International cinema film series begins

“Sometimes it is not possible for students to directly experience an international perspective, but media and film provides a form of understanding.” –Sheryl Lidzy, assistant professor of communication and theatre.

“Lonestar,” was the first film shown in the International Cinema Film Series for the 2008-2009 school year. The event took place from 7-10 p.m. Tuesday in the Science Hall.

“We continued with the Cinema Film Series because it provides an international experience,” said Sheryl Lidzy, assistant professor of communications and theatre. “It is our goal in this program that, through intercultural communication and international relationships, students will gain a greater perspective of culture. Sometimes it is not possible for students to directly experience an international perspective, but media and film provides a form of understanding.”

The film series is set up to display a chance for academic departments to work together to encourage awareness of international issues. It also includes activities that deal with communication through reading, writing and analytical and critical thinking. The film series is supposed to be presented at no cost to students and will be sponsored by one group or department on campus every week. Issues addressed in the films will include relationships, sexual orientation, race and religion, all of which will be looked at domestically and internationally through the culture represented in the movies.

“We chose this movie first because we thought a Western movie seemed a little more inviting than some of the other options on our list,” Lidzy said. “To attain movie ideas I sent out a faculty wide e-mail that asked for movies that faculty thought would help students attain a greater intercultural and international perspective. I received a good 100 film suggestions then a committee met. We narrowed it down to the top 10 and then finally made the list of movies that we were going to show this year.”

The 1996 film features Matthew McConaughey and Kris Kristofferson. The initial conflict of the plot escalates when Wade and Deeds get into a disagreement and both men threaten to kill one another. Underneath the initial plot, a threading of smaller stories weave into the bigger conflict about intercultural and racial relations.

Multicultural issues represented in the film include illegal Mexican immigration, drug sales and use among African Americans, and attitudes of white supremacy and discrimination.

“Showing a series of film is a safe, non threatening way to think cross culture,” said Barbara Baker, director of multicultural affairs. “College is a forum to think outside the box. Gaining a greater perspective internationally and of different cultures is a long-term advantage that will only benefit students as they mature and enter the work place.”

Last year, the film series activity received a grant from the Office of International Education called the Academic Enhancement Fund Grant. The film series is a part of the ESU Strategic Plan in the sense that it follows the ideal that it should help ESU students to think globally.

Along with the ideals of the Strategic Plan, the program may provide students with enough perspective of international issues that they can engage in educated discussions about multicultural issues.