide hope for some semblance of justice. Yet, doctors and prison officials contend that the procedures were in each person’s best interest and of an overall social benefit. Invoking the weight of the historic stain and legacy of eugenics, Belly of the Beast presents a decade long, infuriating contemporary legal drama. 82 minutes. Film website: https://www.bellyofthebeastfilm.com/. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoD7VgFl9EI

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

February 22-26: Watch 2 Films: Mee Raqsam & Police (Nightshift)

Mee Raqsam

Mee Raqsam revolves around a Muslim schoolgirl Maryam (Aditi Subedi), who has to battle barriers of class, religion and gender as she pursues her passion for Bharatanatyam dance. She receives generous support and encouragement from her father Salim (Danish Hussain), a highly skilled tailor who struggles to make ends meet. Salim faces a bruising backlash from his conservative village community, represented principally by the girl’s stubborn maternal aunt Zehra (Shraddha Kaul). But he does not budge an inch from his decision to back his daughter even at the risk of being socially ostracized. Maryam’s dance teacher Uma (Sudeepta Singh), too, is in danger of alienating her academy’s principal patron Jayprakash (Rakesh Chaturvedi Om), who suspiciously looks at a Muslim girl wanting to learn a classical dance form that, in substance and execution, adheres to strict, codified, religiously-sanctioned norms. For Maryam, Bharatanatyam is an assertion of her freedom of choice as well as her love for her late mother Sakina, a talented dancer herself whose gifts remained hidden from the world. Sakina falls ill in the film’s prelude and passes away. The grieving daughter discovers in the classical dance form not just a means to take her mind away from her personal loss but a source of rejuvenation. In Hindi with English subtitles. 100 minutes.

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

Police (Nightshift)

Directed by director Anne Fontaine (Coco Before Chanel), Police, or Nightshift in English, brings together three cops Virginie (Virginie Efira), Aristide (Omar Sy, The Intouchables) and Erik (Grégory Gadebois) who work in the same Paris precinct but have drastically different lives. Virginie is one of only a handful of women in her highly macho patrol squad; Aristide is a laid-back jokester who gets easily affected by what he witnesses on the job; and Erik is the no-nonsense cop whose perfect track record is impeded by a nasty drinking problem. Assigned an unusual task, these three police officers face an unbearable dilemma and start questioning their mission during one very long and trying night on duty. In French with English subtitles. 99 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KVD4N4TEas.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

February 12-19: Watch 2 Films:Restless River & Sol

Restless River

Directed by French-Canadian Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Inuk-Canadian Madeline Ivalu, La rivière sans repos (Restless River) is based on French-Canadian writer Gabrielle Roy’s 1970 eponymous novel. Set in Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, the northern third of the Canadian province of Quebec, at the end of World War II, the film narrates the story of Elsa (Malaya Qaunirq Chapman), a young Inuk, as she comes to terms with motherhood. She learns to navigate the social norms of the colonizers and her own heritage and draws courage and strength from her rugged land to become a woman as independent as the restless river that cuts across it. In English, French and Inuktitut. 99 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhOsb01GsAc.

Sol

Directed by Jézabel Marquès, this heart-warming French film is the story of Sol, a tango singer, who has been living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for many years. Her impulsive nature and bright smile hide a wound that has never truly healed: the loss of her son, with whom she had cut all ties. She comes back to Paris in the hope of meeting her 7-year-old grandson Jo and her daughter-in-law Eva she has never met. She will try anything to get to know her estranged grandson. Will she succeed? In French and Spanish with English subtitles. 98 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pW-PkM_Fwo.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

February 9-12: Shared Legacies

The crucial historical lessons of Black-Jewish cooperation are revisited and revived in this utterly fascinating, urgent call to action. Common cause was found in the turbulent 60’s Civil Rights era, when Jewish leaders backed Dr. King’s efforts at racial equality and harmony. Yet, the relationship has frayed in recent years, as a once mighty bond of support and respect has seemingly faded, been forgotten or ignored. Pivotal events come alive through a treasure trove of archival materials, narrated by eyewitnesses, activists, Holocaust survivors, and leaders of the movement, including prominent Atlantans such as Congressman John Lewis, Ambassador Andrew Young, Rabbi Alvin Sugarman, Rabbi Peter S. Berg, Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr., members of the King family, and many others. With divisive seeds of hate taking root anew in the American landscape, a new generation also affirms their pledge to actively promote the values of social justice. This potent, inspiring story of unity, empathy and partnership validates the ubiquity of the human experience, and how freedom and equality for all can be achieved only when people come together. 97 minutes. Film website: https://www.menemshafilms.com/shared-legacies.

Co-Sponsors: Jewish Studies Program, the Jewish Studies Association and Center for Creativity and the Arts

November 8-13: Grab and Run

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Since Kyrgyzstan, a country in Central Asia, gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, there has been a revival of the ancient practice of “Ala-Kachuu,” which translates roughly as “grab and run.” More than half Kyrgyz women are married after being kidnapped by the men who become their husbands. Some escaped after violent ordeals but most are persuaded to stay by tradition and fear of scandal. Although the practice is said to have its root in nomadic customs, the tradition remains at odds with modern Kyrgyzstan. “Ala-Kachuu” was outlawed during the Soviet era and remains illegal under the current Kyrgyz criminal code, but the law has rarely been enforced to protect women from this violent practice. In Kazakh with English subtitles. 85 minutes. Film Trailer: https://vimeo.com/373839653

October 27-30: Lost Birds

Discussant: Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian

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Lost Birds presents a historical tragedy that takes place in 1915, from the point of view of two children. The story is about Bedo, played by (Heros Agopyan) and Maryam, played by (Dila Uluca), whose beautiful, warm, and happy lives in Anatolia comes to an end when their grandfather played by ( Sarkis Acemoglu) is taken away by soldiers. Out of extreme fear, their mother, played by (Takuhi Bahar), forbid the children to go outside, but being children, they sneak out to their favorite spot to play, only to come back to an empty home and an empty village. Their fear takes over, and with their bird that they had saved, they embark on a journey toward Aleppo to find their mother, and their fellow villagers. This beautiful film made by an Armenian and a Turkish filmmaker with passion is a cinematographic beauty to watch. Lost Birds is the first film made in Turkey to depict the 1915 Armenian genocide. In Turkish and Armenian with English subtitles, 90 minutes

Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

October 19-23: Ai WeiWei: Yours Truly

Discussant: Gina Leibrecht (Co-Director/Editor)

The revolutionary feature documentary Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly expands on the unprecedented exhibition @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz, organized in 2014 by the film’s director Cheryl Haines. Following Ai Weiwei’s detention by Chinese authorities and while still under house arrest in Beijing, the outspoken artist and activist remotely transformed Alcatraz, a former island penitentiary and current national park, into a remarkable expression of socially engaged art. The multipart work culminated in an expansive display of larger than life size Lego portraits of prisoners of conscience from around the world, seen by over 900,000 visitors. Throughout the film, we discover how personal these issues are for Ai Weiwei and the extent to which he wove his family’s experiences into the exhibition. In the late 1950s, his father, a nationally revered poet, was imprisoned in a remote work camp. Ai, his mother and brother recall years of privation on the edge of the Gobi Desert – and the profoundly moving impact of an unexpected postcard expressing support. The final artwork at Alcatraz, Yours Truly, consisted of postcards beautifully illustrated with the national birds and flowers of the prisoners’ countries. Visitors were invited to write messages of hope to the imprisoned activists featured in the Lego portraits. By the time the exhibition ended, over 90,000 postcards had been sent. Then something even more astonishing happened: prisoners and their families began writing back. Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly follows these postcards around the globe—from Alcatraz Island to Beijing, Washington, D.C., and Cairo—as former prisoners of conscience and the families of those still detained describe their impossible choices and the comfort they found and still find in messages from people they would never meet. By the film’s end, Ai himself is finally free, seeing his own exhibit in public for the first time. He meets with former prisoner Chelsea Manning, while others who have been released, such as Egypt’s Arab Spring activist Ahmed Maher, express wonder at the connections Ai has initiated and the many strangers who sent encouraging messages. Ultimately, Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly is a call to action, extending the incredible reach of Ai Weiwei’s art by asking viewers to take the issue of global human rights to heart and make a simple gesture that would profoundly touch those unjustly imprisoned worlds away. Film website: https://www.yourstrulyfilm.com/

Sponsor: Creativity and the Arts

What Will Become of Us (2019)

Discussant: Stephanie Ayanian (Director)

100 years ago, Armenians were nearly annihilated by the Genocide orchestrated by the Ottoman Turks. Today, often unrecognized, it remains defining – but the long shadow of the Genocide creates a burden for young Armenian Americans that discourages them from embracing their culture. What Will Become of Us follows six Armenian Americans, – some famous, some not – as they navigate the 100th anniversary of the Genocide, forging identities for the next 100 years. How can Armenian Americans honor their past, while unshackling themselves from this haunting trauma that seem compromise their future and their Armenian values, customs and traditions? 60 minutes. https://vimeo.com/storyshop/download/391345557/bd9811b0e9.

March 13: Left on Pearl (2017)

Discussant: Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild (Executive Producer)

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Left on Pearl is a documentary about a highly significant but little-known event in the history of the women’s liberation movement, namely the 1971 takeover and occupation of a Harvard University-owned building by hundreds of Boston area women. The ten-day occupation of 888 Memorial Drive by local women demanding a Women’s Center and low income housing for the community in which the building stood, embodied within it many of the hopes, triumphs, conflicts and tensions of Second Wave feminism. One of the few such takeovers by women for women, this action was transformative for the participants and led directly to the establishment of the longest continuously operating Women’s Center in the U.S. 55 minutes. Film website: https://leftonpearl.org/ Film Trailer: https://vimeo.com/208725169

Sponsor: College of Social Sciences & Center for Creativity and the Arts

March 6: Lusala (2019)

Discussants: Maurice Ndole

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Lusala is the first film that Kenyan actor and writer, Mugambi Nthiga has directed. It tells the story of Lusala, a young man who is rescued from his abusive upcountry home and moves in with an affluent family in Nairobi, Kenya. Years later, when he comes of age, he is imposed upon to leave the nest and start out life on his own. Eager and acquiescent at first, he makes the most of his new life, until the demons from his past return, and he is forced to face them alone. In Swahili & English with English subtitles. 62 minutes. Film trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBMAwaFlhgU

February 28: The Swallows of Kabul (2018)

Discussants: Dr. Rose Marie & Dr. Adbul Hanifi

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Directed by film makers Zabou Breitman and Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec, Les hirondelles de Kabou (The Swallows of Kabul) is a delightful and extremely moving animated film adapted from the eponymous novel by Algerian novelist Mohammed Moulessehoul better known by his pen name of Yasmina Khadra. The film brings us back to the summer of 1998 and Kabul when Afghanistan was under Taliban rule. It tells us the touching story of Zunaira and Mohsen, a young couple deeply in love. Despite the daily violence and misery, they hope for a better future. One day, a foolish gesture causes life to take an irrevocable turn. In French with English subtitles. 82 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLufPM45Ols

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

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How did a young Mexican-American kid from a small rural town in the middle of nowhere become a leading musician of the Chicano civil rights movement? How did he learn about the power of music and imagination to take us on a journey towards freedom? Singing Our Way to Freedom chronicles the life of Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez from his humble beginnings as a farmworker in Blythe, California, to the dramatic moment when he received one of his nation’s highest musical honors at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. As a young man in the 1960s, Chunky joined the picket lines in the California fields with Cesar Chavez, eventually becoming Chavez’s favorite musician. His gradual transformation from a marginalized farm kid to a charismatic social activist shows how one person can mobilize people to change the world. In his songs and his life, Chunky offers an inspiring narrative, reminding us that the battle for freedom has to be fought anew by every generation. In English and Spanish with English subtitles. 86 minutes. Film Trailer: https://vimeo.com/269397941

Sponsors: Office of the Provost, College of Arts and Humanities and Center for Creativity and the Arts

February 14: A Girl from Mogadishu (2019)

Discussant: Dr. Rose Marie Kuhn

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Written and directed by Northern Irish filmmaker Mary McGuckian, A Girl from Mogadishu is a feature film based on the true story and testimony of Ifrah Ahmed, a young Somali-Irish activist who emerged as one of the world’s foremost international activists against gender-based violence. Born into a refugee camp in Somalia, Ahmed (Aja Noami King) escapes her war-torn native country and is trafficked to Ireland as a teenager. Recounting her traumatic childhood experiences of female genital mutilation when applying for refugee status, she vows to devote her life to the eradication of this horrendous practice. Taking her campaign all the way to the President of Ireland and finally to the European Parliament and United Nations, A Girl from Mogadishu celebrates the power of testimony, for when women find the courage to stand-up, speak out, and tell their truth, the impact can be so inspiring and empowering that act as a meaningful catalyst for change. Filmed in Belgium Ireland and Morocco. 112 minutes.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

February 7: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

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Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

January 31: The Cave (2019) Oscar Nominee for Best Feature Documentary

Discussant: Dr. Ahmad Tarakji (Immediate Past President of Syrian American Medical Society/SAMS)

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Feras Fayyad, the first Syrian director nominated for an Oscar for his documentary Last Men in Aleppo (2017), delivers an unflinching story of the Syrian war with his powerful new documentary The Cave. For besieged civilians, hope and safety lie underground inside the subterranean hospital known as the “Cave”, where pediatrician and managing physician Dr. Amani Ballour and her colleagues Samaher and Dr. Alaa have claimed their right to work as equals alongside their male counterparts, doing their jobs in a way that would be unthinkable in the oppressively patriarchal culture that exists above. Following the women as they contend with daily bombardments, chronic shortages of supplies and the ever-present threat of chemical attacks, The Cave paints a stirring portrait of courage, resilience and female solidarity. The hospital featured in the film is sponsored by the Syrian American Medical Society or SAMS. In Arabic and English with English subtitles. 107 minutes. Film Trailer: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/films/the-cave/#/trailer

Sponsor: Syrian American Medical Society

January 24: The Etruscan Smile (2019)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

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The Etruscan Smile features Scottish actor Brian Cox renowned for his role as Logan Roy in HBO’s series Succession and as Lyndon Johnson in the recent Broadway show The Great Society). In this film, Cox plays the role of Rory MacNeil, a rugged old Scotsman who reluctantly leaves his beloved and isolated island in the Hebrides, an archipelago off the west coast of mainland Scotland. He travels to San Francisco to seek medical treatment and moves in with his estranged son. His life will be transformed, just when he expects it the least, through a newly found love for his baby grandson. In English and Scottish Gaelic with English subtitles. 107 minutes. Film Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th85Y15Euw4

November 22: Short Film Program:Life Between Borders, Black Migrants in Mexico, Jamaica y Tamarindo: Afro Tradition in the Heart of Mexico & After La Nopalera

Discussant: Ebony Bailey (Director)

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Life Between Borders: Black Migrants in Mexico by Californian filmmaker and Central Valley native, Ebony Bailey discusses the context in which thousands of Haitians seeking entry to the US are now left stranded at the northern Mexico border after a change in immigration policy. But “Black migration” is not new to Mexico, as people from the African Diaspora have lived here for centuries. In Bailey’s short documentary, we meet Haitians stuck at the border as well as Africans in Mexico City and explore Black migration and identity in Mexico.

In Bailey’s second short film, Jamaica y Tamarindo: Afro Tradition in the Heart of Mexico we learn that the Jamaica flower and tamarind are iconic ingredients in Mexico although but their history comes from a place much further away. To understand this, we meet four people and explore with them what African identity means in the context of Mexico City, an identity that goes beyond the color of one’s skin.

Bailey’s third short documentary After La Nopalera presents daily life in a small village in the state of Morelos in central Mexico after the September 19th, 2017 earthquake as vividly told by a local resident and an earthquake survivor.

https://africa.harvard.edu/event/black-migration-influence

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, the Africana Studies Program, and The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

November 15: Botero (2018)

Discussant: Don Millar (Director)

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Fernando Botero is one of the world’s most popular living artists, with millions of fans transcending cultures across the globe. While his art is instantly recognizable, the story of how he became “the Maestro” is largely unknown. BOTERO changes that. This beautifully filmed documentary offers an inspiring look at the power of relentless vision, unwavering conviction and a lifetime of discipline. We follow an unknown, self-taught painter from provincial Medellin in 1932, as he propels himself to the pinnacle of the art world. The film brings together the man and his art to capture Botero’s essence–the quiet resolve and strength of character that allowed him to overcome poverty, decades of harsh criticism and the tragic death of his four-year-old son. Never-before-seen moments come to life as his children uncover 50 year-old sketches in a shuttered storage facility, as our cameras go behind the scenes at as how exhibiting his work alongside Pablo Picasso’s, and as the artist takes us on a private tour of his studio. BOTERO weaves together original footage shot in 10 cities across China, Europe, New York and Colombia, with decades of family photos and archival video. Unprecedented access to the artist and his family is combined with a colorful cast of historians, curators and academics to reveal the creativity and convictions at the heart of Fernando Botero. In his sunlit studio, Botero explains that despite the fame, the accolades, and the financial success, he is still learning and discovering, because “my life is to paint.” In English and Spanish with English subtitles. 84 minutes. Film website: http://corinthfilms.com/films/botero/ Trailer: https://vimeo.com/292372706

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

November 8: Jirga (2018)

Discussants: Amir Shah Talash (Actor & Producer) and Sam Smith (Actor)

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Directed by Australian filmmaker Benjamin Gilmour, Jirga is a touching modern morality tale about a former Australian soldier, Mike, who returns to Afghanistan to find and confront the family of a civilian he accidentally killed during the war. Seeking forgiveness, he puts his life in the hands of the traditional village justice system – the Jirga. In Pushto and English with English subtitles. 78 minutes. Film website: https://www.jirgafilm.com/about

Sponsors: College of Arts & Humanities, Criminology Department: Victimology Option, Alliance for Medical Outreach and Relief (AMOR), Fresno Based Afghans, San Joaquin College of Law and Dr. Mehdi Ghajar

Nov. 1: Emma Peeters (2018)

Discussant: Nicole Palo (Director)

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The quirky film Emma Peeters by Belgian director and screen-writer Nicole Palo stars renowned French-Canadian actress Monia Chokri as Emma who is about to celebrate her 35th birthday. Emma’s life achievements have thus far been quite unremarkable: she struggled for years without success to become an actress in Paris. Eventually she becomes fixated on this idea: she will commit suicide the following week, on the exact day of her birthday. While preparing for this, she meets Alex Bodart, who works at the funeral home she is consulting. He is also an amateur filmmaker and offers her to star in a film about her own life. Together they proceed to undertake this bizarre project. Will she go through with her plan? This is a wonderful black comedy with an existential and generational crisis filmed through a uniquely whimsical filter. In French with English subtitles. 90 minutes. Film Trailer: https://vimeo.com/282556804

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

October 25: Short Film Program: Lumpkin GA (2019), Our Country (2017) & Invented Borders

Discussants: Nicholas Manting Brewer (Lumpkin Director) Emily Grandcolas (Lumpkin Producer) & Mayra Flores (Our Country & Invented Borders Director)

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Lumpkin by director Nicholas Manting Brewer, tells the fate of a fading Georgia town, a community that recalls its dark past and faces a grim present. There, an undocumented immigrant, caught in legal limbo and facing deportation, contemplates his future while at the same time, a massive, private immigration prison generates millions in profits. Lumpkin, where these stories meet, truly represents the hidden epicenter of America’s immigration crackdown. 39 minutes + behind the scenes collaborative piece. Film website: https://www.lumpkingafilm.com/

Our Country, directed by Mexican-American filmmaker Mayra Flores, is an award winning experimental animated documentary that provides a compelling context and beautifully captures some of the infinite nuances about immigrant families living in the U.S.

Invented Borders, also directed by Mayra Flores, is a fascinating animated and live action video essay on the many facets of today’s emotional immigration debate in America.

Sponsor: The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

October 18: The Price of Free (2018)

Discussant: Derek Doneen (Director)

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Hidden inside overcrowded factories around the world, The Price of Free (formerly titled Kailash) by Director Derek Doneen, tells the story of countless children who are forced into slave labor due to rising global demands for cheap goods. With the help of a covert network of informants, Nobel Peace Prize winner and India’s “Children Rights” activist Kailash Satyarthi and his dedicated team carry out daring raids to rescue and rehabilitate imprisoned children. Using hidden cameras and playing the role of buyers at the factory to gain access, we watch Kailash take on one of his most challenging missions to date: finding Sonu, a young boy trafficked to Delhi for work, who has been missing for eight months. Now his father dreams of Sonu coming home. Kailash’s warmth and passion have gained international support for his philosophy that each child should be allowed to embrace their childhood. He gives them support, clothes, medical care and an education. Equal parts harrowing and motivating, first-time filmmaker Derek Doneen pulls us into Kailash’s gripping pursuits and relentless energy to create the change he wants to see. In Hindi and English with English subtitles. 92 minutes. Film website: https://www.participantmedia.com/film/priceoffree

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

October 4: The River and the Wall (2019)

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

Discussant: Heather Mackey (Biologist featured in the film)

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Directed by conservation filmmaker Ben Masters, The River and the Wall follows five friends on an immersive adventure through the unknown wilds of the Texas borderlands as they travel 1,200 miles from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico on horses, mountain bikes, and canoes. The film emphasizes the urgency of documenting the last remaining wilderness in Texas as the threat of new border wall construction looms ahead. For this film project, Masters recruited NatGeo Explorer Filipe DeAndrade, ornithologist Heather Mackey, river guide Austin Alvarado, and conservationist Jay Kleberg to join him on a two-and-a-half-month journey along the Texas-Mexico border. Together they set to explore these borderlands as well as the potential impacts of a wall on the natural environment. However, as the wilderness gives way to the more populated and heavily trafficked Lower Rio Grande Valley they come face-to-face with the human side of the immigration debate and enter uncharted emotional waters. 97 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM9ojghVW-g

Sponsors: Arte Américas & Department of Political Science

September 27: Alternative Facts:The Lies of Executive Order 9066 (2018)

Discussant: Jon Osaki (Director)

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Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066 by Japanese-American director Jon Osaki is a documentary about false information and racial politics. It shows how the infamous Executive Order 9066 was signed and led to the mass incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. The film exposes the lies used to justify the decision and the cover-up that went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Alternative Facts also examines how this miscarriage of justice parallels the current climate of fear, targeting of immigrant communities, and similar attempts to abuse the powers of the U.S. government. 65 minutes. Film Website: https://www.alternativefacts9066.com/

Sponsors: The Central California Japanese American Citizens League and the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno

September 20: The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1983, new release)

Discussants: Dr. Robert Maldonado and Dr. Adán Ávalos

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A new release of a classic film, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez narrates the story of Mexican-American farmer Gregorio Cortez who is forced to flee from the Texas rangers and evades a massive manhunt on horseback for days, after a heated misunderstanding leading to the death of one of their own. Renowned Edward James Olmos is the producer and the star of the film. Together with director Robert M. Young, a longtime practitioner of socially engaged realism, they created this trailblazing film which became a landmark of Chicano cinema and shed a new light on a historical event that had been enshrined in a corrido folk song. In a shifting perspective between the pursuers and the pursued, The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez is a thrilling chase movie as well as a highly-nuanced procedural that peels away the layers of prejudice and myth surrounding Cortex and uncovers the true story of an ordinary man persecuted by the law and transfigured by legend. In Spanish and English with English subtitles. 106 minutes.

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts & Arte Américas

September 13 : A Duel Tale/Hatashiai (2015)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

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A Duel Tale by Japanese director Sugita Shigemichi stars Nakadai Tatsuya, one of Japan’s greatest living actor, who gives the performance of a lifetime as Shoji Sanosuke, an elderly samurai forced to pick up his sword to protect those he loves in this adaptation of a popular novel by Fujisawa Shuhei. As a ”Heya-zumi” (essentially a freeloader living off his family) Sanosuke has one last chance to help his grandniece escape an arranged marriage with a cruel samurai. Nakadai proves that he ”still has it,” when fate forces him into a deadly duel. This award winning samurai drama from the pen of noted author Fujisawa Shuhei is a tribute to one of the greatest actors to ever grace the silver screen! In Japanese with English subtitles. 94 minutes.

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

September 6: The Years of Fierro (2013, recently released)

Discussant: Santiago Esteinou (Director joining us from Mexico City)

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The film entitled The Years of Fierro by Mexican director Santiago Esteinou features César Fierro, the oldest Mexican prisoner on death row in the United States, who has been languishing in a Texas prison for almost forty years. César continues to await execution by lethal injection for a murder that evidence shows he did not commit. This documentary is a reflection on justice, imprisonment and brotherly love, through the eyes of César and his bother Sergio. In Spanish and English with English subtitles. 105 minutes. Only recently released due to pending litigation. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rAwhZLkfbc

August 30: Remember Amnesia (2019)

Discussant: Dr. Ravi Godse MD (Director)

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Directed by Indian-American filmmaker and practicing Internal Medicine Physician Dr. Ravi Godse, Remember Amnesia tells the story of widower Jay Singh, a difficult but brilliant US-based physician, who has a terrible accident that robs him of his memory while on a trip to his homeland of India. As he tries to piece his memory back together, he finds himself falling for the lovely Nina, the local doctor in charge of his care, who tries to help him figure out his true identity. But there are questions about how Jay was injured, and if his memory loss is real. Everything begins to unravel when his US colleagues hear that his wife’s family thought that his wife was still alive and living with him in America. This leads the Indian police to think that he is a murderer and leaves his US colleagues, his Indian doctor Nina, and even he himself asking the following question: Did he kill his wife or not? In English, Marathi and Hindi with English subtitles. 88 minutes. Film Website: https://www.rememberamnesia.com/

Sponsor: Peace and Conflict Studies-Gandhi’s Global Legacy International Conference

May 10: Adios Amor – The Search for Maria Moreno (2017)

Discussants: Laurie Coyle (Director/Producer) and Gilbert Padilla (featured interviewee/UFW Co-Founder)

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In Adios Amor, the discovery of lost photographs sparks the search for a hero that history forgot— Maria Moreno, a migrant mother driven to speak out by her twelve children’s hunger. Years before Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta launched the United Farm Workers, Maria picked up the only weapon she had—her voice—and became an outspoken leader in an era when women were relegated to the background. The first farm worker woman in the U.S. to be hired as a union organizer, Maria’s story was silenced and her legacy buried—until now. With the search for Maria Moreno, Adios Amor raises provocative questions about whose lives we remember and recognize, while inspiring viewers to launch their own journeys of discovery into the past. In English and Spanish with subtitles. 58 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cqyj-MPcJg&t=4s

Sponsors: College of Arts and Humanities, Arte Américas, California Humanities, El Concilio de Fresno, Radio Bilingüe, and Valley Public History Initiative

May 3: En el Séptimo Día (On the Seventh Day) (2018)

Discussant: Adela Santana

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En el Séptimo Día (On the Seventh Day), a fiction feature from director Jim McKay, follows a group of undocumented immigrants living in Sunset Park, Brooklyn over the course of seven days. Bicycle delivery guys, construction workers, dishwashers, deli workers and cotton candy vendors, they work long hours six days a week and then savor their day of rest on Sundays on the soccer fields of Sunset Park. José, a bicycle delivery worker, is the team’s captain – young, talented, hardworking and responsible. When José’s team makes it to the finals, he and his teammates are thrilled. But his boss throws a wrench into the celebration when he tells José he has to work on Sunday, the day of the finals. If he doesn’t work, his job and his future will be on the line. But if he doesn’t stand up for himself and his teammates, his dignity will be crushed. Shot in the neighborhoods of Sunset Park, Park Slope, and Gowanus, En el Séptimo Día is a humane, sensitive and humorous window into a world rarely seen. The film’s impact is made quietly, with restraint and respect for the individual experiences, everyday challenges and small triumphs of its characters. In Spanish and English with Bi-Lingual subtitles. 92 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYg3mAJTWSE

Sponsor: The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

**April 26: The Zookeepers Wife (2017)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

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The real-life story of one working wife and mother who became a hero to hundreds during World War II. In 1939 Poland, Antonina Żabińska (portrayed by two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain) and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh, a European Film Award nominee for the Academy Award-nominated The Broken Circle Breakdown), have the Warsaw Zoo flourishing under his stewardship and her care. When their country is invaded by the Germans, Jan and Antonina are stunned and forced to report to the Reich’s newly appointed chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (Golden Globe Award nominee Daniel Brühl of Captain America: Civil War). To fight back on their own terms, the Żabińskis covertly begin working with the Resistance and put into action plans to save lives out of what has become the Warsaw Ghetto, with Antonina putting herself and even her children at great risk. 127 minutes: Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7AEQXKQi6A&app=desktop

Sponsors: The Jewish Studies Program and the Jewish Studies Association

April 12: Violeta Al Fin (2017)

Discussant: Hilda Hidalgo Xirinachs (Director)

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Directed by Costa Rican filmmaker Hilda Hidalgo Xirinachs, Violeta Al Fin tells the story of Violeta, a 72 year-old woman, who lives alone in her childhood home in the heart of San Jose, Costa Rica, after divorcing her husband of more than forty years. She tends to her lush tropical garden and makes plans to turn her property into a boarding house. When she discovers the bank is about to take away her house, she decides to fight and breaks all the rules to hold onto her home and her freedom. In Spanish with English subtitles. 85 minutes. Film Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGqnATWRu5c

Sponsor: The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

April 5: Tia and Piujuq (2018)

Discussant: Marie-Hélène Cousineau (Producer and script writer)

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Inuk (or Eskimo) throat singer Lucy Tulugarjuk makes her directorial film debut with this lovely tale from Northern Canada. Shot in Montreal, Canada, and the island of Igloolik, in Nunavut, Canada’s newest, largest and northernmost territory, where the director grew up, the film Tia and Piujuq tells the unlikely and burgeoning friendship between two ten-year old girls. Piujuq is a bored and lonely young Inuk, and Tia, a Syrian refugee whose sad life takes a dramatic turn when she finds a magical portal that transports her to Canada’s Arctic tundra where Piujuq lives. Together, the two girls discover a world of magic and Inuit stories that heal Tia’s spirit and her soul until their blossoming friendship is threatened by a mysterious character. “Through the eyes of these two girls, we perceive the similarities that unite them beyond their linguistic and cultural differences, their affection for each other and also their desire to be free and adventurous.” This charming film is for everyone: adults and children alike who believe in the power of imagination. In French, Inuktitut, Arabic and English, with English subtitles. 80 minutes. Film website: http://www.imaginenative.org/2018-tia-and-piujuq/. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPy19sgVzQE

Sponsors: The French Program, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, and the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature

March 29: Yeva (2017)

Discussant: Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian

Yeva is a young woman who escapes her influential in-laws with her daughter Nareh, after her husband’s tragic death and takes refuge in one of the villages of Karabakh, Armenia…Yeva is a complete stranger in this village and is obliged to live her daily life in disguise. 94 minutes. In Armenian with English subtitles.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=VRdK-bPK02A

Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

March 22: World Water Day Film: Short Films: Silent River & Sea of Troubles

Discussant: Jason Jaacks (Director & Producer of Silent River and Sea of Troubles)

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The Santiago River, known locally as “the River of Death,” flows along the outskirts of Guadalajara, Mexico. For forty years, waste from one of Mexico’s largest manufacturing corridors has been dumped into the Santiago. 80% of the companies in the corridor – such as IBM, HP, Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Honda and Nestlé – are American and Japanese. Therefore. this river has become a sewer with over 1000 known chemicals, including dangerously high levels of arsenic, chrome, and lead. Silent River by Jason Jaacks follows a young woman and her family as they defy death threats to try and save the one of the most polluted rivers in Mexico.

Silent River Trailer: https://vimeo.com/92161097

Over the last three years we witnessed some of the strangest conditions ever seen off the West Coast of the United States. What happens next? Was this just a weird few years, an anomaly in the normal flux of ocean conditions? Or was this a shift that we will look back on, decades from now, and point to as the beginning of a different era? Join an oceanographer and a paleo-climatologist from the Bodega Marine Laboratory on the northern California coast ponder what’s next for the world’s largest ocean.

Sea of Troubles Trailer: https://vimeo.com/165175649

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Tehipite Chapter, Sierra Club, and Fresnans Against Fracking

March 15: Saint Judy (2018)

Discussant: Dmitry Portnoy (Screenwriter, graduate of UCLA, USC Film School and Pepperdine Law School, where he interned for the real Judy Wood.)

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Directed by Sean Hanish, Saint Judy tells the true story of Los Angeles immigration attorney Judy Wood, who single-handedly changed the United States law of asylum and saved countless lives in the process. In a 1994 landmark case, one of her first as an immigration lawyer, Judy Wood represented an Afghan woman who fled her home country after being persecuted by the Taliban for opening a school for girls. After a tenacious battle both in and out of court, Judy’s efforts culminated in arguments before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit where she fought to include women as a protected class. By winning the case, Ms. Wood single-handedly changed the law of asylum nationwide – saving the lives of not only her client, but thousands of other female refugees who would have been sent back to their home countries where they faced certain death. 106 minutes. Film website: https://www.bluefoxentertainment.com/films/saint-judy

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

March 8: Shalom Bollywood: The Untold Story of Indian Cinema (2018)

Discussant: Dr. Joe Hodes (Texas Tech)

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A celebration of the all-singing, all-dancing history of the world’s largest film industry, Shalom Bollywood reveals the unlikely story of the 2000 year-old Indian Jewish community and its formative place in shaping the world’s largest film industry. At the advent of the Indian cinema industry, it was taboo for Hindu and Muslim women to perform on screen. Indian-Jewish women took upon the female lead roles, and continued to do so for decades. Using stage names, the women were obviously not identified as Jewish, and were commonly thought to be Christian or Muslim. With access to rare archival footage, Jewish-Australian director Danny Ben-Moshe’s (My Mother’s Lost Children, 2017) new documentary tells this extraordinary tale through the lives of Indian cinema’s Jewish icons at the heart of Bollywood from the turn of the 20th century to the present day. 85 minutes.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSn7XIy0yHc

Sponsors: The Jewish Studies Program, the Jewish Studies Association and Center for Creativity and the Arts

March 1: Time for Ilhan (2018)

Discussant: Norah Shapiro (Director)

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On November 8, 2016, a young, hijab-wearing mother-of-three named Ilhan Omar made history, becoming the first Somali Muslim woman to be elected to a state office in America. She was hailed by the New York Times as, “one of the bright lights in the post-election darkness,” and the documentary film Time for Ilhan intimately chronicles her hard-fought campaign for State Representative in Minnesota’s Senate District 60B, home to our nation’s largest Somali community. Then, on November 6, 2018, Omar became the first Somali-American to be elected to the United States Congress. A fresh take on the old story of the American Dream, Time for Ilhan offers an inspiring, stereotype-busting portrait of a rising political star as she begins a bold and powerful political career. 88 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/295674977

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, Department of Political Science & Kamal and Aimee Abu-Shamsieh & Muslim Spiritual Care Services

February 22: Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart (2017)

Discussant: Dr. Margaret Wilkerson (author of the forthcoming book, Lorraine Hansberry: Am I a Revolutionary?)

Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart is the first-ever feature documentary about Lorraine Hansberry, the visionary author of the groundbreaking play A Raisin in the Sun. An overnight sensation, this play transformed the American theater and has long been considered a classic, yet the remarkable story of the playwright faded from view. With this documentary, filmmaker Tracy Heather Strain resurrects the Lorraine Hansberry we have forgotten—a passionate artist, committed activist and sought-after public intellectual who waged an outspoken and defiant battle against injustice in 20th-century America. The film reveals Hansberry’s prescient works tackling race, human rights, women’s equality and sexuality that anticipated social and political movements on the horizon. Lorraine Hansberry lived much of her 34 years guided by a deep sense of responsibility to others, proclaiming: “One cannot live with sighted eyes and feeling heart and not know or react to the miseries which afflict this world.” 118 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/288238328

Sponsor: The Africana Studies Program

February 15: The Long Shadow

Discussants: Maureen Gosling (Editor & Co-Creator) & Jed Riffe (Producer)

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From New Orleans to Virginia, Mississippi and Canada, The Long Shadow follows two white Southern filmmakers as they travel the roads of oppression and suppression to reveal the connections of slavery and strong-arm Southern politics to the current racial strife in America. The film is a disturbing story about the lingering human cost of ignorance, intolerance and inaction in the US, casting a long shadow over our national identity and imperfect democracy. “I am a filmmaker and journalist. On my odyssey to investigate racism in America I was stunned to discover that I was the problem. My family codified white supremacy into law. ~ Frances Causey, filmmaker91 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yI25b-KuEE

Sponsor: The Africana Studies Program

February 8: Maborosi (1995)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

One of the finest films of Japanese cinema, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first feature film Maborosi is a story of love, loss, and ultimately, regeneration. Haunted by the mysterious loss of her grandmother many years ago, a beautiful young mother (Yumiko, played by Makiko Esumi) struggles to come to terms with the sudden loss of her husband. Yumiko remarries and with her young son moves to her new husband’s home in a remote village on the wild, untamed Sea of Japan. There, she is haunted by the past, but with time and the natural wonders around her, she awakens to find love, understanding, and a sense of peace. Kore-eda’s feature films reflect back on his beginnings in documentary with a regard to truth and an incredibly humane sense of his characters’ strength and fallibilities. Working with almost entirely natural lighting, Kore-eda’s remarkable and elegant camerawork makes Maborosi one of the most striking visual works in cinema. In Japanese with English subtitles. 110 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-TuTe-5fgs

February 1: Women of the Venezuelan Chaos (2017)

Discussant: Margarita Cadenas (Director)

Embodying strength and stoicism, five Venezuelan women from diverse backgrounds each draw a portrait of their country as it suffers under the worst social, economic and political crisis in its history amid extreme food and medicine shortages, a broken justice system, and widespread fear. The women share what life is really like for them and their families as the truth about their country’s difficulties is repeatedly denied by their government. Featuring stunning visuals and creative soundscapes, Women of the Venezuelan Chaos presents a uniquely beautiful country and its people, who remain resilient and resourceful despite the immense challenges they face. In Spanish with English subtitles. 83 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/227763820

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, and The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

January 25: Under the Blood Red Sun (2014)

Discussant: Chris Tashima (Actor featured in the film)

December 7, 1941 – Tomikazu “Tomi” Nakaji and his best friend Billy Davis are playing baseball in a field near their homes in Hawaii when Japan launches a surprise attack on the US at Pearl Harbor. As Tomi looks up at the sky and recognizes the blood-red sun emblem on the fighter planes, he knows that his life has changed forever. Torn between his love of all things American and the Japanese traditional ways of his parents and grandfather, Tomi is frightened and feels ashamed of his native country. His friendship with Billy is soon tested as prejudice divides their island community. He must find the courage to stand up to a neighborhood bully, while protecting his family’s honor and its katana, a century-old samurai sword. He is soon forced to become the man of the family to care for his Mama and sister after his Papa (Chris Tashima) is arrested and taken away to an internment camp. Adapted from Graham Salisbury’s 1995 historical novel and directed by Tim Savage, Under the Blood Red Sun, is an unforgettable story (based on actual events) of friendship, courage & survival. 99 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8GTeSGdRE8

November 30: Silent Sacrifice (2017)

Discussants: Jeff Aiello (Director) Elizabeth Laval (Executive Producer, PBS), Saburo & Marion Masada, Kerry Yo Nakagawa (Featured in the film)

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Silent Sacrifice by director Jeff Aiello reveals the true story of one of the darkest chapters in America’s past: the relocation and incarceration of Japanese-American in 1942. After Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japanese Americans and immigrants who called the United States home were subjected to one of the largest violation of civil liberties in our nation’s history. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, and, by May of the same year, nearly 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most legal American citizens, were forced to leave their homes, their schools, their businesses and their lives behind and relocate to military-controlled concentration camps. This documentary focuses on our local history of this tragic past and presents witnesses who might be your friends and/or neighbors. 117 minutes. Film website: https://valleypbs.org/sacrifice/

Sponsor: Valley PBS

November 16: Dede (2017)

Discussant: Maya Kriheli

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Dede by Georgian director Mariam Bakacho Khatchvani is based on true events that took place during the Georgian Civil War (1988-1993). The film is set in the mountainous region of Svanetia in Northwest Georgia where the Svans, a people far removed from the modern world, still live in a society deeply steeped in tradition. This patriarchal society revolves around arranged marriages, pride and customs that dictate the code of daily life. Dede tells the story of Dina, a young woman promised by her draconian grandfather to David, one of the soldiers returning from the civil war. A marriage arranged by two families cannot be broken as it would bring dishonor and bloodshed. Dina does not love David and falls for his handsome friend. Will Dina be able to follow her heart? Will David accept Dina’s love for another man? In this hostile and conservative environment, Dina’s dream of true love is a menace to her community’s ancient ways. 97 minutes. In Georgian with English subtitles. Film website: http://www.corinthfilms.com/films/dede/

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

November 2: Roots (2016)

Discussant: Lilit Martirosyan (Producer)

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Roots by Armenian director Vahé Yan tells the story of a Boston-based journalist-blogger named Aram who decides to visit Armenia on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in 2015 and cover the commemorative events on his blog. In Armenia purely by accident, he meets Anet, who lives in France and who, under the nickname Vané, is one of his regular blog readers. The beautiful love story that emerges makes these protagonists’ ties with their native homeland even more profound. A modern-day romance. 80 minutes. In Armenian and English with English subtitles.

Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

October 26: RBG (2018)

Discussant: Donna Schuele (Attorney, Author, Professor)

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At the age of 85, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has developed a lengthy legal legacy while becoming an unexpected pop culture icon. But the unique personal journey of her rise to the nation’s highest court has been largely unknown, even to some of her biggest fans – until now. RBG, directed and produced by Betsy West and Julie Cohen, explores Ginsburg’s amazing life and long legal career. 98 minutes. Film website: https://rocofilms.com/rbg/

Sponsors: The Jewish Studies Program and the Jewish Studies Association & Center for Creativity and the Arts

October 19: Iqaluit (2016)

Discussants: Benoît Pilon (Director) via Skype & Dr. Rose Marie Kuhn

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In Iqaluit by French-Canadian director Benoît Pilon, Carmen travels for the first time to Iqaluit, the capital of Canada’s newest, largest and northernmost territory. Her husband Gilles has been gravely injured and she wants to be at his bedside. Trying to find out how her husband sustained his injuries, she grows closer to Noah, an Inuk (or Eskimo) friend of Gilles and soon comes to understand that their dramas are deeply intertwined. What happened? What is Noah’s involvement in these events? Will Carmen be able to find the answers to her questions? In French, Inuktitut and English, with English subtitles. 102 minutes.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures and L’Alliance Française de Fresno

October 12: Homeland (Né quelque part, 2014)

Discussants: Dr. Rose Marie Kuhn & Dr. Zoulikha Mouffak

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Directed by Algerian-French director Mohamed Hamidi, Homeland narrates the adventures of Farid, a 26-year old French law student, who travels to his father’s native Algeria because of a family emergency. Discovering this country where he had never been before, he comes in contact with a colorful gallery of amazing characters whose warmth and simplicity deeply touch him. He is particularly struck by a cousin who dreams to leave Algeria and live in France. Farid’s trip becomes an incredible journey, full of humor and humanity, an experience that will totally upset the image he had of his family and lead him to take a new look at his own identity. In French and Arabic, with English subtitles. 117 minutes.

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures and L’Alliance Française de Fresno

October 6: Persona Non Grata

Discussant: Cellin Gluck (Director)

Persona Non Grata by director Cellin Gluck depicts the life of Chiune Sugihara who is often described as the “Japanese Schindler.” This Japanese diplomat and world-class spy is posted in Lithuania from 1939 to 1940 and gathers intelligence on European affairs. As WWII begins and Germany invades Poland, Jewish refugees flee to Lithuania. In search of transit visas, they turn to Sugihara, who is torn between his loyalty to his country and his commitment to humanity. 139 minutes. In Japanese with English subtitles. Film website: http://www.7thart.com/films/Persona-Non-Grata

Sponsors: Jewish Studies Program and the Jewish Studies Association

September 28: Finding Kukan (2016)

Discussant: Robin Lung (Director)

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In the late 1930s China is in dire straits. The country will collapse under Japan’s military juggernaut if it does not receive outside assistance. Chinese-American firebrand Li Ling-Ai jolts Americans into action with a new medium: the 16mm Kodachrome color film. She hires American photojournalist Rey Scott to travel to China and capture a citizen’s perspective of the war-torn country, including the massive bombing of the wartime capital Chungking (now Chongqing). Their landmark film Kukan is screened by President Roosevelt at the White House, called “awesome” by the New York Times, and receives one of the first Academy Awards for a feature documentary in 1942. Why have we never heard of Li Ling-Ai? And why have all copies of Kukan disappeared? Finding Kukan director Robin Lung turns detective and goes on a seven-year quest to find the answers. 75 minutes. Film website: http://www.nestedeggproductions.com/

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

September 21: The Judge (2017)

Discussant: Erika Cohn (Director)

A young lawyer named Kholoud Al-Faqih walks into the office of Palestine’s Chief Justice and asks to join the bench. He laughs at her. However, a few years later, Kholoud becomes the first female judge to be appointed to the Middle East’s Shari’a (Islamic law) courts. The Judge by director Erika Cohn offers a unique portrait of Judge Kholoud: her brave journey as a lawyer, her tireless fight for justice for women, and her drop-in visits with clients, friends, and family. With unparalleled access to the courts, The Judge presents an unfolding vérité legal drama, with rare insight into both Islamic law and gendered justice. In the process, the film illuminates some of the universal conflicts in the domestic life of Palestine—custody of children, divorce, abuse—while offering an unvarnished look at life for women and Shari’a. 76 minutes. In Arabic and English with English subtitles. Film website: https://www.thejudgefilm.com/

Sponsors: Kamal and Aimee Abu-Shamsieh & Muslim Spiritual Care Services

September 14: Life After Life (2018)

Discussants: Tamara Perkins (Director), Dr. Deidre Hill-Valdivia & Noel Valdivia, Sr. (featured in the film) & Arnold Trevino (Project Rebound Graduate & MSW Student at Fresno State)

Life After Life by director Tamara Perkins follows the stories of Harrison, Noel and Chris as they return home from San Quentin State Prison. After spending most of their lives incarcerated, they are forced to reconcile their perception of themselves with a reality they are unprepared for. They also struggle to overcome their personal demons and reconstruct their fractured lives. Grappling with day-to-day challenges and striving for success, they work to reconnect with their families and provide for themselves for the first time in their adult lives. Told in an unadorned vérité-style, we experience the truth of their heartaches and triumphs. As their stories unfold over weeks, months and years, we witness the precarious nature of freedom after incarceration in America. 73 minutes. Film website: http://www.lifeafterlifemovie.com/

Sponsors: Project Rebound, Criminology Department: Corrections Option, Cross Cultural and Gender Center & Center for Creativity and the Arts

*September 7: Shadow Magic (2000)

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Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

*Film Screening will begin at 5 p.m.

Shadow Magic by Chinese director Ann Hu brings us to China at beginning of the 20th century. Suffering both physical cultural invasions by the West the Chinese are suspicious and antagonistic toward anything that the West has to offer. Set against this historical background, Raymond Wallace, an Australian brings yet another Western innovation: the motion picture or what the Chinese literally call “shadow magic.” Wallace wants to make his fortune by establishing the very first motion picture theater in China. Not surprisingly, his efforts are met with both awe and suspicion, especially by the Dowager Empress, and bring forth the following question: can change and tradition coexist? 116 minutes. In English & Mandarin with English subtitles. Film website: http://www.sonyclassics.com/shadowmagic/index.html

August 31: The Valley (2017)

Discussant: Saila Kariat (Director)

The Valley by Indian-American director Saila Kariat tells of an affluent Silicon Valley entrepreneur Neal Kumar whose beautiful daughter Maya tragically commits suicide during her freshman year of college. No one seems to know why. In his frantic quest to find the truth – and as his seemingly idyllic life and family begins to unravel – Neal discovers many things about himself and his own choices. 95 minutes. Film website: https://www.thevalleyfilm.com/

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts & Fresno State Student Health and Counseling Center

**May 11 Film Screening: Pasajuego: Ethnography, Migration and Identity of the Oaxacan Peoples throughout the Game of Pelota Mixteca. 5:30 p.m. Peter’s Education Center Auditorium west of Save Mart Center in the Student Recreation Center Building)

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Discussant: Daniel Oliveras de Ita (Director)

In the southern state of Oaxaca, México, Pasajuego is the name of the court where the ancient indigenous game of Pelota Mixteca is played. Pasajuego is a visual ethnography about the migration of Oaxacan workers to urban centers of Mexico and the U.S. In this story the game of Pelota Mixteca, acts as a window to look through the lives of the Oaxacan people at their migration destinations. The practice of Pelota Mixteca in different contexts reflects the lives of those who play the game, and shows how culture travels with them when they migrate. It tells the story of the players, shows the solidarity between paisanos, the cooperation systems among different regions of Oaxaca, Mexico and the U.S., and takes the audience through the diaspora of these migrants. This documentary film aims to capture the community contexts in which the game is carried out, and the ability of Oaxacan people to recreate their communities of origin on the other side of the border. In this journey the locations are condensed into one to describe Pasajuego as an embassy with diverse cultural expressions, geographically dispersed but unified by practice, cooperation and exchange between Oaxacan communities. Today at least two million Oaxacans live in the United States. This is the story of their ballgame, now taking root throughout the U.S. In Spanish, English, and Zapotec with English subtitles. 75 minutes.

Sponsors: The Consulate of Mexico in Fresno, The College of Arts and Humanities, The College of Social Sciences, the Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies, M.E.Ch.A and M.O.L.E.

May 4: A Billion Colour Story (2016)

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Discussants: Padmakumar Narasimhamurthy (Director/Writer) via Skype & Professor Joan K. Sharma

Like so many nations, India is a land of high ideals and hopes that doesn’t always live up to its better nature. That is the learning curve not only for 11-year-old Hari Aziz, but also for his parents, self-declared “Indophiles” and “religion agnostics,” who met in film school in Australia but moved back to the land they love. When the funding on their film fizzles, the family is forced to downsize to a cheaper neighborhood, and with the move they find that their religious backgrounds (Imran was born a Muslim, and Parvati a Hindu) suddenly matter to people. A lot.

The masterstroke in writer/director Padmakumar’s debut feature is to tell this story of intolerance and fundamentalism through the eyes of a smart, curious and tech-savvy child, a 21st-century kid who embodies the best of a globalized outlook (he’s played by the director’s son). Shot in black and white, the film was received with a four-minute standing ovation at its European premiere at the London Film Festival in October. Legendary star Shabana Azmi was moved to tweet: “A heartwarming film that celebrates the idea of India & tears at heartstrings. It’s a must watch.” 105 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1nKB8k2Um8

April 27: The Suffragists (Las Sufragistas) (2012)

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Discussant: Ana Cruz Navarro (Director)

The Suffragists by Mexican filmmak er Ana Cruz Navarro tells the story of Eufrosina Cruz, an indigenous woman from the Zapotec community of Santa María Quiegolani in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. In 2008, her right to vote and run as Municipal President of her community was denied on the grounds that indigenous customary laws prohibit women from participating in electoral processes. In Mexico, women won the right to full suffrage in 1953. Today, after a long battle, Eufrosina Cruz is a representative in Mexico’s federal government, and the first indigenous woman to be a member of the Congress of Oaxaca. The Suffragettes details her political struggle, as well as Mexican women’s long fight for political power. The film also considers challenges which women in power face, drawing on interviews with Mexican female politicians and Michelle Bachelet, Chile’s first female president and the first Executive Director of UN Women. In Spanish with English subtitles, 78 minutes, Trailer: https://vimeo.com/220101466

Sponsors: The College of Arts and Humanities, Aeromexico, the Spanish Program, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, and the Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

April 20: The Other Side of Home (2016)

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Discussant: Naré Mkrtchyan (Director/Producer)

In 1915, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Turks, during the Armenian Genocide. One hundred years later, also in 2015, a Turkish woman named Maya discovers that her great-grandmother was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. Maya embodies this painful conflict for she bears two enemies in her body: one that suffers and the other that denies. This documentary follows Maya as she decides to go to Armenia to take part in the 100th anniversary of the genocide and to explore her conflicted identity. This film is a universal story of identity, denial, and how the experience of genocide creates a ripple effect for future generations on both sides. In English, Armenian, and Turkish with English subtitles. 40 minutes, Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6r7rhRPHlA

Sponsor: The Armenian Studies Program and the Sociology Department

April 13: Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017)

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Discussant: Richard Rhodes (Author of Hedy’s Folly …on which the film is based)

What do the most ravishingly beautiful actress of the 1930s and 40s and the inventor whose concepts were the basis of cell phone and bluetooth technology have in common? They are both Hedy Lamarr, the glamour icon whose ravishing visage was the inspiration for Snow White and Cat Woman and a technological trailblazer who perfected a radio system to throw Nazi torpedoes off course during WWII. Weaving interviews and clips with never-before-heard audio tapes of Hedy speaking on the record about her incredible life—from her beginnings as an Austrian Jewish emigre to her scandalous nude scene in the 1933 film Ecstasy to her glittering Hollywood life to her ground-breaking, but completely uncredited inventions to her latter years when she became a recluse, impoverished and almost forgotten—Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story brings to light the story of an unusual and accomplished woman, spurned as too beautiful to be smart, but a role model to this day. 88 minutes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKXAkITImGU

Sponsors: The Jewish Studies Program and the Jewish Studies Association

April 6: Dogs of Democracy (2016)

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Discussant: Mary Zournazi (Writer/Director)

Dogs of Democracy is a documentary film about the stray dogs of Athens, Greece, and the people who take care of them. Greek-Australian filmmaker Mary Zournazi explores life on the streets through the eyes of these dogs and their peoples’ experience. Shot on location in Athens, the birthplace of democracy, the film is about how the Greeks have become the ‘stray dogs of Europe’, and how the stray dogs in Athens have become a symbol of hope for the people and for the Greek anti-austerity political movement. This is a universal story about love and loyalty and what we might learn from animals. “A powerful film narrative, the stray dogs of central Athens are transformed from mere symbols of a peculiar freedom to witnesses of a heart-wrenching human crisis.” Yanis Varoufakis, Greek economist, Academic and Politician. 58 minutes, trailer: https://vimeo.com/239054560

Sponsors: The Classics Program, the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, with support from the Phebe McClatchy Conley Endowment

March 23: Shadow of Drought: Southern California’s Looming Water Crisis (2018)

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Discussant: Bill Wisneski (Director)

While California recovers from the worst drought in state history, a myriad of impacts resulting from climate change threaten Southern California’s imported water supply. As a shadow of drought hangs over the region, this documentary explores the dire consequences of inaction that lie ahead. 42 minutes. https://www.droughtfilm.com/#anchor-about-home

This film is being screened in recognition of World Water Day March 22

Sponsor: The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and Fresnans Against Fracking, Tehipite Chapter of Sierra Club and Friends of the San Joaquin River Gorge

March 16: Serenade for Haiti (2016)

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Discussant: Christy McGill (Producer)

Filmed over a seven-year period in Haiti, this documentary feature film by director Owsley Brown tells the story of a small classical music school, the Sainte Trinité Music School, in the heart of troubled Port au Prince, Haiti. This modest school thrives in the shadows of decades of political turmoil and natural disasters. Its story transcends poverty and political violence and shows how music can transform the lives of the children and faculty of the school and unlock the power of their own lives and imagination. In Haitian Creole, French, and English with English subtitles. 78 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaDpXqm56S4

Sponsors: The Africana Studies Program, The French Program, and, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, L’Alliance Française de Fresno

March 9: Angelica (2016)

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Discussant: Marisol Gómez-Mouakad (Director)

Angélica dreams of a major career as a fashion designer in New York, but has not got much further than a boring sewing job. After a long absence from Puerto Rico, she returns to the island when her father, Wilfredo, suffers a heart attack. The unexpected return to the house where she grew up, plus her father’s illness, force Angélica to re-evaluate her relationship with her mother, who has always disdained her because of her race, with family members who clearly are racist, and with her partner in New York, who travels to Puerto Rico in an attempt to bring her back. All this forces her to face herself and realize that she does not know who she is, and also, that she does not accept herself. After the death of her father, Angélica must decide whether to return to the comfort of her previous life, dissatisfied but secure, or set on an adventurous path to rediscover herself as an independent woman, modern, strong, mulatto and Puerto Rican, in a globalized world on the cusp of the twenty-first century. In Spanish with English subtitles. 90 minutes. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/150479172

Sponsors: The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies, the Spanish Program, and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages and Literatures

March 2: And Then They Came for Us (2017)

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Discussant: Don Tamaki (Fred Korematsu Legal Team Attorney)

Seventy-five years ago, Executive Order 9066 paved the way to the profound violation of constitutional rights that resulted in the forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII. Directed by directors Abby Ginzberg and Ken Schneider, And Then They Came for Us features Japanese-American actor George Takei and many others who were incarcerated, as well as newly rediscovered photographs of the late Dorothea Lange, a photojournalist best known for her Depression-era work. This film brings history into the present, retelling this difficult story and following Japanese American activists as they speak out against the Muslim registry and travel ban. Knowing our history is the first step to ensuring we do not repeat it. And Then They Came for Us is a cautionary and inspiring tale for these dark times. Please partner with us to share this critical story. 40 minutes. https://www.thentheycamedoc.com/

Sponsors: The Central California District Council of the Japanese American Citizens League and the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno.

February 23: Electric Shadows (2004)

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Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

Electric Shadows marks the directing debut of Xiao Jiang one of the few active female film directors in China. The film begins when a young woman mysteriously attacks a stranger and then asks him to care for her fish while she is being arrested. When he enters her apartment he discovers an apparent shrine to the iconic Chinese singer and film actress of the 1930s Zhou Zuan, nicknamed “ the Golden voice”, and that they share a love of the cinema and more. The film’s reverent attitude towards the power of film, and particularly classic films, is a Chinese homage to the 1988 cultural classic Italian film Cinema Paradiso by Giuseppe Tornatore. Through a series of flashbacks the young stranger begins to unravel the incredible series of coincidences that intertwine his life with his attacker’s. In Mandarin with English subtitles. 93 minutes.

February 16: A Suitable Girl (2017)

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Discussant: Sarita Khurana (Director)

A Suitable Girl by Indian-American director Sarita Khurana follows three young women in India struggling to maintain their identities and follow their dreams amid intense pressure to get married. Ritu, Dipti and Amrita represent the new India. Educated, financially stable and raised with a mix of traditional and contemporary values in the urban cities of Mumbai and New Delhi, they have access to the world in ways their mothers did not. Yet their lives take a dramatic turn when they are pressured to settle down and get married. Career aspirations become secondary to the pursuit of a husband, and the women struggle with the prospect of leaving their homes and families to become part of another. Documenting the arranged marriage and matchmaking process in cinéma vérité-like style over four years, the film examines the women’s complex relationships with the institution of marriage, the many nuanced ways society molds them into traditional roles, and a rarely-seen portrait of India’s urban middle class. In English & Hindi, with English subtitles, 90 minutes.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GjixZpfJ3s Film website: http://www.asuitablegirldoc.com/

February 9: Our Little Sister (2015)

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Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

*Film Screening will begin at 5 p.m.

Directed by famed Japanese Director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Our Little Sister is based on and adapted from the Umimachi, or Seaside Town, Diary, a popular “manga” or comic strip series in Japan. The film tells the life stories of three sisters in their 20s who live together in the ancient city of Kamakura, a town about thirty miles southwest of Japan’s capital Tokyo. While attending their estranged father’s funeral they discover a14-year old half-sister who joins them in Kamakura. Our Little Sister was produced in 2015 and received the most nominations, twelve, at the 39th Japan Academy Prize winning four of them, including Best Picture of the Year and Best Director of the Year. In Japanese with English subtitles, 2 hours and 8 minutes, rated PG. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy2ZidLDgyk

February 2: Columbus (2017)

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Discussant: Andrew Miano (Producer)

When a renowned architecture scholar falls suddenly ill during a speaking tour, his son Jin (John Cho) finds himself stranded in Columbus, Indiana – a small Midwestern city celebrated for its many significant modernist buildings. Jin strikes up a friendship with Casey (Haley Lu Richardson), a young architecture enthusiast who works at the local library. As their intimacy develops, Jin and Casey explore both the town and their conflicted emotions: Jin’s estranged relationship with his father, and Casey’s reluctance to leave Columbus and her mother. With its naturalistic rhythms and empathy for the complexities of families, Korean director Kogonada’s debut film Columbus unfolds as a gently drifting, deeply absorbing conversation. With strong supporting actors Parker Posey, Rory Culkin, and Michelle Forbes, Columbus also reveals its director’s striking eye for the way physical space can affect emotions. In English and Korean with English subtitles, 1 hour and 44 minutes.

Trailer: https://www.columbusthemovie.com/trailer/

Sponsor: Darden Architects

January 26: Extra-Terrestrials (Extra Terrestias) (2016)

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Discussant: Carla Cavina (Director)

First-time Puerto-Rican director Carla Cavina makes a dazzling debut with her humorous and touching film Extra-Terrestrials. Her main character Teresa could not have chosen a worse time to return to her native Puerto Rico, after an absence of several years, and announce her plans to marry fellow astronomer Daniela to her very conservative family. Her father’s poultry business is the target of both corrupt elements of the Puerto Rican government and the U.S. poultry industry that want to drive it out of business. These two events set off a chain reaction that will either unite or destroy Teresa’s fractious family. Indeed, Teresa decides to delay revealing her engagement but Daniela’s decision to travel to the island and force Teresa’s hand will expose the many secrets the family has been keeping from each other. Extra-Terrestrials is a thoughtful exploration of the sense of being alien and alone down on terra firma. The film might even suggest that we are not so foreign to each other after all. In Spanish with English subtitles, 1 hour 50 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnyFiS4flc4

Sponsors: The Spanish Program, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures and the Communication Department

December 8: Filmworks: In Serach of Fellini (2017)

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Filmworks presents “In Search of Fellini,” a film that follows a young woman named Lucy on her journey to meet Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. After living an extremely sheltered life, Lucy, played by Ksenia Solo, stumbles into a screening of a Fellini film and begins to relate to the characters while becoming enthralled with the cinematic world she encounters. Deciding to take a leap of faith, Lucy travels to Rome to find the famous director. On her own for the first time, Lucy must learn to find herself while also searching for Fellini. Also starring Maria Bello and Beth Riesgraf. Closed Captioning and other assistive listening services are not available for this film. Rated R, 93 minutes. http://fresnofilmworks.org/film/in-search-of-fellini/

December 1: Evolution of Organic (2016)

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Panel Discussants: Mark Kitchell (Director) Tony Azevedo, Tom Willey, Glenn Anderson, Joe Soghomonian and Bryce Loewen.

Directed by Mark Kitchell’s (Berkeley in the Sixties, A Fierce Green Fire), Evolution of Organic is the story of organic agriculture, told by those who built the organic movement in California. A motley crew of back-to-the-landers, spiritual seekers and farmers’ sons and daughters reject chemical farming and set out to explore organic alternatives. It is a heartfelt journey of change: from a small band of rebels to a cultural transformation in the way we grow and eat food. By now organic has gone mainstream, split between an industry oriented toward bringing organic to all people and a movement that has realized a vision of sustainable agriculture. It is the most popular and successful outgrowth of the environmental impulse of the last fifty years. Evolution of Organic is not just history, but also a look into an exciting and critical future. Several local organic Central Valley farmers are featured in the film, including our own Tom Willey and David “Mas” Masomoto. 77 minutes. http://evolutionoforganic.com/

November 17: Footnotes (Sur quel pied danser…) 2016

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Discussants: Paul Calori & Kostia Testut (Co-Directors/Writers)

Inspired by the films of French filmmaker and lyricist Jacques Demy (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) and American film director and choreographer Stanley Donen (Singing in the Rain), Footnotes by French directors Paul Calori and Kostia Testut, is a whimsical musical comedy. The film tells the story of Julie a young woman who might land a steady job in a luxury shoe factory. The film’s original French title is Sur quel pied danser… meaning literally “On which foot should I dance?” or in other words: “What should I do? Which side should I be on?” Indeed the shoe factory could close and its jobs sent overseas. So Julie has to decide between her livelihood and her life. Will she stand with her striking coworkers or follow her boss? What is more important: a permanent job or her future? No spoiler alert here: you will have to come and see Footnotes with its fun choreography and inspiring songs.

Co-Sponsors: The French Program, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures and L’Alliance Française de Fresno

CineCulture: Filmworks presents the 2017 Fresno Film Festival, Nov. 10-12: TOWER THEATER, 815 E. OLIVE AVENUE, FRESNO

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The 2017 Fresno Film Festival, presented by Fresno Filmworks at the historic Tower Theatre, will feature eight exclusive feature-length movies, including Q&A discussion with Director Finn Taylor (UNLEASHED), social gatherings and more.

Tickets for individual programs cost $10 general and $8 for students and seniors; festival passes cost $50. Tickets and passes can be purchased starting soon online and at the Tower Theatre box office, 815 E. Olive Ave. http://fresnofilmworks.org/film/2017-fresno-film-festival/

FRIDAY, NOV. 10

PROGRAM #1 — 7 p.m.
Django
Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt must escape from German-occupied Paris in 1943 in this French biographical drama.
With opening night champange reception to follow

SATURDAY, NOV. 11

PROGRAM #2 — 12 noon
The Force
This documentary follows the Oakland Police Department as it faces increasing public scrutiny and internal scandal.

PROGRAM #3 — 2:30 p.m.
The Divine Order
An unassuming young housewife is suddenly thrust into the center of the cultural movement for women’s suffrage in 1970s Switzerland.

PROGRAM #4 — 5:30 p.m.
In Syria
Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass plays a mother of three whose family comes under siege in war-torn Damascus.

PROGRAM #5 — 8 p.m.
I Dream in Another Language
The preservation of a dying language indigenous to Mexico lies in the hands of two sworn enemies who refuse to speak to each other.

SUNDAY, NOV. 12

PROGRAM #6 — 12 noon
Our Time Will Come
A primary school teacher in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong is pulled into a mission to save Chinese novelist Mao Dun during World War II.

PROGRAM #7 — 3:30 p.m.
Unleashed
Comic actress Kate Micucci plays a woman who unknowingly starts dating her pets when they mysteriously turn into grown men.
Featuring Q&A with director Finn Taylor

PROGRAM #8 — 7 p.m.
The Women’s Balcony
When the women’s balcony breaks, the women of a synagogue in Jerusalem humorously band together to fight for their rights and traditions.

November 3: Menashe (2017)

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Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

Set within the New York Hasidic community in Borough Park, Brooklyn, Menashe follows a kind but hapless grocery store clerk trying to maintain custody of his son Rieven after his wife, Lea, passes away. Since they live in a tradition-bound culture that requires a mother present in every home, Rieven is supposed to be adopted by the boy’s strict, married uncle, but Menashe’s Rabbi decides to grant him one week to spend with Rieven prior to Lea’s memorial. Their time together creates an emotional moment of father/son bonding as well as offers Menashe a final chance to prove to his skeptical community that he can be a capable parent.

Shot in secret entirely within the Hasidic community depicted in the film, and one of the only movies to be performed in Yiddish in nearly 70 years, Menashe is a warm, life affirming look at the universal bonds between father and son that also sheds unusual light on a notoriously private community. Based largely on the real life of its Hasidic star Menashe Lustig, the film is a strikingly authentic and deeply moving portrait of family, love, connection, and community. In Yiddish and English with English subtitles, 82 minutes. https://a24films.com/films/menashe/

Co-Sponsor: Jewish Studies Program, the Jewish Studies Association and Center for Creativity and the Arts

October 27: Nowhere to Hide (2016)

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Discussant: Zaradasht Ahmed (Director & Writer)

Nowhere to Hide is an immersive and uncompromising first-hand reflection of the resilience and fortitude of a male nurse working and raising his children in Jalawla, Iraq, an increasingly dangerous and inaccessible part of the world. While US troops withdraw from Iraq in 2011, director Zaradasht Ahmed gives Nori Sharif a camera and teaches him how to use it, asking him to capture the reality of life in his community and the hospital where he works. For the next five years, Nori films life around him, but the population— including the majority of the hospital staff—flees when the Iraqi army pulls out of his city in 2013 because of intensifying militant activity. Sharif is one of the few who remain. When the Sunni militias and the Islamic State advance on Jalawla in 2014 and finally take over the city, Sharif continues to film. However, he now faces a crucial dilemma: should he stay and dedicate himself to treating those he vowed to help, or should he leave to protect his family and become one of thousands of internally displaced people in Iraq?

Winner of the 2017 Nestor Almendros award for courage in filmmaking and 2016 IDFA Winner for Best Feature-Length Documentary. In Arabic with English subtitles, 86 minutes. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96yMquZrL0E

Co-Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts & Peace Fresno

October 20: Frame by Frame (2015)

Discussant: Farzana Wahidy (Photographer featured in the film)

After decades of war and an oppressive Taliban regime, four Afghan photojournalists face the realities of building a free press in a country left to stand on its own. Under Taliban rule it was a crime to take a photo. After the Taliban fell from power in 2001, a fledgling free press emerges and a photography revolution is born. Now, as foreign troops and media withdraw, Afghanistan is left to stand on its own, and so are its journalists. Set in modern Afghanistan bursting with color and character, Frame by Frame follows four Afghan photojournalists as they navigate an emerging and dangerous media landscape – reframing Afghanistan for the world and for themselves. Through cinema vérité, intimate interviews, powerful photojournalism, and never-before-seen archival footage shot in secret during the Taliban regime, the film connects audiences with four photojournalists in the pursuit of the truth. In Dari & English with English subtitles, 85 minutes. http://www.framebyframethefilm.com/

Co-Sponsors: Department of Art & Design, Center for Creativity and the Arts, Asian Pacific Islander Programs and Services at Fresno State Cross Cultural and Gender Center and Department of Communication

October 13: Filmworks: Lucky (2017)

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Lucky follows the spiritual journey of a 90 year old atheist and the quirky characters that inhabit his off the map desert town. Having out lived and out smoked all of his contemporaries, the fiercely independent Lucky finds himself at the precipice of life, thrust into a journey of self-exploration, leading towards that which is so often unattainable: enlightenment. Acclaimed character actor John Carroll Lynch’s directorial debut, LUCKY, is at once a love letter to the life and career of Harry Dean Stanton as well as a meditation on mortality, loneliness, spirituality, and human connection. 88 minutes. http://fresnofilmworks.org/film/lucky/

Thursday: Oct. 12 Artist Talk & Reception

presentation by Farzana Wahidy this Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in Peters Business Auditorium, PB 191 followed by a reception in the Phebe Conley Gallery from 5 to 8.

October 6: Bitter Harvest (2017)

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Discussant: George Mendeluk (Director & Producer)

The romantic-drama Bitter Harvest by German-Canadian director of Ukrainian descent George Mendeluk, is set in Soviet Ukraine in the early 1930s. Based on true historical events, the film conveys the untold story of the “Holodomor”, the genocidal famine engineered by Joseph Stalin. It is a tale of love, honor, rebellion and survival at a time when farmers in Ukraine were forced to adjust to the horrifying social engineering by the Soviet Union. The film has been nominated for a prestigious Political Film Society Award in all four categories for Democracy, Exposé, Human Rights, and Peace. Rated R, 103 minutes. http://www.bitterharvestfilm.com/

Co-Sponsors: Department of History, College of Social Sciences and Ukrainian National Women’s League of America

September 29: The Promise (2016)

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Discussant: Carla Garapedian (Associate Producer)

*Film Screening will begin at 5 p.m.

In 1914, while the Great War looms, the mighty Ottoman Empire is crumbling. Constantinople, the once vibrant, multicultural capital on the shores of the Bosporus, is about to be consumed by chaos. Michael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac) arrives in the cosmopolitan hub as a medical student determined to bring modern medicine back to Siroun, his ancestral village in Southern Turkey where Turkish Muslims and Armenian Christians have lived side by side for centuries. Photojournalist Chris Myers (Christian Bale) has come here only partly to cover geo-politics. He is mesmerized by his love for Ana (Charlotte le Bon), an Armenian artist he has accompanied from Paris after the sudden death of her father. Then Michael meets Ana, their shared Armenian heritage sparks an attraction that explodes into a romantic rivalry between the two men. As the Turks form an alliance with Germany and the Empire turns violently against its own ethnic minorities, their conflicting passions must be deferred while they join forces to survive even as events threaten to overwhelm them. Promises are made and promises are broken. The one promise that must be kept is to live on and tell the story. Rated PG-13, 133 minutes. http://www.thepromise.movie/

Co-Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

September 22: Paper Lanterns (2016)

Discussant: Chad Cannon (Composer) & Nobuko Saito Cleary (Producer)
In the summer of 1945, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan: the first on Hiroshima on August 6, and the second on Nagasaki three days later. An estimated 140,000 civilians were killed in Hiroshima that day, including twelve American POWs whose family were never told of their death. A young Japanese boy, Shigeaki Mori, witnessed the explosion and survived but his life was changed forever. Paper Lanterns by director Barry Frechette is a film about the true story of these twelve American POWs and Mori’s struggle to account for their story in the years and decades that followed the end of World War II. Not as enemies, but as human beings who suffered in one of history’s most tragic events. This film is about them, the horrors they witnessed, their families’ struggle to find the truth, and one man’s effort to give them the gift of closure and have each of these twelve airmen recognized as victims of the atomic blast at the Hiroshima Peace Museum. The witnesses and survivors of these horrific events are dying. They do not want anyone to forget their loved ones and the sacrifices they made. They strive for peace, for compassion and for a world free of nuclear weapons. They want us to never forget their story. 60 minutes.

This film is being screened in honor of International Day of World Peace (September 21).

Co-Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, The Ethics Center, Peace and Conflict Studies & Peace Fresno, WILPF.

September 15: The Fencer (2015)

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Discussant: Dr. Michelle DenbesteDirected by Finnish filmmaker Klaus Härö (Letters to Father Jacob, Mother of Mine), The Fencer is a movie with a bit of everything: a thriller, love story and inspirational teacher tale based on a true Cold War episode, about an Estonian fencing champion on the run from the Soviet secret police. This film manages to find optimism, humanity and beauty in a tragic historical era. The narrative is inspired by the story of Estonia’s legendary fencing master, Endel Nelis, who founded a dynasty and nurtured several world-class swordsmen. Working under a pseudonym as a physical education teacher in a tiny Estonian village, Nelis instructs his pupils in the art and sport of fencing. When the kids push for their team to participate in the national competition in Leningrad, Nelis must choose between his safety and his true vocation. “Unfolding under a cloud of suspicion and paranoia fostered by the postwar Soviet occupation, this well-acted, smoothly crafted drama tells a story of cross-generational bonding in the face of historical oppression.” Justin Chang, Variety. Academy Awards shortlisted in 2016 for Best Foreign Language Film. In Estonian, Russian and Armenian with English subtitles, 99 minutes. http://thefencermovie.com/

September 8: Filmworks: Pop Aye (2017)

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Pop Aye by filmmaker Singapore-born Kirsten Tan is a road film about a disenchanted architect named Thana who bumps into his long-lost elephant, Pop Aye, on the streets of Bangkok, Thailand. After buying the elephant, Thana decides to travel back to the farm where the two grew up together, hoping to make sense of his career and marital troubles. Traveling across Thailand, Thana and Pop Aye deal with countless mishaps and meet colorful characters along their life-changing journey. In Thai with English subtitles, 102 minutes. Closed Captioning and other assistive listening services are not available for this film.http://fresnofilmworks.org/film/pop-aye/

September 1: The Eagle Huntress (2016)

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Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

The Eagle Huntress by British director Otto Bell follows Aisholopan, a 13-year-old girl, as she trains to become the first female in twelve generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter, and rises to the pinnacle of a tradition handed down from father to son for centuries. Set against the breathtaking expanse of the Mongolian steppe of Central Asia,The Eagle Huntress features some of the most awe-inspiring cinematography ever captured in a documentary, giving this intimate tale of a young girl’s quest the dramatic force of an epic narrative film. While many old Kazakh eagle hunters vehemently reject the idea of any female taking part in their ancient tradition, Aisholpan’s father Nurgaiv believes that a girl can do anything a boy can, as long as she is determined. In Kazakh with English subtitles, 87 minutes. http://sonyclassics.com/theeaglehuntress/

May 5: A Stray (2016)

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Discussant: Musa Syeed (Director)

In Minneapolis’ large Somali refugee community, Adan has nowhere to go. His mom kicked him out, and his friends are tired of his headstrong ways. As a last resort, he moves into the mosque, praying for a little help. Surprisingly, God seems to answer. Adan quickly lands a good job, devout friends, and a newfound faith. When Adan nearly hits a stray dog on the job, he’s forced to take it in for a night. But one of his new mosque friends considers the dog impure, and he throws Adan out. With Adan back on the streets, surrounded by his old crew, ex-girlfriends, prying FBI agents, and his estranged family, the dog may be his only friend as he tries to keep his faith and get through the night. 82 minutes. http://musasyeed.com/

Sponsor: Africana Studies Program & Beth Ann Harnish Lecture Series

April 28: The Crow’s Nest (Malacrianza) (2014)

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Discussant: Arturo Menéndez (Director)

The Crow’s Nest, written and directed by Arturo Menéndez is a Salvadorian/Canadian film that tells the story of a lowly piñata vendor from a small town in El Salvador and the struggles that befall him after an extortion letter is left on his doorstep. The letter instructs him to deliver $500 in 72 hours or he will be killed. The amount seems near impossible for the seemingly destitute Don Cleo, as he navigates through his reality, neighborhood, relationships and the few aspirations he still has. Don Cleo exhausts every opportunity to raise the money, gathering as much as possible from friends and acquaintances. Yet, as much as he tries, Don Cleo finds himself in more trouble than when he started. With no other hope to survive, Don Cleo decides to face his fears and stands up to his transgressors. Malacrianza is the first fiction film from El Salvador since 1969 which has also had the first worldwide release. The film was released on October 4, 2014, at the AFI Silver Latin American Film Festival. 70 minutes.

Co-Sponsor: The Chicano & Latin American Studies & Political Science Departments

All films screened on campus are free and open to the public. Parking is not enforced after 4 p.m. on Fridays.

CineCulture is a film series provided as a service to Fresno State campus students, faculty, and staff, and community. CineCulture is also offered as a 3 unit academic course (MCJ 179) in the Mass Communication and Journalism Department. CineCulture fulfills General Education Integration Area Multicultural International (MI).

April 21: Together With You (2002)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

Chen Kaige composes a richly imagined film about love, ambition, and destiny in China’s high-pressure world of classical music. When violin prodigy Xiaochun and his father head to Beijing seeking fame and fortune, they soon discover a fierce world of cutthroat ambition. But when Xiaochun is “adopted” by a famous music tutor, success finally seems within reach- until a shocking discovery begins to unravel his entire world, and the boy must make the most difficult choice of his life. In Mandarin with English subtitles, 110 minutes.

Filmworks: April 14: The Salesman (2016)

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Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, “The Salesman,” an Iranian thriller directed by Asghar Farhadi, presents the dramatic story of Emad and Rana, a couple acting in a theatrical production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” Farhadi subtly recreates issues from the play in the lives of Emad and Rana. The film opens as the couple is forced to evacuate their apartment when the foundation begins to collapse. In their new home they find themselves living with the past left behind by the previous tenant. Tensions run high between Emad and Rana, as they struggle to face the reality of events that will drastically change their lives forever. Starring Taraneh Alidoosti, Shahab Hosseini and Babak Karimi. Rated PG-13, 125 minutes. In Farsi and English with English subtitles. Closed Captioning and other assistive listening services are not available for this film.

Screening Sponsors: Earth Day Fresno (April 22, 2017), Middle East Studies Program at Fresno State and the Roshan Cultural Heritage Institute

April 7: Lost Birds (2015)

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Discussant: Ela Alyamac & Aren Perdeci (Co-Directors)

The Co-Directors are traveling from Istanbul Turkey to discuss their film.

Sponsor: The Armenian Studies Program

March 24: The Heart of Madame Sabali (2015)

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Discussant: Ryan McKenna (Director)

The Heart of Madame Sabali is a dramatic film with touches of absurdist comedy, and features surrealist dream sequences and a colorful art design. The story is centered on Jeannette, who has a severe heart condition that keeps her trapped in a suburb of Montreal. After receiving her new heart, Jeannette begins to have strange visions of her donor’s former life. Soon after, she is befriended by her donor’s son, a Malian teenager, who believes she is his mother reincarnated. The story itself is based on the scientific concept of cellular memory, the idea that cells contain memories, and that organ recipients sometimes take on the personality traits of their donors. In French with English subtitles, 79 minutes. https://madamesabali.com/

Sponsors: Co-Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

March 17: RiverBlue (2016)

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Discussant: Roger Williams (Director)

Following international river conservationist, Mark Angelo, RiverBlue spans the globe to infiltrate one of the world’s most pollutive industries, fashion. Narrated by clean water supporter Jason Priestley, this groundbreaking documentary examines the destruction of our rivers, its effect on humanity, and the solutions that inspire hope for a sustainable future. Through harsh chemical manufacturing processes and the irresponsible disposal of toxic chemical waste, one of our favorite iconic products has destroyed rivers and impacted the lives of people who count on these waterways for their survival. RiverBue brings awareness to the destruction of some of the world’s most vital rivers through the manufacturing of our clothing, but will also act as a demand for significant change in the textile industry from the top fashion brands that can make a difference. 83 minutes, http://riverbluethemovie.com/

This film is being screened in recognition of World Water Day March 22

Sponsor: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

CineCulture, together with Filmworks presents I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO March 10 at 5:30 & 8:30: TOWER THEATER, 815 E. OLIVE AVENUE, FRESNO

Fresno Filmworks presents the American documentary feature “I Am Not Your Negro,” a powerful reinvention of Civil Rights activist James Baldwin’s unfinished book “Remember This House.” Baldwin’s book was to be a powerful look at the lives, and ultimate deaths, of his good friends Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. The film brings Baldwin’s manuscript to life, using his own words and explorations on the racial narrative of America, with images, sounds and music from both the past and present. “I Am Not Your Negro” masterfully provides a contemporary link between the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and the present social justice movement of #BlackLivesMatter. From Haitian director and social activist Raoul Peck and narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. Closed Captioning and other assistive listening services are not available for this film. Rated PG-13, 1 hour 35 minutes.

March 3: Lunafest

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Discussant: Dr. Jenna Kieckhaefer

LUNAFEST™ is a nationwide festival of short films by…for…about women. LUNAFEST™ runs from October-March, in that time it is shown by more than 100 venues nationwide and is seen by over 20,000 viewers. For one night only Fresno is lucky to hold this festival. Films touch on a variety of issues of interest to women and those who love them. For information about the films: http://www.lunafest.org/the-films

Co-Sponsor: Cross Cultural and Gender Center

February 24: Agents of Change (2016)

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Discussants: Abby Ginzberg (Director) & Dr. Ramona Tascoe (SF student leader featured in the film)

From the well-publicized events at San Francisco State in 1968 to the image of black students with guns emerging from the takeover of the student union at Cornell University in April, 1969, the struggle for a more relevant and meaningful education, including demands for black and ethnic studies programs, became a clarion call across the country in the late 1960’s. Through the stories of these young men and women who were at the forefront of these efforts, Agents of Change examines the untold story of the racial conditions on college campuses and in the country that led to these protests. The film’s characters were caught at the crossroads of the civil rights, black power, and anti-Vietnam war movements at a pivotal time in America’s history. Today, over 45 years later, many of the same demands are surfacing in campus protests across the country, revealing how much work remains to be done. Agents of Change links the past to the present and the present to the past–making it not just a movie but a movement. 66 minutes http://www.agentsofchangefilm.com/

Sponsors: Henry Madden Library’s Prentice Womack Fund & Africana Studies Program

February 17: Resistance at Tule Lake (2016)

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Discussant: Konrad Aderer (Director)

Over 110,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated in ten camps from 1942 to 1945, in the largest mass imprisonment of citizens in U.S. history. Resistance at Tule Lake tells the long-suppressed story of the “No-No’s” – 12,000 incarcerees who defied the government by refusing to swear unconditional loyalty to the U.S. Although refusal was an act of protest and family survival, the government branded “No-No’s” as “disloyals” and forced them to relocate to the newly militarized Tule Lake Segregation Center. 78 minutes.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSuf8N5we5U&feature=youtu.be

Film website: http://www.resistanceattulelake.com/

This film is being screened in collaboration with the Henry Madden Library’s 9066 Japanese American Voices from the Inside collaborative exhibition and series of events which examine the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans in “exclusion areas” authorized by Executive Order 9066 which was signed on February 19, 1942, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This action had deep and profound consequences for all the families affected and the communities they left for decades—reverberations that are still felt today. The exhibition explores this complex and searing episode in our history. For more information regarding exhibition highlights and events: https://library.fresnostate.edu/node/158

Sponsor: Henry Madden Library

CineCulture, together with Filmworks presents Oscar Nominated Short Films: Feb. 10-11: TOWER THEATER, 815 E. OLIVE AVENUE, FRESNO

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For two nights only, catch an exclusive presentation of The Oscar-Nominated Short Films 2017, just weeks before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces its winners. For the 12th straight year, Filmworks joins Magnolia Pictures and ShortsHD to continue its tradition of bringing the world’s best short-form cinema to the Central Valley. The two evenings will feature five full programs of Academy Award-nominated short movies. Closed Captioning and other assistive listening services are not available for this film.

February 3: Nakom (2016)

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Discussants: Trav Pittman & Kelly Daniela Norris (Co-Directors)

Set in present day Ghana, Nakom follows Iddrisu, a talented medical student who is summoned home by his sister after their father’s sudden death. Iddrisu buries his father and temporarily assumes the head of the impoverished household and farm, inheriting not only the delicate task of planting a successful crop, but also a debt left by the deceased patriarch that could destroy the family. Attempting to maintain part of his studies from the confines of a small hut, Iddrisu becomes increasingly frustrated with the incessant needs of those around him and the demanding toil of the land. The contentious relationship with his uncle Napoleon, to whom the sizeable debt is owed, is further complicated by the unplanned pregnancy of Napoleon’s daughter who was sent to live with Iddrisu’s family. Over the course of the growing season, Iddrisu grapples with tradition, familial duty, and the overwhelming sense of urgency to do what he must to secure his own future. In Kusaal with English subtitles, 90 minutes. http://www.nakomfilm.com/

Sponsor: Africana Studies Program

January 27: Road to La Paz (2015)

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Discussant: Francisco Varone (Director)

Sebastian is 35-years-old and unemployed, with only his father’s old Peugeot 505 to his name. When fate brings him a man in search of a ride, Sebastian sees no other choice but to take the opportunity. The man is Jalil, an elderly devout Muslim, and his destination is La Paz, the capitol of Bolivia some 2,000 miles from Buenos Aires. Both men are at a crossroads, and the journey of La Paz not only takes them to the north but also places them on a touching and often funny road of self-discovery. In Spanish with English subtitles, 92 minutes. https://vimeo.com/139838175?ref=em-share

Sponsors: The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies and the Department of Political Science

CineCulture, together with Filmworks presents TRUMAN December 9, 5:30 & 8:30: TOWER THEATER, 815 E. OLIVE AVENUE, FRESNO

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Cesc Gay’s moving film “Truman” captured five Goya Awards (Spain’s equivalent of the US Oscars) this year, including Best Picture, Director, Actor (Ricardo Darín), Supporting Actor (Javier Cámara), Original Screenplay (Cesc Gay and Tomàs Aragay), not to mention many other awards throughout the world. Julián, a stage actor diagnosed with terminal cancer, has determined to forego further treatment and, instead, to appreciate his remaining days. His lifelong friend Tomàs, a teacher who emigrated to Toronto to start a new life, is unsure he will be able to help his friend. Nonetheless, he travels to Madrid to assist in whatever way he can. The two find their friendship immediately revived. Together, they visit old haunts as Julián tries to right old wrongs and, most important, seek a new home for his beloved bullmastiff Truman. Told with tenderness and humor, “Truman” tells the story of a man facing his death in the best way he can. “Truman” is multilayered, honest and moving, presented in a way which avoids cloying sentimentality in favor of gentle laughter. In Spanish with English subtitles, 108 minutes, not rated.

December 2: The Destruction of Memory (2015)

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Discussant: Tim Slade (Director)

This film traces the war against culture and the battle to save it. Over the past century, cultural destruction has wrought catastrophic results across the globe, including Armenia, Germany, Hungary, Bosnia, Mali, and more. This war against culture is not over – it is been steadily increasing. In Syria and Iraq, the ‘cradle of civilization,’ millennia of culture are being destroyed. The push to protect, salvage and rebuild has moved in step with the destruction. Legislation and policy have played a role, but heroic individuals have fought back, risking and losing their lives to protect not just other human beings, but our cultural identity – to save the record of who we are.

Based on the book of the same name by Robert Bevan, The Destruction of Memory tells the whole story – looking not just at the ongoing actions of Daesh (ISIS) and at other contemporary situations, but revealing the decisions of the past that allowed the issue to remain hidden in the shadows for so many years. Interviewees in the film include the Director-General of UNESCO, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, as well as diverse and distinguished international experts, whose voices combine to address this urgent issue. 81 minutes.

http://destructionofmemoryfilm.com/

Co-Sponsors: The Department of Modern & Classical Languages and Literatures, and Phebe Conley Classics Endowment

*November 18: Embrace of the Serpent (El abrazo de la serpiente) (2015)

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Discussant: Dr. Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval

At once blistering and poetic, the ravages of colonialism cast a dark shadow over the South American landscape in Embrace of the Serpent, the third feature by Ciro Guerra. Filmed in stunning black-and-white, Serpent centers on Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and the last survivor of his people, and the two scientists who, over the course of 40 years, build a friendship with him. The film was inspired by the real-life journals of two explorers, Theodor Koch-Grünberg and Richard Evans Schultes, who traveled through the Colombian Amazon during the last century in search of the sacred and difficult-to-find psychedelic Yakruna plant. The film has won numerous prestigious awards, including awards at Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and was an Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. In Spanish, Portuguese, Aboriginal, German, Catalan, and Latin, 125 minutes.

Co-Sponsors: The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies, the College of Arts & Humanities, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, the Department of Political Science, and the Center for Creativity and the Arts.

CineCulture, together with Filmworks presents the 2016 Fresno Film Festival, Nov. 11-13: TOWER THEATER, 815 E. OLIVE AVENUE, FRESNO

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The 2016 Fresno Film Festival, presented by Fresno Filmworks at the historic Tower Theatre, will feature eight exclusive feature-length movies from 15 different countries, including special filmmaker appearances, social gatherings, and Q&A discussions.

November 4: If Only Everyone

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Discussant: Professor Barlow Der Murgrdechian

If Only Everyone is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Armenia’s independence and the formation of the Armenian Armed Forces. The film is about a woman, Sasha, half-Armenian, half-Russian, a daughter of a freedom fighter who was killed in the Artsakh liberation war. Twenty years later, Sasha comes to Armenia in search of her father’s grave, where she wants to plant a birch tree. Sasha ecomes acquainted with her father’s combat friends, who help her carry out her mission. If Only Everyone, directed by Nataliya Belyauskene, was selected as the Armenian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards.

Co-Sponsor: The Armenian Studies Program

October 28 : Imminent Threat (2015)

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Location: Unitarian Universalist church of Fresno, 2672 E. Alluvial Ave. (between Willow and Chestnut) Fresno, CA 93720

This film is free and open to the public.

Discussant: Dr. Matthew Jendian

Imminent Threat, directed by Janek Abors documents the War on Terror’s impact on civil liberties as well as the potential coalition that may form between the progressive left and libertarian right. The film is executive produced by James Cromwell, Jillian Barba (Fresno State Alumna), Anthony A. LoPresti, and D.J. Do:30 p.m. dd. 73 minutes.

October 21: The Merchant of Venice (2004) Film will begin at 5 p.m.

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Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

In the late 16th century the greatest playwright of the Western world, William Shakespeare wrote a play which still shocks the world today: The Merchant of Venice. This exciting story is one of the first plays where a woman becomes the hero of the action because of her brains and not because of her femininity. Why was this play called a “comedy” in Shakespeare’s day will be dramatically revealed after the performance of this wonderful play brought to life by one of America’s greatest film actors, Al Pacino; costarring Jeremy Collins and Lyn Collins. Rated R, 131 minutes.

The film is being shown in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice, where the word “ghetto” originated in 1516.

CineCulture, together with Filmworks presents MISS SHARON JONES October 14, 5:30 & 8:30: TOWER THEATER, 815 E. OLIVE AVENUE, FRESNO

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Two-time Academy Award-winner Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USA, Shut Up and Sing) follows Grammy-nominated R&B dynamo Sharon Jones during the most courageous year of her life. Often compared to the legendary James Brown because of her powerful and energetic performances, Sharon Jones is no stranger to challenge. For years her music career struggled as she was kept in the wings by a music industry that branded her “too short, too black, too fat.” After decades of working odd jobs, from corrections officer to wedding singer, Sharon had a middle-aged breakthrough after joining forces with Brooklyn R&B outfit The Dap Kings. In 2013, on the eve of the release of the much-anticipated album Give The People What They Want, Sharon was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Miss Sharon Jones! is a triumphant crowd-pleaser that captures an irrepressible human spirit as she battles back to where she belongs: center stage. Not rated, 93 minutes. http://abramorama.com/films/miss-sharon-jones/

October 7: Nari (2016)

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Discussant: Gingger Shankar & Band

Nari is a global, multi-generational, multimedia live performance conceived by Gingger Shankar in collaboration with Dave Liang (producer of the electronic group Shanghai Restoration Project) and Sun Yunfan (artist and filmmaker). Nari is the unsung story of the lives of Lakshmi Shankar and her daughter Viji, two extraordinary artists who helped bring Indian music to the West in the 1970s through their close collaborations with Ravi Shankar and George Harrison. In Sanskrit, “Nari” means both “woman” and “sacrifice.” As two female artists who grew up in a patriarchal society and tried to establish themselves in a male-dominated field, Lakshmi and Viji fought to overcome numerous challenges in both their artistic and personal lives as they were catapulted from conservative Indian culture into the stratosphere of American Rock & Roll. Conceptualized in early 2013 and followed by recordings and filming in India, the UK, and the US, Nari premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in Canada, and had its U.S. Premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Co-Sponsor: The Department of Art and Design

September 30: The Violin Teacher (Tudo Que Aprendemos Juntos) (2015)

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Discussant: Sergio Machado Ribeiro dos Santos (Director)

The movie tells the story of Laerte (Lázaro Ramos), a talented violinist who after failing to be admitted into the OSESP Orchestra is forced to give music classes to teenagers in a public school at Heliopolis. His path is full of difficulties, but the transforming power of music and the friendship arising between the teacher and the students open the door into a new world. In Portuguese with English subtitles, 102 minutes.

Co-Sponsors: The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies and the Department of History

Friday, September 23: The Law (La Loi, le combat d’une femme pour toutes les femmes) (2014)

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Film Screening Friday, September 23, 5:30 p.m. Peter’s Education Center Auditorium (West of Save Mart Center in the Student Recreation Center Building)

*September 22-23: Two Events: Presentation and Film Screening

Thursday, September 22: “The Jews of France”

Presentation – “The Jews of France from the French Revolution to the Present,” 3:30-4:45 p.m. Sept. 22, Fresno State’s Agricultural Science Building, Room 109. Speaker Aron Rodrigue is a professor of history and the Charles Michael Professor in Jewish history and culture at Stanford University.

Friday, September 23: The Law (La Loi, le combat d’une femme pour toutes les femmes) (2014)

Discussant: Dr. Rose Marie Kuhn

Directed by French Director Christian Faure and released in 2014, The Law brilliantly traces three days, in late Fall 1974, of stormy debate in the French National Assembly, around a bill which would make “voluntary termination of pregnancy” legal. Behind this bill stands a lone woman brilliantly played by a remarkable Emmanuelle Devos (also in The Other Son): Simone Veil the Minister of Health in the Jacques Chirac government during the presidency of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. During these three days of violent debate Veil, a Jew and Holocaust survivor, is spared nothing: political negotiations, solitude, sparring arguments, insults and violence to her family. In spite of all of this, Veil never wavers. Viewers need not be afraid of being bogged down in the vagaries of 1974 French politics: Director Christian Faure has created a breathless thriller and gave the film’s “legal and political maneuvering some of the edge of a film noir”.

A television sensation in France, this profoundly disturbing and provocative film was a finalist for best television film award at the Globes de cristal in Paris and Emmanuelle Devos as Simone Veil was nominated outstanding actress at the Nymphes d’or in Monte-Carlo. Additionally, The Law was a selection at many film festivals, including the San Francisco, New York, and San Diego Jewish Film Festivals in the US, as well as the Jerusalem and the UK Jewish Film Festivals. In French with English subtitles, 90 minutes. https://vimeo.com/154670651

Co-Sponsors: The French Program, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, and the Jewish Studies Certificate Program and the Jewish Studies Association

September 16: In Our Son’s Name (2015)

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Discussant: Gayla Jamison (Director) & Nancy Meyer

In Our Son’s Name is an intimate portrait of Phyllis and Orlando Rodríguez, whose son, Greg, dies with thousands of others in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The bereaved parents choose reconciliation and nonviolence over vengeance and begin a transformative journey that both confirms and challenges their convictions.

They speak out against war in Iraq and Afghanistan, publicly oppose the death penalty of avowed 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and befriend his mother. As their search for meaning evolves they speak out against anti-Muslim actions and find peace in working with prison inmates. Their marriage strengthens, and they reach a deeper understanding of their rebellious son, who had just begun to find his way when his life was cut short. The film mixes in-depth interviews with on-location footage and striking archival photographs and video to create a deeply personal story that invites us to re-consider conventional concepts of justice and healing. 64 minutes. http://inoursonsname.com/

September 9: THE IDOL

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Filmworks presents the Palestinian drama The Idol, was inspired by the incredible true story of a Gaza refugee who won the hearts of an entire region in 2013 when he won the Arab world’s version of American Idol. The movie follows the dream of Mohammad Assaf, a popular wedding singer whose band plays on second-hand, beat-up instruments, but whose ambitions are to someday play the world famous Cairo Opera Hall. On his unlikely journey against impossible odds, Mohammed retains hope that his voice will transcend the pain that surrounds him and bring joy to others. Although the borders are closed, he finds a way to reach the Arab Idol auditions in Cairo and make it in front of the judges. From there, destiny awaits. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, who also directed Omar (2013) and Paradise Now (2005). In Arabic, with English subtitles, not rated, 95 minutes. http://fresnofilmworks.org/film/the-idol/

September 2: Ocean Heaven (Hai yang tian tang) (2010)

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Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

In 2010 famed martial arts star, Jet Li, made one of the most unusual and beautiful films of his career: Ocean Heaven. A terminally ill father has to prepare his special needs son for a life without his father. Departing from his usual action genre films Jet Li explores a father son relationship that is tender and loving. Ironically, this film foreshadows a true life challenge in Jet Li’s life that he struggles to deal with today. In Mandarin with English subtitles, 96 minutes.

May 13: City of Gold (2016)

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Fresno Filmworks presents the American independent documentary “City of Gold,” a love letter to the transformative power of food and food culture. The movie follows Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant critic Jonathan Gold as he explores his beloved city of Los Angeles. Long adored for his writing about Southern California’s hidden culinary treasures, Gold reviews small, family-owned restaurants in far-flung ethnic enclaves with as much passion as the haute cuisine establishments of Beverly Hills. With a stroke of his pen, he has changed the lives of countless immigrant chefs, newly discovered by voracious foodies who avidly track his reviews. Through his Odyssey-like quests for new food experiences, Gold’s style of criticism offers a rare opportunity to discover the true L.A. through the eyes of its foremost cultural journalist. Rated R, 91 minutes.

May 6: Coming Home (Gui Lai) (2014)

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Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

Li Yanshi and Feng Wanyu are a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner. Released during the last days of the Cultural Revolution, he finally returns home only to find that his beloved wife has amnesia and remembers little of her past. Unable to recognize Lu, she patiently waits for her husband’s return.

A stranger alone in the heart of his broken family, Lu Yanshi is determined to resurrect their past together and reawaken his wife’s memory. Based on Yan Geling’s novel, The Criminal Lu Yanshi, Coming Home is a love story about joy and sadness, as well as separation and reunion. Directed by Zhang Yimou (Hero and House of Flying Dagger). In Mandarin with English subtitles. PG-13, 109 minutes. http://sonyclassics.com/cominghome/

April 29: When Voices Meet; One United Choir; One Courageous Journey (2015)

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Discussants: Marilyn Cohen (Executive Director) & Sharon Katz (Subject and Composer) & Band Members

When Nelson Mandela was finally released from prison, courageous South African musicians broke through Apartheid’s barriers to form a 500-voice, multiracial children’s choir. Threatened with bombs and thwarted at every turn, they prevailed and railroaded across the country aboard The Peace Train. Singing their way into the hearts, minds and soul of a divided nation amidst a civil war, they promoted a peaceful transition to democracy and went on to become Mandela’s face of the new rainbow nation. When Voices Meet documents the trials, tribulations and triumphs of those musician activists and young choir members. They performed together for seven years; never lost touch with one another; and then reunited 20 years later. 86 minutes. http://whenvoicesmeet.com/
Band concert following film screening and Q&A! It was music that brought the disparate groups together, and the harmony of their voices became emblematic of the new South Africa. Original songs in the trailer’s award-winning soundtrack include We Are The Children of South Africa, The Time Is Right Today and Siyajabula.
Sponsors: Beth Ann Harnish Lecture Series, Cross Cultural and Gender Center, Jewish Studies Certificate Program & Jewish Studies Association, Africana Studies Program and Global Music Lecture Series

April 22: Ghost Town to Havana (2015)

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Discussant: Eugene Corr (Director)

A life rampant, street level story of mentorship and ordinary, everyday heroism in tough circumstances. An inner city coach’s son, estranged in his youth from his father, spends five years on ball fields in inner city Oakland and Havana, following the lives of two extraordinary youth baseball coaches: Nicolas Reyes, a 61-year old Afro-Cuban who coaches in a Havana neighborhood that is rich in community but struggling desperately economically, and Roscoe Bryant, a 46-year old African-American man who coaches in a troubled Oakland neighborhood wracked by three decades of gang violence. The filmmaker introduces the coaches on videotape and Coach Roscoe vows he will take his players to Cuba to play Nicolas’ team one day.

Two years of US/Cuba sanctions and red tape later, Coach Roscoe and 9 players fly to Havana to play Coach Nicolas’ team. For the next week, the boys and coaches eat, dance, swim, argue, tease, and play baseball together. The wary, street-smart, Ghost Town boys gradually warm to the fun-loving friendship of their Afro-Cuban hosts. Baseball! Girls! Fun! Real friendships form. Then Roscoe receives a fateful phone call from home. Right fielder Chris Fletcher’s stepfather has been murdered on an Oakland street. Ghost Town to Havana is contemporary in content but as old as the Greeks thematically: the human struggle to wrest life from death. 86 minutes.

http://www.ghosttowntohavana.com/8ioznv329fg9c558o9v38mmg1isqjm

Co-Sponsors: Africana Studies Program, Chicano & Latin American Studies, and Cross Cultural and Gender Center

April 15: Ixcanul (2015)

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Discussant: Dr. Beatriz Coetez

María, a young 17-year old Mayan girl, lives and works with her parents on a coffee plantation on the foothills of an active volcano in Guatemala. An arranged marriage awaits her. Although Maria dreams of going to the “big city”, her condition as an indigenous woman does not permit her to change her destiny. Later on, a snake bite forces her to go out into the modern world where her life is saved, but at what price…

First-timer director Jayro Bustamante proves himself a true global up-and-comer with his Berlinale-Competition Ixcanul (Volcano). As touching as it is visually beautiful and impressively well performed, this Guatemala-France coproduction includes Edgard Tenembaum, producer of the acclaimed The Motorcycle Diaries. 93 minutes, in Mayan and Spanish with English subtitles. http://www.filmfactoryentertainment.com/ficha.php?id=129

Co-Sponsor: Chicano & Latin American Studies

April 8: Mountains May Depart (2015)

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Filmworks presents the Chinese drama “Mountains May Depart,” a candidate for the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The film follows the life of an easygoing drifter, Tao, and those closest to her in three time periods: 1999, 2014, and 2025. The multi-generational story examines how China’s economic boom and a culture of materialism has affected the bonds of family, tradition, and love. Tao’s story, both colorful and moving, shows more than just Chinese history; it’s an ever-changing study of what it means to be human. Written and directed by the acclaimed master filmmaker Jia Zhangke, who is regarded a leader in the Sixth Generation movement of Chinese cinema. Starring Tao Zhao, Yi Zhang, and Jing Dong Liang. In Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, with English subtitles. Not rated, 131 minutes.

April 1: Our Village (2014)

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Discussant: Yelena Arshakyan (Director)

The director is traveling from Yerevan Armenia to join us for the screening of her film.

The movie tells the story of a modern village, particularly three neighbors, who live in this village, about their relations, wishes and bothers. These three rural families and immigration, which is a general problem for all Armenians, gave nationwide publicity to this movie. The most important problems are not presented by the oration pointed to countersignature, but by the combination of the genres of lyrical comedy and drama. In Armenian with English subtitles. 97 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGXfSPzP59w

Co-Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

March 18: Racing Extinction (2015) Racing Extinction -02

Discussant: Dr. Heather Rally (involved in the film’s production)

In Racing Extinction, a team of artists and activists exposes the hidden world of extinction with never-before-seen images that will change the way we see the planet. Two worlds drive extinction across the globe, potentially resulting in the loss of half of all species. The international wildlife trade creates bogus markets at the expense of creatures that have survived on this planet for millions of years. And the other surrounds us, hiding in plain sight — a world that the oil and gas companies don’t want the rest of us to see. Using covert tactics and state-of-the-art technology, the Racing Extinction team exposes these two worlds in an inspiring affirmation to preserve life as we know it. From the Academy Award® Winning Filmmakers of “The Cove.” The soundtrack features the Oscar nominated (Original song category, 2015) “Manta Ray.” 90 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwxyrLUdcss

March 11: The Treasure (2016)

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Filmworks presents the Romanian dark comedy “The Treasure,” the satirical tale of a search for buried treasure that won the Prix Un Certain Talent at the Cannes Film Festival. The movie tells the story of Costi, a family man and self-proclaimed Robin Hood to his 6-year-old son. One night, Costi’s cash-strapped neighbor reveals a family secret that sets the two on a twisted, weekend-long comic caper at a hidden family home in the country. Hoping to be a hero for his son, Costi pools his money for a metal detector, and the tumultuous search for redemption begins. From Romanian filmmaker Corneliu Porumboiu, whose 2007 debut film “12:08 East of Bucharest” won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes. Starring Toma Cuzin and Adrian Purcărescu. In Romanian, with English subtitles, not rated.

March 4: Güeros (2014)

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Discussant: Dr. Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval

Güeros tells the story of Sombra and Santos, who have been living in motionless, angst-ridden limbo since the National University student strike of 1999 broke out. Their slacker routine is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Tomás, Sombra’s lighter-skinned kid brother. Tomás discovers that unsung Mexican folk-rock hero Epigmenio Cruz has been hospitalized somewhere in the city and wants to track him down in order to pay final respects to him. But a simple trip to find their childhood idol soon becomes a voyage of self-discovery and bonding across Mexico City’s invisible frontiers. The film has been an international festival favorite, and it won five top honors at the 2015 Ariel Awards, Mexico’s equivalent of the Oscars. Filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios creates a love letter to Mexico City in his directorial debut. Critic A.O. Scott of The New York Times praised Güeros for being “sweetly nostalgic and exuberantly now.” Not rated, 90 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles. http://www.kinolorber.com/film.php?id=2008

February 26: The Experimenter (2015)

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Discussant: Dr. Robert Levine & Dr. Spee Kosloff

Yale University, 1961. Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) designs a psychology experiment that remains relevant to this day, in which people think they’re delivering painful electric shocks to an affable stranger (Jim Gaffigan) strapped into a chair in another room. Disregarding his pleas for mercy, the majority of subjects do not stop the experiment, administering what they think are near-fatal electric shocks, simply because they’ve been told to. Milgram’s exploration of authority and conformity strikes a nerve in popular culture and the scientific community. Celebrated in some circles, Milgram is also accused of being a deceptive, manipulative monster. His wife Sasha (Winona Ryder) anchors him through it all. Rated PG-13, 98 minutes. http://www.magpictures.com/experimenter/

February 19: Frame by Frame (2015)

Discussants: Mo Scarpelli (Co-Director)

After decades of war and an oppressive Taliban regime, four Afghan photojournalists face the realities of building a free press in a country left to stand on its own – reframing Afghanistan for the world and for themselves. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, taking a photo was a crime. After the regime fell from power in 2001, a fledgling free press emerged and a photography revolution was born. Now, as foreign troops and media withdraw, Afghanistan is left to stand on its own, and so are its journalists. Set in a modern Afghanistan bur

sting with color and character, Frame by Frame follows four Afghan photojournalists as they navigate an emerging and dangerous media landscape – reframing Afghanistan for the world, and for themselves. Through cinema vérité, intimate interviews, powerful photojournalism, and never-before-seen archival footage shot in secret during the Taliban regime, the film connects audiences with four humans in the pursuit of the truth. 85 minutes, in Dari & English. http://www.framebyframethefilm.com/

3 ½ Minutes, 10 Bullets (2015)

Discussant: Dr. DeAnna Reese, Thomas Whit-Ellis and Melissa Harris

In 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets, two lives intersected and were forever altered. On Black Friday 2012, two cars parked next to each other at a Florida gas station. A white middle-aged male and a black teenager exchanged angry words over the volume of the music in the boy’s car. A gun entered the exchange, and one of them was left dead. Michael Dunn fired 10 bullets at a car full of unarmed teenagers and then fled. Three of those bullets hit 17-year-old Jordan Davis, who died at the scene. Arrested the next day, Dunn claimed he shot in self-defense. Thus began the long journey of unraveling the truth. 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets follows that journey, reconstructing the night of the murder and revealing how hidden racial prejudice can result in tragedy. A harrowing exploration of criminal justice gone awry & an all-too-timely film that speaks loudly to the current racial climate in America. — Indiewire 98 minutes.

January 29: Dawn of the World (L’aube du monde, 2008)

Discussant: Dr. Rose Marie Kuhn

Directed by Iraqi-born French film maker Abbas Fahdel, Dawn of the World is set in the Mesopotamian Marshes. This complex of shallow freshwater lakes, swamps, marshes, and seasonally inundated plains between the Tigris and Euphrates makes up the largest river delta in the Middle East. Located in southwestern Iraq on the border with Iran and Kuwait, the area is known as the land of the mythical Garden of Eden, explains the film director. This is where the Maadan tribes, also known as the Marsh Arabs, live, and where Mastur and Zahra grow up.
Shortly after their marriage, the first Gulf War breaks out and Mastur is sent to the front. There he befriends Riad, a young Baghdadi soldier, and makes him promise to protect Zahra should something happen to him… Fahdel’s film is a visual poem taking place in a haunting and magical landscape. The simplicity of his plot and the beauty of the images of the film almost make the story seem like a misty dream.

Starring in the film are two actresses whom some of the viewers might have seen in Radu Mihaileanu’s film La source des femmes (2011), Tunisian-French Hafsia Herzi as Zhara and Arab-Israeli Hiam Abbass as Mastur’s mother. Additionally, Dawn of the World won the prestigious Grand Prix for the Best Screenwriter in France. In Arabic and French, with English subtitles. 96 minutes. Trailer (in French): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8V9rZ11aIc

August 29: BESA: The Promise (2012)

Discussant: Christine Romero (Producer/Editor)

BESA: The Promise weaves Albania’s heroism in WWII through the vérité journeys of two men. One is Norman Gershman, a renowned Jewish-American photographer determined to document first-person accounts of the Albanian Muslims who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. The other is Rexhep Hoxha, a Muslim-Albanian. Rexhep must fulfill the promise made to a Jewish family his father rescued during the Holocaust and return to them a set of Hebrew books they left behind. And Rexhep’s promise is more than words — it’s part of his besa — an honor code that, among other things, pledges all Albanians to offer safe harbor to refugees. With Norman’s help, Rexhep embarks on a journey to Bulgaria and Israel. His quest brings about an epiphany that he is part of this Jewish family — even as his Islamic faith, long suppressed under decades of communism, is affirmed. Through the stories of Rexhep and his fellow Muslims, we discover a nation of everyday heroes far removed from the narrative of violent Islam and anti-Semitism that’s so often portrayed in media today. And, through the experiences of Norman Gershman and the first-person accounts of Jewish survivors, we hear stories of gratitude to Muslim rescuers that have gone unheard for almost seventy years. More than seven years in the making, the film presents a powerful human drama compounded by a devastating twist. It is a story that that bridges generations and religions … uniting fathers and sons … Muslims and Jews. 90 minutes. http://besathepromise.com/thefilm.html

September 5: In the Shadow (2012)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

In the Shadow is a gritty, dark, exciting crime drama set in Czechoslovakia during the criminal and repressive domination of that country in 1950s by the Soviet Union. Directed by famed film director/producer David Ondricek and written by, who many are calling Czechoslovakia’s boy genius, Marek Epstein, In the Shadow is a gripping film experience. The film stars the great Czech film actor, Ivan Trojan and co-star Sebastian Koch, one of Germany’s finest film actors. Trojan plays Police Captain Haki who has been called into investigate what seems to be a simple jewel robbery. Events soon get completely out of control and Haki finds himself in the middle of a political fire storm, anti-Semitism, and a Cold War attack on the USA by using the Czech legal system. The cinematic technique used in this film is reminiscent of both film noir and Alfred Hitchcock’s brilliant use of the Camera to increase tension and advance the plot. 106 minutes. In Polish, German and Czech with English subtitles. http://www.intheshadowfilm.com/

*September 12: Filmworks: May in the Summer (2013)

Discussant: Cherien Dabis (Director)

Filmworks presents the multicultural romantic comedy “May in the Summer,” the latest feature from Palestinian American filmmaker Cherien Dabis. The movie, which has charmed festival audiences from Venice to Sundance, tells the story of May, a sophisticated and educated New Yorker who travels to her childhood home of Amman, Jordan for her wedding. Immediately upon returning home — a cosmopolitan Middle Eastern city, still full of natural and spiritual landscapes — the cracks in her seemingly perfect life begin to show. Her Christian mother disapproves of her fiancé Muslim faith, her sisters revert to behaving like rebellious teenagers, and their estranged father attempts to make amends for divorcing their mother for a younger woman. Confronted with the unavoidable wounds of her own family’s long-broken relationships, the fresh culture clash of old-world traditions and modern values leaves May at a crossroads. Written, directed by, and starring Dabis, whose debut feature film “Amreeka” played to international acclaim in 2009. Co-starring Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, and Bill Pullman.

99 minutes, Rated R. Film website: http://www.cohenmedia.net/films/may-in-the-summer

For additional information: http://fresnofilmworks.org/film/may-in-the-summer/

September 19: Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa (2014)

Discussant: Abby Ginzberg (Director)

Soft Vengeance is a film about Albie Sachs, a lawyer, writer, art lover and freedom fighter, set against the dramatic events leading to the overthrow of the apartheid regime in South Africa. Shining a spotlight on Albie’s story provides a prism through which to view the challenges faced by those unable to tolerate a society founded on principles of slavery and disempowerment of South Africa’s majority black population. As a young man, Albie defended those committed to ending apartheid in South Africa. For his actions as a lawyer, he was imprisoned in solitary confinement in Cape Town, tortured through sleep deprivation and forced into exile. In 1988 he was blown up by a car bomb set by the South African security forces in Maputo, Mozambique, which cost him his right arm and the sight of one eye, but miraculously he survived and after a long year of rehabilitation in England, he recovered. Returning to South Africa following the release of Nelson Mandela, Albie helped write the new Constitution and was then appointed as one of the first 11 judges to the new Constitutional Court, which for the past 20 years has been insuring that the rights of all South Africans are afforded protection. 90 minutes. As Albie was recovering in a London hospital from the car bomb he received a note reading: “Don’t worry, comrade Albie, we will avenge you.” What kind of country would it be, he wondered, if it ended up filled with people who were blind and without arms? But if we achieve democracy, freedom and the rule of law, he said to himself, that will be my soft vengeance.” As it turned out, the first phase of his soft vengeance started with his becoming one of the principal architects of South Africa’s new non-racial, non-sexist Constitution. It went on to include his meeting through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission with the man who had organized the placing of the bomb in his car, and ended with him being chosen by Nelson Mandela as one of the first eleven members of South Africa’s first Constitutional Court set up to guarantee the implementation of the fundamental rights for which they had been fighting. Adding to the visual texture of the film is the story behind the construction of the Constitutional Court building, in which Albie played a critical role. He was among those who recommended that the new Court building be erected in the heart of the prison where both Gandhi and Mandela had been imprisoned and be designed to represent enlightenment and hope where once there had been despair. Albie became curator in chief of the Court’s unique art collection representing the themes of human dignity, equality and freedom that lay at the heart of the new Bill of Rights. As Albie said: “The building was designed to be a continuing part of the freedom struggle, and to epitomize in its very openness and sense of humaneness, the values of human dignity, equality and freedom that lay at the core of the constitutional endeavor.” 70 minutes. http://softvengeancefilm.org/MAIN.html

September 26: Dancing in Jaffa (2013)

Discussant: Hilla Medalia (Director)

Pierre Dulaine, four-time ballroom dancing world champion, is fulfilling a life-long dream when he takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back to his city of birth, Jaffa. For generations, Jaffa has been a city divided by two communities that continue to grow increasingly apart. Over a ten-week period, Pierre teaches Jewish and Palestinian Israeli children to dance and compete together. The film explores the complex stories of three children, all of whom who are forced to confront issues of identity, segregation, and racial prejudice as they dance with their enemy. We watch Pierre transform their lives, confirming his belief that dance can overcome hatred and provide the first steps towards real change.

Pierre Dulaine, an internationally renowned ballroom dancer, fulfills a life-long dream when he takes his program, Dancing Classrooms, back to his city of birth, Jaffa. Over a ten-week period, Pierre teaches 10-year-old Palestinian-Israeli and Jewish- Israeli children to dance and compete together. Dancing in Jaffa explores the complex stories of three different children, who are forced to confront issues of identity, segregation and racial prejudice as they dance with their enemy. The classroom becomes a microcosm of the Middle East’s struggle to work together harmoniously while still caught in the politics of the region and race. With the guidance of Pierre, the children learn to dance together and trust one another. Dancing In Jaffa offers an up-close-and-personal perspective of how the future might unfold if the art of movement and dance could triumph over the politics of history and geography. 90 minutes. In English, Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles. http://www.dancinginjaffa.com/

October 3: La Source des Femmes (The Source) (2011)

Discussant: Dr. Rose Marie Kuhn

In a small village somewhere “between North Africa and the Middle East,” it has always been a woman’s chore to fetch water from the “source,”or spring, at the top of the mountain. This arduous task has caused several women to fall and miscarry while hauling their heavy pails of water back to the village. Leila, a young bride, urges the village women to action: no more hugs, love and sex until the men do their part and bear the painful task of fetching water from the spring back to their village. This whimsical and sometimes heartbreaking Belgian-Moroccan-French comedy directed by Romanian-born French filmmaker Radu Mihaileanu was selected for screening at the 2011 Festival of Cannes. 124 minutes. In Arabic with English subtitles. Trailer in English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwanQtCJGeM

October 17: Libertador (The Liberator) (2013)

Discussant: Dr. Maria-Aparecida Lopes

An impressively scaled chronicle of the life and times of Simon Bolivar, hero of South American anti-colonialist struggles in the early 19th century. The film journeys through the impassioned struggle of Simón Bolívar’s (Édgar Ramírez) fight for independence in Latin America from Spain and his vision of a united South American nation. Bolivar rode over 70,000 miles on horseback. His military campaigns covered twice the territory of Alexander the Great. His army never conquered – it liberated. 119 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles.

http://cohenmedia.net/films/the-liberator

October 24: Grandma’s Tattoos (2011)

Discussant: Suzanne Khardalian (Director/Producer)

Grandma’s Tattoos lifts the veil of thousands of forgotten women—survivors of the Armenian Genocide—who were forced into prostitution and tattooed to distinguish them from the locals.

“As a child I thought these were devilish signs that came from a dark world. They stirred fear in me. What were these tattoos? Who had done them, and why? But the tattoos on grandma’s hands and face were a taboo. They never spoke about it,” explains Khardalian. Grandma’s Tattoos is a journey into the secrets of the family. Eventually, the secret behind Grandma Khanoum’s blue marks are revealed. “Grandma was abducted and kept in slavery for many years somewhere in Turkey. She was also forcibly marked—tattooed—as property, the same way you mark cattle. The discovery of the story has shaken me. I share the shame, the guilt, and anger that infected my grandma’s life. Grandma Khanoum’s fate was not an aberration. On the contrary, tens of thousands of Armenian children and teenagers were raped and abducted, kept in slavery,” she explains. The story of Grandma’s Tattoos is a personal film about what happened to many Armenian women during the genocide. It is a ghost story—with the ghosts of the tattooed women haunting us—and a mystery film, where many taboos are broken. As no one wants to tell the reel and whole story, and in order to bring the pieces of the puzzle together, the director makes us move between different times and space, from today’s Sweden to Khardalian’s childhood in Beirut. 58 minutes.

October 31: Nosotros los Nobles (We are the Nobles) (2013)

When successful construction mogul Herman Noble accidentally stumbles onto his children’s credit card statements, he discovers they are spending money beyond control. His oldest son Javier, neglects the family business in exchange of his own ridiculous business ideas. His daughter Barbara gets engaged to a 40 year-old gigolo just to spike her father, Herman, and his youngest son Charlie was expelled from college after having sex with the teacher. Herman realizes his children are spoiled beyond redemption and decides to teach them a lesson, before its too late. Nosotros los Nobles is a 2013 Mexican comedy film directed by Gary Alazraki, the most successful Mexican film of all time. Rated: PG-13, 108 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvhIeGXM2OU

CineCulture, together with Filmworks presents: Levitated Mass

November 14: Levitated Mass (2014)

Filmworks re-ignites a centuries-old debate — “What is art?” — when it presents the American independent documentary “Levitated Mass.” The movie tells the story of a spectacle in motion: a 340-ton granite boulder is painstakingly moved from a quarry in Riverside to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, then mounted atop the walls of a gigantic slot in the earth. The massive display of conceptual art, a “land sculpture” created by the reclusive and often-misunderstood artist Michael Heizer, references the expanse of art history, from ancient traditions of megalithic stones to modern forms of , cutting-edge feats of engineering. The boulder’s 105-mile journey from quarry to museum draws international attention, and it challenges the imaginations of thousands of Southern Californians over the course of 10 nights in 2012, as it crawls through 22 cities aboard a football-field length, 206-wheeled trailer. From veteran filmmaker Doug Pray, who directed “Art & Copy,” “Surfwise,” and other films about unusual subcultures. Featuring an experimental score from the band Akron/Family. 89 minutes, not rated.

November 21: Couleur de Peau: Miel (Approved for Adoption) (2012)

Discussant: Dr. Rose Marie Kuhn

Couleur de peau: Miel was codirected by French director Laurent Boileau and Korean-born Belgian comic book artist Jung Sik-jun. It tells Jung’s own story who, as a young boy, was adopted by a Belgian family and grew up in Belgium. Based on Jung’s eponymous comic book series, this film chronicles the important moments of his childhood and adolescence and alternates between documentary footage of live action, animation sequences in 2D and 3D, and archival images. The film received several awards in 2013 including: the Grand Prize for Animation at the Japan Media Arts Festival, and both the Grand Prize and Audience Award at the World Festival of Animated Films in Zagreb, Croatia. 75 minutes. In French and Korean with English subtitles. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTz4nWpL5DI

December 5: Siddharth (2013)

Discussant: Richie Mehta (Director)

After sending away his 12 year-old son Siddharth for work, Mahendra (a chain-wallah who fixes broken zippers on the streets) is relieved – his financial burdens will be alleviated. But when Siddharth fails to return home, Mahendra learns he may have been taken by child-traffickers. With little resources and no connections, he travels across India in pursuit, with the hope that whatever force arbitrarily took his child away will return him unharmed. Inspired by a true story. In Hindi with English subtitles, 96 minutes. http://siddharththefilm.com/

December 12: Bird People (2014)

Filmworks presents the French experimental drama “Bird People,” an official selection Un Certain Regard at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The movie takes place inside a hotel at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, a sometimes dreary site of travel slowdowns and inconvenience that transforms into a place of promise and hope as it serves to bring two lost souls, Gary and Audrey, together. Fed up with the stresses of his work and home life, Gary, an American businessman en route to Dubai, views his overnight layover as an opportunity to start fresh in Europe. For Audrey, a Parisian chambermaid, the hotel is her ticket through college and an opportunity to move on from a humdrum life. As their paths cross nearer in the halls of the hotel, their lives change in an unimaginable way. Directed by French filmmaker Pascale Ferran, who previously directed the 2006 adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterly.” Starring Josh Charles, Anais Demoustier, and Radha Mitchell. In French, English, and Japanese, with English subtitles. 128 minutes. Not rated.

February 20: Field of Amapolas (Jardin the Amapolas) (2012)

Discussant: Dr. Patricia Rodriguez

Emilio and his nine-year-old son are forced to abandon their parcel of land overnight due to threats that they and the locals have been collaborating with the enemy in the guerilla war that has been ravaging rural Colombia for years. A relative helps them relocate and, despite his initial reticence, Emilio ends up working on a poppy plantation. At the heart of the story is Luisa, with whom Emilio’s son shares the secret companionship of a neighborhood dog. Filmed in the south of Colombia, near Melo Guevara’s native Ipiales, this is a film about the plight of innocent civilians displaced by war. Sitting on the fence is not an option and it is almost impossible for them not to get mixed up in illegal activities. However, the final flashback of the children leaves us with an inkling of hope for a better future. In Spanish with English subtitles. 87 minutes.

February 27: Josh/ Against the Grain (2013)

Discussant: Iram Parveen Bilal (Director)

Josh, inspired by true events, is the story of a privileged woman whose life is shattered in a single moment. It is the story of a woman in search for a dangerous truth. It is the story of the biggest challenge to Pakistan’s still reigning feudalism: the country’s youth. The film explores the internal debates the young are struggling with, and how solutions can be attainable if and when they stand united.

Fatima, a committed schoolteacher living the cosmopolitan high life in Karachi, is devastated when her nanny, Nusrat, inexplicably disappears. Though her friends and family beg her not to disturb the status quo and confront the powerful feudals in Nusrat’s village, Fatima travels there to investigate. Josh is a story of hope, of trying, of redemption. It is a story of the youth, of Pakistan, of the pain, the pleasure and the spirit of unity and independence. Ultimately, it is about “never giving up.” 103minutes, rated PG-13. http://www.thefilmjosh.com/

March 6: RIO 2096

Discussant: Adela Santana

Rio 2096 is an animated film with a graphic novel slant revolving around the love between an immortal hero and Janaína, the woman he has been in love with for 600 years. Luiz Bolognesi has set the story in four phases of Brazil’s history: colonization, slavery, military regime and the future, in 2096, in the midst of wars for water. The film stars the voice talents of Selton Mello and Camila Pitanga as the two main characters. The feature film also counts on the voice of Rodrigo Santoro as an Indian Chief and warrior. 98 minutes. In Portuguese with English subtitles.

Co-Sponsors: Chicano & Latin American Studies and History Departments

TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT: March 13 at 5:30 & 8:30 p.m.

Post Screening Discussion Circle following the 5:30 featuring Dr. Rose Marie Kuhn (Fresno State French Program Professor and longtime union representative with the California Faculty Association)

Fresno Filmworks will present one of the most acclaimed international movies of last year, the poignant and powerful Belgian labor drama “Two Days, One Night.” The movie, starring Oscar nominee for Best Actress, Marion Cotillard, shines a harsh and realistic light on the struggles of working-class women.

The film tells the story of Sandra, a factory worker who has just returned to her job after taking medical leave for depression. Realizing in her absence that the small company can operate with one fewer employee, management tells Sandra she may be let go. Within two days and one night, Sandra is forced to decide her fate by appealing individually to her co-workers, asking them one-by-one to give up their bonuses in order to allow her to stay. Sandra’s race against time tests the limits of a working-class community’s solidarity. Belgian filmmaker brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, who are two-time winners of the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes, direct. The Dardenne brothers are known for their deliberate, naturalistic movies, as they follow the lives of working-class characters. Rated PG-13, French and Arabic, with English subtitles.

March 20: Oil & Water (2014)

Discussant: Hugo Lucitante (Student Activist featured in the film)

Oil & Water is the coming of age story of two boys as they each confront one of the world’s worst toxic disasters, the prolonged contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon by Texaco and other oil companies. Hugo comes to America to fight for the survival of his tribe, the Cofán, while David goes to Ecuador to launch the world’s first company to certify oil as “fair trade.” Can Hugo become the leader his tribe so desperately wants him to be? Will David clean up one of the world’s dirtiest industries? This film is an intimate portrait of two young people finding their voices and trying to beat incredible odds. Their journeys lead them to explore what could be a more just future, not just for the people of the Amazon, but for all people around the world born with oil beneath their feet. Eight years in the making Oil & Water is a shocking and inspiring David and Goliath story. 78 minutes.

March 27: Celluloid Exiles: A Brief History of the Armenian Genocide and Diaspora on Film

Discussant: Eric Nazarian (Director)

Director Eric Nazarian will present a historical overview of the Armenians as represented in cinema, the genesis of “Ravished Armenia,” the first film produced in Hollywood about the Genocide, and later productions of the 20th century depicting the Genocide and/or the Armenian experience of exile including the films of Elia Kazan (America, America), Atom Egoyan (Ararat) and Henry Verneuil (Mayrig). Nazarian will also screen and discuss (Bolis), a documentary short film he wrote and directed, which tells the story of Armenak Mouradian, an Armenian oud musician from the Diaspora who travels to Istanbul to find his grandfather’s oud shop and a family heirloom that disappeared during the Armenian Genocide.

Co-Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

KUMIKO THE TREASURE HUNTER: April 10, 5:30 & 8:45

Post Screening Discussion Circle following the 5:30 featuring David Zellner (Director)

After the 5:30 show, join visiting filmmaker David Zellner to talk about the film. Based in Austin, Texas, Zellner often writes, directs, and co-stars with his brother Nathan in feature films, short films, and music videos. Discussion moderated by Dr. Mary Husain.

Fresno Filmworks presents the darkly comedic adventure fable “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter,” an American independent film starring Rinko Kikuchi. The inspiration: In 2001, an urban legend circulated online about a lonely Japanese woman who discovered a hidden copy of “Fargo” on VHS, leaving her life in Tokyo for the American Upper Midwest in a hunt for the movie’s buried treasure. The film tells the imagined story of Kumiko, a frustrated secretary whose imagination transcends the confines of her mundane life. She becomes obsessed with a mysterious, battered copy of the Coen brothers classic—a fictional movie she mistakes for a documentary— fixating on one scene where a suitcase of stolen cash is buried in the desolate landscape of rural North Dakota. Believing the treasure to be real, Kumiko plunges herself into a wild and dangerous odyssey unlike anything she has seen in the movies. The visually stunning and strangely touching underdog story is written and directed by indie filmmaker brothers David and Nathan Zellner, stars of numerous award-winning shorts and the 2012 Sundance hit “Kid-Thing,” with a surreal lead performance from Kikuchi, a 2006 Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actress in “Babel.” Featuring an electronic score from The Octopus Project. In English and Japanese, with English subtitles. Not rated. 105 minutes.

April 17: The Hunting Ground (2015)

Discussant: Kirby Dick (Director)

From the team behind THE INVISIBLE WAR, comes a startling exposé of rape crimes on U.S. campuses, institutional cover-ups and the brutal social toll on victims and their families. Weaving together verité footage and first-person testimonies, the film follows survivors as they pursue their education while fighting for justice — despite harsh retaliation, harassment and pushback at every level. 90 minutes.

April 24: Omar (2013)

Discussant: Dr. Richard Falk

Winner of the Jury Prize, Un Certain Regard, at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and also a Best Foreign Language Film nominee at the 2014 Academy Awards, “Omar,” directed by Hany Abu-Assad, unfolds as a gripping thriller about betrayal—both suspected and real—in the Occupied Territories. The movie follows the story of Omar, a Palestinian baker by day who routinely evades surveillance bullets and climbs over the separation wall to visit his secret love, Nadia. By night, however, Omar acts as a freedom fighter alongside childhood friends Amjad and Tarek to strike at the Israeli military. After being arrested in the killing of an Israeli soldier and tricked into an admission of guilt by association, he agrees to work as an informant, which leads him into a game of cat-and-mouse with the military police. Unsure of who he can trust on either side, Omar’s feelings begin to mirror that of his country: deeply torn and conflicted. It soon becomes evident, though, that he survives for his love of Nadia. In Arabic and Hebrew, with English subtitles. Not rated. 98 minutes.

May 1: The Golden Dream (La jaula de oro) (2013)

Discussant: Dr. Adán Avalos

Juan, Sara and Samuel, all 15 years old, flee from Guatemala towards the USA. On their journey through Mexico they meet Chauk, a Tzotzil Indian who does not speak Spanish and has no official documents. They all believe they will find a better world beyond the USA-Mexico border but they run into a harsh reality. 108 minutes. In Spanish and Tzotzil with English subtitles.

THE WRECKING CREW: May 8, 5:30 & 8:45

Post Screening Discussion Circle following the 5:30 featuring Denny Tedesco (Director)

After the early show, visiting filmmaker and director Denny Tedesco will speak about his father’s legacy and about the decades of inspiration behind the film. Based in Los Angeles, Tedesco has worked as a set designer, lighting technician and location producer. Discussion moderated by Dr. Mary Husain.

Fresno Filmworks will present one of the greatest underdog stories in documentary history: the story of “The Wrecking Crew,” the group of unsung musicians behind the most popular artists of a generation, including Nat “King” Cole, Frank Sinatra and more than a dozen icons of American pop music.

The movie, directed by first-time filmmaker Denny Tedesco, tells the behind-the-scenes tale of The Wrecking Crew, which included one of the greatest session guitarists in history, his father Tommy Tedesco. In the 1960s and early ’70s, the Grammy for “Record of the Year” went to recordings made by The Wrecking Crew for six years in a row. The music they made defined the “West Coast Sound,” which became a dominant cultural force around the world. The film includes interviews with Brian Wilson, Cher, Nancy Sinatra, Herb Alpert, Glen Campbell, Gary Lewis, and Crew members themselves. Rated P.G. 101 minutes.

August 28th: Aram, Aram

Discussant: Christopher Chambers (Director)

Aram, Aram is the first American independent dramatic film to take movie viewers inside the Armenian Community of Los Angeles. Indeed, a tragic accident uproots Aram, a 12-year-old Armenian boy, from his idyllic Beirut childhood, sending him to live with his grandfather in Los Angeles. Aram begins a new routine at his grandfather’s humble shoe repair shop and becomes friends with a young Latina from the neighborhood market. Lured by a gangster’s bravado to unite Armenians against the neighborhood Latino thugs, Aram is drawn into a dangerous urban culture that clashes with his grandfather’s values. Aram struggles to make sense of his new surroundings, his soulful eyes conveying a deep internal conflict between mourning for his old life and forging a new independent identity. Featuring well-known Armenian talent, first time director Christopher Chambers’ moving film portrays the complexities of life within the insular enclave of Little Armenia. 85 minutes. In English and Armenian with English subtitles.

September 4: Sweet Dreams

Discussant: Lisa Fruchtman (Director)

Rwanda suffered a devastating genocide in 1994. Close to a million were killed by neighbors, friends and even family members. Horror swept through the entire country. And when it was over, those who remained were broken, dead inside. The country has made great strides in economic recovery, but “people are not like roads and buildings” says Kiki Katese, a pioneering Rwandan theater director. “How do we rebuild a human being?” Kiki decided to start Ingoma Nshya, Rwanda’s first and only women’s drumming troupe, open to women from both sides of the conflict. There was only one requirement: to leave the categories of the past at the gate. For the women—orphans, widows, wives and children of perpetrators—the group has been a place to begin to live again, to build new relationships, to heal the wounds of the past. Yet the struggle to survive and provide for their families still persists. So when Kiki came up with the idea to open Rwanda’s first and only ice cream shop, the women were intrigued … What was ice cream exactly and how would they do it? Kiki invited Jennie and Alexis of Brooklyn’s Blue Marble Ice Cream to come to Rwanda to help the drummers open their shop, which they aptly named Inzozi Nziza (Sweet Dreams). Sweet Dreams follows this remarkable group of Rwandan women as they emerge from the devastation of the genocide to create a new future for themselves. “Because of our history, people know how to fight against, but not for,” Kiki says. “We want to change that equation.” 89 minutes, in Kinyarwanda with English subtitles. http://www.sweetdreamsrwanda.com/

September 11: Filmworks: The Wandering Muse

On the anniversary of Sept. 11, Filmworks presents a film directed by Tamás Wormser about resilience and togetherness: the independent documentary The Wandering Muse. This movie tells the story of wandering Jewish musicians, who, for millennia, as reluctant nomads, have used their music instruments as passports to the world. In an Argentine bar, two friends play tango-infused klezmer. In rural Uganda, villagers chant Hebrew prayers in East African harmonies. At a Montreal party, an artist mixes hip-hop and jazz with cantorial singing in a multilingual tour-de-force. And in a Berlin apartment, an American harmonizes with a Russian in a rendition of an anti-Zionist song from the 1920s. From ram’s horn to beatbox, director Tamás Wormser examines a kaleidoscope of Jewish identities through the invigorating and ever-changing music of the Jewish diaspora. 93 minutes, in nine different languages, with English subtitles. Not rated.

September 18: Brahmin Bulls

Discussant: Mahesh Pailoor (Director)

For Sid Sharma, life has not quite worked out the way he planned. A thirty-something disillusioned architect struggling to save his failing marriage, Sid stumbles through his days on a self-destructive path while holding his wife’s beloved cat hostage. Meanwhile Ashok, Sid’s estranged and widowed father living in Boston, decides to make a last-minute trip to LA for an academic conference. When Ashok arrives at Sid’s doorstep unannounced, the two men begin a journey to mend their strained relationship until Sid discovers the true purpose behind his father’s visit – a woman with whom he had an affair, years ago. Starring Sendhil Ramamurthy, Roshan Seth, Academy Award winner Mary Steenburgen, Justin Bartha, and Academy Award nominated Michael Lerner, Brahmin Bulls is a heartfelt and humorous look at the ever-evolving relationship between a father and son, the women in their lives, and the powerful secrets they keep. 96 minutes. http://brahminbulls.com/

*September 25: Leviathan

Discussant: Dr. Michelle DenBeste

Screening at 5 p.m.

The latest drama from Andrey Zvyagintsev, the acclaimed director of The Return (Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner and Golden Globe nominee) was nominated for Best Foreign Film of the Year at the 2015 Academy Awards. Kolya (AlexeÏ Serebriakov) lives in a small fishing town near the stunning Barents Sea in Northern Russia. He owns an auto-repair shop that stands right next to the house where he lives with his young wife Lilya (Elena Liadova) and his son Roma (SergueÏ Pokhodaev) from a previous marriage. The town’s corrupt mayor Vadim Shelevyat (Roman Madianov) is determined to take away his business, his house, as well as his land. First the Mayor tries buying off Kolya, but Kolya unflinchingly fights as hard as he can so as not to lose everything he owns including the beauty that has surrounded him from the day he was born. Rated R, in Russian with English subtitles, 140 minutes.

http://sonyclassics.com/leviathan/

Sponsor: History Department

October 9: Filmworks: The Great Man

The French drama, “The Great Man,” an international festival favorite, tells the story of French Foreign Legion soldiers Hamilton and Markov. While finishing their five years of service with a six-month deployment in Afghanistan, the inseparable friends are ambushed during a unofficial expedition, leaving Hamilton seriously wounded. Despite saving Hamilton’s life, Markov — an undocumented Chechen immigrant — is dishonorably discharged and left adrift in Paris, struggling to reconnect and provide for his son, Khadji. When Markov is killed in an unexpected accident, Hamilton is served by conscience to look after the kid of the man who saved his life. This intimate drama is a powerful story about friendship and solidarity and takes a closer look at how men try to piece their lives back together when they’ve been shattered by war. Directed by breakout French filmmaker Sarah Leonor, whose work has been compared to Claire Denis and Michael Haneke, and starring Jérémie Renier. In French and Chechen with English subtitles. 107 minutes. http://www.distribfilmsus.com/our-movies/the-great-man/

October 16: The Second Mother

Discussant: Dr. Maria-Aparecida Lopes

An excitingly fresh take on some classic themes and ideas, The Second Mother centers round Val, a hard-working live-in housekeeper in modern day Sao Paulo. Val is perfectly content to take care of every one of her wealthy employers’ needs, from cooking and cleaning to being a surrogate mother to their teenage son, who she has raised since he was a toddler. But when Val’s estranged daughter Jessica suddenly shows up the unspoken but intrinsic class barriers that exist within the home are thrown into disarray. Jessica is smart, confident, and ambitious, and refuses to accept the upstairs/downstairs dynamic, testing relationships and loyalties and forcing everyone to reconsider what family really means. Brazil’s Oscar nomination for Best Foreign language film. In Portuguese with English subtitles, rated R, 112 minutes. http://thesecondmother.vhx.tv/

Sponsor: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

April 5-9: Watch Coup 53

March 22-26 Watch Les parfums (Perfumes)

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

March 15-19 Watch Driveways

March 8- 12: Watch Two Films: The Illegal & 10 jours sans maman (10 Days with Dad)

The Illegal

10 jours sans maman (10 Days with Dad)

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

March 1-5: Watch: Belly of the Beast

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

February 22-26: Watch 2 Films: Mee Raqsam & Police (Nightshift)

Mee Raqsam

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

Police (Nightshift)

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

February 12-19: Watch 2 Films:Restless River & Sol

Restless River

Sol

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

February 9-12: Shared Legacies

Co-Sponsors: Jewish Studies Program, the Jewish Studies Association and Center for Creativity and the Arts

November 8-13: Grab and Run

October 27-30: Lost Birds

Discussant: Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian

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Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

October 19-23: Ai WeiWei: Yours Truly

Discussant: Gina Leibrecht (Co-Director/Editor)

Sponsor: Creativity and the Arts

What Will Become of Us (2019)

Discussant: Stephanie Ayanian (Director)

March 13: Left on Pearl (2017)

Discussant: Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild (Executive Producer)

Sponsor: College of Social Sciences & Center for Creativity and the Arts

March 6: Lusala (2019)

Discussants: Maurice Ndole

February 28: The Swallows of Kabul (2018)

Discussants: Dr. Rose Marie & Dr. Adbul Hanifi

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Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

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Sponsors: Office of the Provost, College of Arts and Humanities and Center for Creativity and the Arts

February 14: A Girl from Mogadishu (2019)

Discussant: Dr. Rose Marie Kuhn

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

February 7: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

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Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

January 31: The Cave (2019) Oscar Nominee for Best Feature Documentary

Discussant: Dr. Ahmad Tarakji (Immediate Past President of Syrian American Medical Society/SAMS)

Sponsor: Syrian American Medical Society

January 24: The Etruscan Smile (2019)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

November 22: Short Film Program:Life Between Borders, Black Migrants in Mexico, Jamaica y Tamarindo: Afro Tradition in the Heart of Mexico & After La Nopalera

Discussant: Ebony Bailey (Director)

https://africa.harvard.edu/event/black-migration-influence

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, the Africana Studies Program, and The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

November 15: Botero (2018)

Discussant: Don Millar (Director)

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

November 8: Jirga (2018)

Discussants: Amir Shah Talash (Actor & Producer) and Sam Smith (Actor)

Nov. 1: Emma Peeters (2018)

Discussant: Nicole Palo (Director)

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures

October 25: Short Film Program: Lumpkin GA (2019), Our Country (2017) & Invented Borders

Discussants: Nicholas Manting Brewer (Lumpkin Director) Emily Grandcolas (Lumpkin Producer) & Mayra Flores (Our Country & Invented Borders Director)

Invented Borders, also directed by Mayra Flores, is a fascinating animated and live action video essay on the many facets of today’s emotional immigration debate in America.

Sponsor: The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

October 18: The Price of Free (2018)

Discussant: Derek Doneen (Director)

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

October 4: The River and the Wall (2019)

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

Discussant: Heather Mackey (Biologist featured in the film)

Sponsors: Arte Américas & Department of Political Science

September 27: Alternative Facts:The Lies of Executive Order 9066 (2018)

Discussant: Jon Osaki (Director)

Sponsors: The Central California Japanese American Citizens League and the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno

September 20: The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1983, new release)

Discussants: Dr. Robert Maldonado and Dr. Adán Ávalos TCDBAOF EC033 THE BALLAD OF GREGORIO CORTEZ, 1982

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts & Arte Américas

September 13 : A Duel Tale/Hatashiai (2015)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

September 6: The Years of Fierro (2013, recently released)

Discussant: Santiago Esteinou (Director joining us from Mexico City)

August 30: Remember Amnesia (2019)

Discussant: Dr. Ravi Godse MD (Director)

Sponsor: Peace and Conflict Studies-Gandhi’s Global Legacy International Conference

May 10: Adios Amor – The Search for Maria Moreno(2017)

Discussants: Laurie Coyle (Director/Producer) and Gilbert Padilla (featured interviewee/UFW Co-Founder)

Sponsors: College of Arts and Humanities, Arte Américas, California Humanities, El Concilio de Fresno, Radio Bilingüe, and Valley Public History Initiative

May 3: En el Séptimo Día (On the Seventh Day) (2018)

Discussant: Adela Santana

cg_theatrical_septimodia cinema guild image

Sponsor: The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

**April 26: The Zookeepers Wife (2017)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

Sponsors: The Jewish Studies Program and the Jewish Studies Association

April 12: Violeta Al Fin (2017)

Discussant: Hilda Hidalgo Xirinachs (Director)

Sponsor: The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

April 5: Tia and Piujuq (2018)

Discussant: Marie-Hélène Cousineau (Producer and script writer)

Sponsors: The French Program, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, and the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature

March 29: Yeva (2017)

Discussant: Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=VRdK-bPK02A

Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

March 22: World Water Day Film: Short Films: Silent River & Sea of Troubles

Discussant: Jason Jaacks (Director & Producer of Silent River and Sea of Troubles)

Silent River Trailer: https://vimeo.com/92161097

Sea of Troubles Trailer: https://vimeo.com/165175649

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Tehipite Chapter, Sierra Club, and Fresnans Against Fracking

March 15: Saint Judy (2018)

Discussant: Dmitry Portnoy (Screenwriter, graduate of UCLA, USC Film School and Pepperdine Law School, where he interned for the real Judy Wood.)

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

March 8: Shalom Bollywood: The Untold Story of Indian Cinema (2018)

Discussant: Dr. Joe Hodes (Texas Tech)

Shalom-Bollywood-PosterCOLOR EVENT FLYER

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSn7XIy0yHc

Sponsors: The Jewish Studies Program, the Jewish Studies Association and Center for Creativity and the Arts

March 1: Time for Ilhan (2018)

Discussant: Norah Shapiro (Director)

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, Department of Political Science & Kamal and Aimee Abu-Shamsieh & Muslim Spiritual Care Services

February 22: Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart (2017)

Discussant: Dr. Margaret Wilkerson (author of the forthcoming book, Lorraine Hansberry: Am I a Revolutionary?)

Sponsor: The Africana Studies Program

February 15: The Long Shadow

Discussants: Maureen Gosling (Editor & Co-Creator) & Jed Riffe (Producer)

Sponsor: The Africana Studies Program

February 8: Maborosi (1995)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

February 1: Women of the Venezuelan Chaos (2017)

Discussant: Margarita Cadenas (Director)

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, and The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

January 25: Under the Blood Red Sun (2014)

Discussant: Chris Tashima (Actor featured in the film)

November 30: Silent Sacrifice (2017)

Discussants: Jeff Aiello (Director) Elizabeth Laval (Executive Producer, PBS), Saburo & Marion Masada, Kerry Yo Nakagawa (Featured in the film)

Sponsor: Valley PBS

November 16: Dede (2017)

Discussant: Maya Kriheli

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

November 2: Roots (2016)

Discussant: Lilit Martirosyan (Producer)

Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

October 26: RBG (2018)

Discussant: Donna Schuele (Attorney, Author, Professor)

Sponsors: The Jewish Studies Program and the Jewish Studies Association & Center for Creativity and the Arts

October 19: Iqaluit (2016)

Discussants: Benoît Pilon (Director) via Skype & Dr. Rose Marie Kuhn

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures and L’Alliance Française de Fresno

October 12: Homeland (Né quelque part, 2014)

Discussants: Dr. Rose Marie Kuhn & Dr. Zoulikha Mouffak

Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures and L’Alliance Française de Fresno

October 6: Persona Non Grata

Discussant: Cellin Gluck (Director)

Sponsors: Jewish Studies Program and the Jewish Studies Association

September 28: Finding Kukan (2016)

Discussant: Robin Lung (Director)

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

September 21: The Judge (2017)

Discussant: Erika Cohn (Director)

Sponsors: Kamal and Aimee Abu-Shamsieh & Muslim Spiritual Care Services

September 14: Life After Life (2018)

Discussants: Tamara Perkins (Director), Dr. Deidre Hill-Valdivia & Noel Valdivia, Sr. (featured in the film) & Arnold Trevino (Project Rebound Graduate & MSW Student at Fresno State)

Sponsors: Project Rebound, Criminology Department: Corrections Option, Cross Cultural and Gender Center & Center for Creativity and the Arts

*September 7: Shadow Magic (2000)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

*Film Screening will begin at 5 p.m.

August 31: The Valley (2017)

Discussant: Saila Kariat (Director)

Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts & Fresno State Student Health and Counseling Center

Discussant: Daniel Oliveras de Ita (Director)

Sponsors: The Consulate of Mexico in Fresno, The College of Arts and Humanities, The College of Social Sciences, the Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies, M.E.Ch.A and M.O.L.E.

May 4: A Billion Colour Story (2016)

Discussants: Padmakumar Narasimhamurthy (Director/Writer) via Skype & Professor Joan K. Sharma

April 27: The Suffragists (Las Sufragistas) (2012)

Discussant: Ana Cruz Navarro (Director)

Sponsors: The College of Arts and Humanities, Aeromexico, the Spanish Program, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, and the Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies

April 20: The Other Side of Home (2016)

Discussant: Naré Mkrtchyan (Director/Producer)

Sponsor: The Armenian Studies Program and the Sociology Department

April 13: Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (2017)

Discussant: Richard Rhodes (Author of Hedy’s Folly …on which the film is based)

Sponsors: The Jewish Studies Program and the Jewish Studies Association

April 6: Dogs of Democracy (2016)

Discussant: Mary Zournazi (Writer/Director)

Sponsors: The Classics Program, the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, with support from the Phebe McClatchy Conley Endowment

March 23: Shadow of Drought: Southern California’s Looming Water Crisis (2018)

Discussant: Bill Wisneski (Director)

This film is being screened in recognition of World Water Day March 22

Sponsor: The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and Fresnans Against Fracking, Tehipite Chapter of Sierra Club and Friends of the San Joaquin River Gorge

March 16: Serenade for Haiti (2016)

Discussant: Christy McGill (Producer)

Sponsors: The Africana Studies Program, The French Program, and, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures, L’Alliance Française de Fresno

March 9: Angelica (2016)

Discussant: Marisol Gómez-Mouakad (Director)

Sponsors: The Department of Chicano & Latin American Studies, the Spanish Program, and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages and Literatures

March 2: And Then They Came for Us (2017)

Discussant: Don Tamaki (Fred Korematsu Legal Team Attorney)

Sponsors: The Central California District Council of the Japanese American Citizens League and the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno.

February 23: Electric Shadows (2004)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

February 16: A Suitable Girl (2017)

Discussant: Sarita Khurana (Director)

A Suitable Girl by Indian-American director Sarita Khurana follows three young women in India struggling to maintain their identities and follow their dreams amid intense pressure to get married. Ritu, Dipti and Amrita represent the new India. Educated, financially stable and raised with a mix of traditional and contemporary values in the urban cities of Mumbai and New Delhi, they have access to the world in ways their mothers did not. Yet their lives take a dramatic turn when they are pressured to settle down and get married. Career aspirations become secondary to the pursuit of a husband, and the women struggle with the prospect of leaving their homes and families to become part of another. Documenting the arranged marriage and matchmaking process in cinéma vérité-like style over four years, the film examines the women’s complex relationships with the institution of marriage, the many nuanced ways society molds them into traditional roles, and a rarely-seen portrait of India’s urban middle class. In English & Hindi, with English subtitles, 90 minutes.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GjixZpfJ3s Film website: http://www.asuitablegirldoc.com/

February 9: Our Little Sister (2015)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

*Film Screening will begin at 5 p.m.

February 2: Columbus (2017)

Discussant: Andrew Miano (Producer)

Trailer: https://www.columbusthemovie.com/trailer/

Sponsor: Darden Architects

January 26: Extra-Terrestrials (Extra Terrestias) (2016)

Discussant: Carla Cavina (Director)

Sponsors: The Spanish Program, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures and the Communication Department

December 8: Filmworks: In Serach of Fellini (2017)

December 1: Evolution of Organic (2016)

Panel Discussants: Mark Kitchell (Director) Tony Azevedo, Tom Willey, Glenn Anderson, Joe Soghomonian and Bryce Loewen.

November 17: Footnotes (Sur quel pied danser…) 2016

Discussants: Paul Calori & Kostia Testut (Co-Directors/Writers)

Co-Sponsors: The French Program, the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures and L’Alliance Française de Fresno

CineCulture: Filmworks presents the 2017 Fresno Film Festival, Nov. 10-12: TOWER THEATER, 815 E. OLIVE AVENUE, FRESNO

FRIDAY, NOV. 10

PROGRAM #1 — 7 p.m.
Django
Jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt must escape from German-occupied Paris in 1943 in this French biographical drama.
With opening night champange reception to follow

SATURDAY, NOV. 11

PROGRAM #2 — 12 noon
The Force
This documentary follows the Oakland Police Department as it faces increasing public scrutiny and internal scandal.

PROGRAM #3 — 2:30 p.m.
The Divine Order
An unassuming young housewife is suddenly thrust into the center of the cultural movement for women’s suffrage in 1970s Switzerland.

PROGRAM #4 — 5:30 p.m.
In Syria
Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass plays a mother of three whose family comes under siege in war-torn Damascus.

PROGRAM #5 — 8 p.m.
I Dream in Another Language
The preservation of a dying language indigenous to Mexico lies in the hands of two sworn enemies who refuse to speak to each other.

SUNDAY, NOV. 12

PROGRAM #6 — 12 noon
Our Time Will Come
A primary school teacher in Japanese-occupied Hong Kong is pulled into a mission to save Chinese novelist Mao Dun during World War II.

PROGRAM #8 — 7 p.m.
The Women’s Balcony
When the women’s balcony breaks, the women of a synagogue in Jerusalem humorously band together to fight for their rights and traditions.

November 3: Menashe (2017)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

Co-Sponsor: Jewish Studies Program, the Jewish Studies Association and Center for Creativity and the Arts

October 27: Nowhere to Hide (2016)

Discussant: Zaradasht Ahmed (Director & Writer)

Co-Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts & Peace Fresno

October 20: Frame by Frame (2015)

Discussant: Farzana Wahidy (Photographer featured in the film)

October 13: Filmworks: Lucky (2017)

Thursday: Oct. 12 Artist Talk & Reception

presentation by Farzana Wahidy this Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in Peters Business Auditorium, PB 191 followed by a reception in the Phebe Conley Gallery from 5 to 8.

October 6: Bitter Harvest (2017)

Discussant: George Mendeluk (Director & Producer)

Co-Sponsors: Department of History, College of Social Sciences and Ukrainian National Women’s League of America

September 29: The Promise (2016)

Discussant: Carla Garapedian (Associate Producer)

*Film Screening will begin at 5 p.m.

Co-Sponsor: Armenian Studies Program

September 22: Paper Lanterns (2016)

This film is being screened in honor of International Day of World Peace (September 21).

Co-Sponsors: Center for Creativity and the Arts, The Ethics Center, Peace and Conflict Studies & Peace Fresno, WILPF.

September 15: The Fencer (2015)

September 8: Filmworks: Pop Aye (2017)

September 1: The Eagle Huntress (2016)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

May 5: A Stray (2016)

Discussant: Musa Syeed (Director)

Sponsor: Africana Studies Program & Beth Ann Harnish Lecture Series

April 28: The Crow’s Nest (Malacrianza) (2014)

Discussant: Arturo Menéndez (Director)

Co-Sponsor: The Chicano & Latin American Studies & Political Science Departments

All films screened on campus are free and open to the public. Parking is not enforced after 4 p.m. on Fridays.

April 21: Together With You (2002)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

Filmworks: April 14: The Salesman (2016)