2008 Woodie Awards
Global Immigration Film Series Promotes Global Citzenship
Rachel Horst
Issue date: 3/9/05 Section: Features
The efforts of the Modern Languages and Literatures department to explore the challenges and dynamics of immigration around the world, along with the financial support of the Innovation Grant program, are on display this semester in a film series on global immigration.
Designed as a way to combine the many cultures examined the faculty's coursework and to provide a forum for students and the general public to discuss the themes and impressions evoked from their experiences with the subject, the series contains films of a variety of genres and plots addressing the common theme of immigration.
The series began on Feb. 8 and will continue through April 27, showing nine films in total. They include lighthearted perspectives on isolation, dramatic takes on personal struggles with anonymity, ruminations about the significance of one's past, and other insights about the universal aspects of immigration.
The attempt is to both tie together these experiences as shown in the films and recognize the variations in immigrant situations.
As is stated on the Innovation Grant proposal, "Our aim is to be diverse in the selection of the films, and to present a contemporary view on the topic in a global perspective. We hope to offer a truly multiple, cross-cultural view on a topic that touches upon issues of global citizenship."
It is through this means that students will "explore and question their own views of the world to increase international literacy and intercultural fluency."
Modern Languages and Literatures department chair Cristina Saenz-de-Tejada says that the idea for the series developed out of an overall common interest within the department faculty. They also wished to extend student reflection beyond the issues discussed in their classes within the discipline.
"
We decided that it would be relevant to...have students make connections to the situation in United States and other countries they know [or study in their classes]," she says.
Those interested in the topic could have an outside opportunity for discourse on global immigration through the medium of film while also having a chance to view the many different influences in world cinema.
The series also includes introductions and discussions led by other faculty members familiar with the films and their contexts. Thus far, says Saenz-de-Tejada, the attendance has averaged about thirty people per screening, a combination of students, faculty, and other members of the public.
The next screening is scheduled for Wednesday, March 9, and will feature Kurz und Schmerzlos, a German film about ethnic divisions and organized crime.
The Global Immigration series is free and open to the public, and is conducted in Kelly Lecture Hall at 7 p.m. unless otherwise indicated.
Designed as a way to combine the many cultures examined the faculty's coursework and to provide a forum for students and the general public to discuss the themes and impressions evoked from their experiences with the subject, the series contains films of a variety of genres and plots addressing the common theme of immigration.
The series began on Feb. 8 and will continue through April 27, showing nine films in total. They include lighthearted perspectives on isolation, dramatic takes on personal struggles with anonymity, ruminations about the significance of one's past, and other insights about the universal aspects of immigration.
The attempt is to both tie together these experiences as shown in the films and recognize the variations in immigrant situations.
As is stated on the Innovation Grant proposal, "Our aim is to be diverse in the selection of the films, and to present a contemporary view on the topic in a global perspective. We hope to offer a truly multiple, cross-cultural view on a topic that touches upon issues of global citizenship."
It is through this means that students will "explore and question their own views of the world to increase international literacy and intercultural fluency."
Modern Languages and Literatures department chair Cristina Saenz-de-Tejada says that the idea for the series developed out of an overall common interest within the department faculty. They also wished to extend student reflection beyond the issues discussed in their classes within the discipline.
"
We decided that it would be relevant to...have students make connections to the situation in United States and other countries they know [or study in their classes]," she says.
Those interested in the topic could have an outside opportunity for discourse on global immigration through the medium of film while also having a chance to view the many different influences in world cinema.
The series also includes introductions and discussions led by other faculty members familiar with the films and their contexts. Thus far, says Saenz-de-Tejada, the attendance has averaged about thirty people per screening, a combination of students, faculty, and other members of the public.
The next screening is scheduled for Wednesday, March 9, and will feature Kurz und Schmerzlos, a German film about ethnic divisions and organized crime.
The Global Immigration series is free and open to the public, and is conducted in Kelly Lecture Hall at 7 p.m. unless otherwise indicated.