Free viewing of international films offered

By Gus Bode

Honors program brings films to campus

Factoid:The films will be showing at 7 p.m. on Sundays and Mondays. The films will play in Life Science III Auditorium in room 1059. For more information, call the University Honors Program at 453-2824

A trip to the Life Science III building doesn’t have to be limited to attending biology classes and labs. SIUC students can also go there for relaxation and films.

Advertisement

SIUC’s annual International Film Series will host its first screening at 7 p.m. Sunday. “Amores Perros,” a Mexican film, will be the first screening this year and is sponsored by SIUC’s College of Science. Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, the director of the film, has been called Mexico’s Quentin Tarantino. The film has three interconnecting stories about dogs and their owners.

Scott Furtwengler, director of the University Honors Program, said many people enjoy watching films on the auditorium’s large screen. Additionally, all the films are now shown on DVDs instead of reels.

“A lot of people come to watch the films,” he said. “It’s different watching it in the auditorium then it is at home. We can’t always duplicate the feeling of watching a 35 millimeter print, but we come pretty close.”

Films are chosen based on suggestions, reviews by film critics and input from sponsors. Also taken into consideration are commemorative months. The series likes to have screenings in conjunction with Native American, Asian American and black history months.

This semester the series will be showing such films as “Cool and Crazy,” a Norwegian film sponsored by the SIU Press. The film is a “docu-musical” that focuses on a male choir in Berlevag, the Norway hometown of Knut Eric Jensen, the director.

Other films showing this semester are “Italian for Beginners” from Denmark, “On the Waterfront” from the United States, “The Fast Runner” from Canada and “Mansfield Park” from the United Kingdom.

Furtwengler said the films are a popular entertainment option among community members.

Advertisement*

“Between 40 and 70 people show per screening, which is pretty overwhelming and exciting,” he said. “It feels great to fill a need in the community. Not everyone has cable, DVD players, or membership card at Blockbuster’s.”

Reporter Carrie Roderick can be reached at croderick@dailyegyptian .com

Advertisement