CINECULTURE SPRING LINEUP 2012
Come join us for Film Screenings on Fridays at 5:30 p.m. in the Peter’s Education Center Auditorium or at Fresno Filmworks at the Tower Theater. Please check out Fresno State Cineculture Club to see the film line-up or to learn more.
CineCulture is a film series provided free of charge as a service to Fresno State campus, students, faculty, staff and community. CineCulture is also offered as a 3 unit academic course (MCJ 179) in the Mass Communication and Journalism Department. CineCulture Club aims to promote cultural awareness through film and post-screening discussions.
Take a look below to see what’s is up coming for the Fresno State Cineculture Club. Again, all films screened on campus are free and open to the public. Parking is relaxed after 4 p.m. on Fridays.
January 27: As it is in Heaven (2005)
Discussant: Anna Hamre
As it is in Heaven is the story of Daniel, a successful international conductor who returns to his childhood village in Sweden. Soon thereafter, the local church choir seeks him out to solicit his advice. He can’t refuse, and nothing in the village is the same again. As the amateur choir develops and grows, he is drawn to the people of his old hometown, makes friends and finds love … A beautiful and engaging film, As it is in heaven is a wonderful story about life and love that is sure to inspire and delight. Nominated for Best Foreign Film at the 2005 Academy Awards. In Swedish with English subtitles, 132 minutes.
February 3: Freedom Riders (2011)
Discussant: Cynthia George
In 1961, segregation seemed to have an overwhelming grip on American society. Many states violently enforced the policy, while the federal government, under the Kennedy administration, remained indifferent, preoccupied with matters abroad. That is, until an integrated band of college students-many of whom were the first in their families to attend a university-decided, en mass, to risk everything and buy a ticket on a Greyhound bus bound for the Deep South. They called themselves the Freedom Riders, and they managed to bring the president and the entire American public face to face with the challenge of correcting civil-rights inequities that plagued the nation. 120 minutes.
*February 10 &12: Fresno Filmworks: Oscar Nominated Short Films (2011)
February 17: Between Two Worlds (2011)
Discussants: Alan Snitow & Deborahy Kaufman (filmmakers)
Between Two Worlds is a personal essay film telling five riveting stories that go beyond political postures to reveal the passionate debates over identity and generational change inside today’s American Jewish community. Snitow and Kaufman take us on a uniquely personal road-trip that reframes intensely polarized debates over tradition and change, loyalty and dissent inside one American ethnic community. 70 minutes.
February 24: A Crushing Love (2009)
Discussant: Sylvia Morales (filmmaker)
This film honors the achievements of five activist Latinas-labor organizer/farm worker leader Dolores Huerta, author/educator Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez, writer/playwright/educatior Cherrie Moraga, civil rights advocate Alicia Escalante, and historian/writer Martha Cotera – and considers how these single mothers manage to simultaneously be parents and effect broad-based social change. The filmmaker, activists, and their grown children, thoughtfully explore the challenges, adaptations, rewards, and missteps involved in juggling these dual roles. 58 minutes.
March 2: Harimaya Bridge (2009)
Discussants: Katsuyo Howard, Dale, Ikeda, Tomoko, Kozasa, Hiromi Kubo, James Walton
An American father mourning the recent loss of his estranged son travels to rural Japan to claim some important items belonging to his late son. While there, he learns several secrets his son left behind. The story takes place in Kochi Prefecture, a deeply rural part of Japan where traditional customs remain strong. The movie addresses the bond and conflict between father and son, as well as the prejudices that often exist between people of different backgrounds. The feature film debut from writer-director Aaron Woolfolk, stars Bennet Guillory, Saki Takaoka, Misa Shimizu, and Danny Glover. 120 minutes.
*March 9: Fresno Filmworks: to be announced
March 16-17 (Persian/French Film Festival) The Day I Became a Woman (2006)
Discussant: Jasamin Rostami-Kolayi
Director Marziyeh Meshkini highlights women in Iran and their struggle for freedom. “The Day” is repeated in three consecutive episodes-the memorial registers of childhood, adolescence, and old age-when three states of “becoming” a woman is culturally manufactured and socially registered. According to Amnesty International, “This film may be read as a life-affirming tribute to the courage of women, in Iran and the entire world, and the freedoms that must be won only through realized action.” Winner of many international awards. In Farsi with English subtitles. 78 minutes.
*March 17: Films/locations/times to be announced
March 23: Tales of the San Joaquin: A River Restored (2011)
Discussant: Mark Arax
For sixty years, parts of the 350-mile San Joaquin River have been turned into a perpetual desert by water diversion for farming, thus destroying habitat for thousands of migrating salmon. Tales of the San Joaquin tells the story of the river and its restoration through oral histories of those who live and work along the length of the river. After a successful twenty-year lawsuit against the federal government by a coalition of fifteen environmental and fishing organizations, the San Joaquin River has been reborn as shown in the film’s conclusion. A glowing and inspiring portrait of the San Joaquin River from its source in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to its eventual merging with the Sacramento River and onward into San Francisco Bay. The film celebrates Mark Twain’s classic observation that the ” face of the river is an open book, with a new story to tell every day.” 58 minutes.
April 13: 8 ½ (1963)
Discussant: Doug Rice
Guido is a film director, trying to relax after his last big hit. He can’t get a moments peace, however, with the people who have worked with him in the past constantly looking for more work. He wrestles with his conscience, but is unable to come up with a new idea. While thinking, he starts to recall major happenings in his life, and all the women he has loved and left. Director Federico Fellini’s semiautobiographical rumination on the joys and rigors of filmmaking — as well as lovers past and present — won two Oscars: Best Foreign Language Film and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White. Italian, French, German & English with English subtitles. 138 minutes.
April 20: Oscar and the Lady in Pink (2009)
Discussant: to be announced
Listening in to a conversation between his doctor and parents, 10-year-old Oscar learns what nobody has the courage to tell him. He only has a few weeks to live. Furious, he refuses to speak to anyone except straight-talking Rose, the lady in pink he meets on the hospital stairs. As Christmas approaches, Rose uses her fantastical experiences as a professional wrestler, her imagination, wit and charm to allow Oscar to live life and love to the full, in the company of his friends Pop Corn, Einstein, Bacon and childhood sweetheart Peggy Blue. French with English subtitles. 96 minutes.
*April 27-29: Fresno Filmworks Festival: To be announced
May 4: Hero (2002)
Discussant: Ed EmanuEl
Hero, considered one of Quentin Tarantino’s greatest films, stars Jet Li as the assassin known only as, “Nameless.” The film tells the story of the attempted assassination of China’s first Emperor, but more importantly, Heroreveals an essential Chinese cultural tenet; no dishonor will go unavenged. Jet Li, who was raised with the story on which Hero is based, waited twenty years to play this role. The Chinese government would not approved a film version of this historical event for both political and social reasons until Tarantino’s was submitted to the Chinese Film Commission. It took massive re-writes of the script before Tarantino was allowed to film in China. The result is a magnificent historical epic which delves into the shifting waves of power that characterized ancient China during its wars for unification. Mandarin with English subtitles. Rated PG 13. 99 minutes.
*May 11: Fresno Filmworks: To be announced
For the most updated information please visit Fresno State Cineculture Club or Fresno Filmworks.
Or for any questions contact:
Dr. Mary Husain (Instructor & Club Adviser) at mhusain@csufresno.edu
Liliana Madrid (Club President) golfeado@mail.fresnostate.edu