Fall 2010
International Lens, a film series with a global perspective, uses film screenings as a forum to promote conversation among Vanderbilt’s diverse community of students, faculty, and staff. International Lens strives to transcend geographic, ethnic, religious, linguistic, and political boundaries by facilitating conversation and greater cross-cultural understanding through cinema. The series is a partnership among the Office of the Dean of Students and academic departments, centers, and programs.
Admission is FREE except for IBFFN films September 29–October 2.
All films are open to the public. All films in Sarratt Cinema at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.
Infernal Affairs
Saturday, August 28 NOTE: Midnight in The Commons MPR
Presented by: the VIP Global Discovery Project
Hong Kong (2002) Dirs: Wai Keung Lau and Alan Mak. When a corrupt cop (Ming) and an undercover cop (Yan) find themselves under the roof of the same Triad crime boss, both the Triads and the police can smell moles in their departments and Ming and Yan are forced to confront one another. Thai, Cantonese, English with English subtitles. Rated R. 101 mins. DVD. Funding provided in part by The Commons.
The Good the Bad the Weird
Wednesday, September 1
Presented by: Korean Students and Scholars Association
South Korea (2008) Dir: Ji-woon Kim. Set in the 1930s Manchurian desert where lawlessness rules, a bounty hunter, a bandit, and a train robber fatefully meet. Their chase across Manchuria for a mysterious map escalates, growing as unpredictable as it is good, bad, or weird. Korean with English subtitles.130 mins. Funding provided in part by the Korean Students and Scholars Association and Sarratt Student Center.
Copyright Criminals
Thursday, September 2
Presented by: Jennifer Lena, Assistant Professor, Sociology Department
USA (2009) Dirs: Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod. Is “sampling and scratching” theft or merely traditional cultural appropriation? That is the central question of this documentary that focuses on sample-based sound collage in hip-hop, a multibillion-dollar global industry that has sparked lasting, devastating copyfights. A Q&A with director Kembrew McLeod follows the screening. English. Not Rated. 54 mins. DVD. Funding provided by the Music, Authority and Community Project, with a grant from the Vanderbilt Research Scholars Grant Program. Additional support from Sarratt Student Center.
Ward No. 6 (Palata No. 6)
Tuesday, September 7
Presented by: Irina Makoveeva, Mellon Assistant Professor of Russian; Germanic & Slavic Languages Department
Russia (2009) Dirs: Aleksandr Gornovsky and Karen Shakh-nazarov. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 2010. Based on Anton Chekhov’s novella, a doctor works at a provincial psychiatric clinic and ultimately ends up among his patients in his own asylum. Set in contemporary Russia, this psychological drama showcases how easy it is to become what we fear most. Russian with English subtitles. Not Rated. 83 mins. Funding provided in part by the Germanic & Slavic Languages Department.
Bilal’s Stand
Thursday, September 9
Presented by: Leadership Development & Intercultural Affairs
USA (2010) Dir: Sultan Sharrief. In this community-coordinated feature debut based on personal experience, a high school senior wins a scholarship to college and is forced to decide whether he will continue in his family’s long-owned taxi stand or take a chance at social mobility. A Q&A with the director follows the screening. English. Not Rated. 99 mins. DVD. Funding provided by the Office of Leadership Development & Intercultural Affairs.
Ingeborg Holm
Wednesday, September 15
Presented by: Paul Young, Associate Professor of English, Director of Film Studies Program
Sweden (1913) Dir: Victor Sjöström. In a tale exalting maternal suffering in a merciless social system, the heroine is put through a wringer of disease, bankruptcy, workhouse toiling and the loss of her children. For its age, the film shows remarkable sophistication and depth of characterization, as well as skillful photography and editing. Any rawness in style only heightens the gripping drama in this cinematic classic. Silent. Not Rated. 72 mins. DVD. Funding provided by Film Studies Program.
Little Town of Bethlehem
Tuesday, September 21
Presented by: Allison Schachter, Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies
Israel, Palestine (2010) Dir: Jim Hannon. This riveting documentary follows three men of different faiths and their lives in Israel and Palestine. The story explores each man’s path of nonviolent struggle in lockstep with Martin Luther King and Gandhi. For them courage is found not in taking up arms, but setting them down and extending a hand in peace. Arabic, English. PG-13. 75 mins. DVD. Funding provided by Jewish Studies.
Looking for Cheyenne
Thursday, September 23
Presented by: Office of LGBTQI Life
France (2005) Dir: Valérie Minetto. Cheyenne, a young unemployed journalist decides to leave Paris to live a marginal life in the country. She leaves behind the woman she loves who tries her best to forget her, but it’s not easy. In her exploration of other lovers, she finds herself incapable of living with and without Cheyenne. French with English subtitles. Rated R. 86 mins. A panel of students, faculty, and staff lead a discussion about how the issues highlighted in the film affect our lives. DVD.
The Ring (Ringu)
Saturday, September 25
NOTE: Midnight in Commons MPR Presented by: the VIP Global Discovery Project
Japan (1998) Dir: Hideo Nakata. Following the death of her niece under mysterious circumstances, a journalist decides to investigate an urban legend that predicts a person will die exactly one week after watching a “cursed” video. Based on the novel of the same name by Koji Suzuki, Ringu is the highest grossing and considered the most frightening horror film in Japan. Japanese with English subtitles. Not Rated. 96 mins. DVD. Funding provided in part by The Commons.
The Horse Boy
Tuesday, September 28
Presented by: ITVS Community Cinema; Discussion Panel: Autism Society of Middle Tennessee, Saddle Up! and Center for Understanding
USA (2009) Dir: Michel Orion Scott. A deeply moving story of a family willing to go to the ends of the earth to help their son’s autism, and of a boy learning to connect with the world for the first time. 93 mins. DVD. Presented in conjunction with ITVS Community Cinema.
International Black Film Festival of Nashville
Wednesday, September 29 – Saturday, October 2, times and locations vary
NOTE: This is a ticketed event. The Festival Village includes a number of Nashville venues. For locations and a complete schedule visit www.ibffnashville.com.
Hosted in part at Vanderbilt University by the Bishop Johnson Black Cultural Center, Film Studies Program and the Office of the Dean of Students.
The International Black Film Festival of Nashville (IBFFN), established in 2006, showcases the work of emerging and skilled independent filmmakers, actors, composers, screenwriters, directors, and other film industry professionals. IBFFN strives to ensure culturally accurate depictions in film with special emphasis on providing a forum for unheard, unseen, and unknown viewpoints, and to showcase the rich creativity and diversity found in communities of color locally, nationally, and internationally.
Presented as Part of The Tournées Festival
A Town Called Panic (Panique Au Village)
Saturday, October 2
NOTE: Family Matinee screened at 2 p.m. Join us before the film for a special children’s art activity from 1–2 p.m. in Sarratt lobby.
France (2009) Dirs: Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar. Expanding upon a cult TV series, this 75-minute joy ride combines deadpan slapstick and surrealist Belgian stop-motion animation. The main characters are plastic toys Cowboy, Indian, and Horse, who improbably live together in a town called Panic. Various bizarre and surrealistic adventures await them, as the utterly silly but meticulously constructed plot gets under way. French with English subtitles. Not Rated. 75 mins.
Presented as Part of The Tournées Festival
The Class (Entre les Murs)
Tuesday, October 5
Presented by: Derek Bruff, Assistant Director, Center for Teaching
France (2008) Dir: Laurent Cantet. Inspired by Francois Begaudeau’s autobiographical novel and set in a working-class, immigrant-heavy Paris neighborhood, Begaudeau is cast as the teacher and the classroom as actual Parisian students. The chaos unravels and puts the question of why we learn, what we learn, and from whom we learn, under siege. French with English subtitles. PG-13. 128 mins.
Il Decameron
Wednesday, October 6
Presented by: Andrea Mirabile, Assistant Professor of Italian, Department of French & Italian
Italy (1971) Dir: Pier Paolo Pasolini. This adaptation of nine stories from Bocaccio’s Decameron renders the tales of lecherous clerics, scheming merchants, and errant lovers in an era of budding industrial capitalism, sexual repression, and moral hypocrisy. Italian, German with English subtitles. Not Rated. 112 mins. Funding provided in part by the Department of French & Italian.
Drácula
Thursday, October 7
Lecture and Film Presented by: Michael Sims, Editor of Drácula’s Guest: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories
USA (1931) Dir: George Melford. Vampire folklore has long fascinated readers. In his presentation, “Don’t Wake the Dead,” Michael Sims shares amazing and hilarious stories about why so many people once believed in the undead returning from their graves to prey upon the living. To accompany the lecture, International Lens will screen the Spanish-language version of Drácula that was filmed on the same sets and at the same time as the English-language, Bela Lugosi version. Spanish, Hungarian with English subtitles. Not Rated. 104 mins. DVD. Held in conjunction with The Southern Festival of Books.
Presented as Part of The Tournées Festival
The Wedding Song (Le Chant Des Mariées)
Tuesday, October 12
Presented by: Lisa Weiss, Lecturer, Department of French & Italian
France, Tunisia (2008) Dir: Karin Albou. A seductively fluid and tactile drama explores love and identity in the intense friendship of two 16-year-old girls, both preparing for marriage in Nazi-occupied Tunis in 1942. Set against a background of marching jackboots and falling bombs, the girls’ bond becomes a compelling love story that will be tested not only by personal grudges but also by cultural differences. French with English subtitles. Not Rated. 100 mins.
Presented as Part of The Tournées Festival
I’ve Loved You So Long (Il y a Longtemps Que Je T’aime)
Tuesday, October 19
Presented by: Virginia Scott, Associate Professor, Department of French & Italian
France (2008) Dir: Philippe Claudel. After 15 years in prison, Juliette is given a second chance at life when her sister takes her into her home. While working through family tensions and reintegration with society, she learns she’s still very much a prisoner within herself. French with English subtitles. PG-13. 117 mins.
Saviors in the Night (Unter Bauern)
Wednesday, October 20
Presented by: Jay Geller, Associate Professor of Modern Jewish Culture, Divinity School, Jewish Studies
Germany, France (2009) Dir: Ludi Boeken. Based on Marga Spiegel’s memoirs, courageous farmers in Westphalia, Germany, hide the Spiegel family from Nazis throughout the end of WWII, saving them from deportation and extermination camps in the east. Not Rated. German, French with English subtitles. 95 mins. Funding provided by the Holocaust Lecture Series.
Presented as Part of The Tournées Festival
Persepolis
Tuesday, October 26
Presented by: Esfandiar Zafar, Senior Director, Information Technology Services
France, Germany (2007) Dirs: Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi. Adapted from the autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, this animated tale depicts a plucky and precocious Iranian girl during the Islamic revolution of 1979. Hand-drawn in bold black-and-white images (with a splash
of color here and there), it presents a very personal journey through the political upheavals of modern Iran. French, German, Persian, English with English subtitles. PG-13. 96 mins.
When the Road Bends: Tales of A Gypsy Caravan
Wednesday, October 27
Presented by: Gregory Barz, Associate Professor of Musicology, Blair School of Music; Faculty Head of House, North Hall, The Commons
USA (2007) Dir: Jasmine Dellal. This concert-film documentary follows the 2001 U.S. “Gypsy Caravan” tour, which showcased bands from Macedonia, Romania, India and Spain. Electrifying performances and behind-the-scenes glimpses are captured where the groups, divided by language and musical interest, find inspiration through a common passion for music. English, Spanish, Romany, Romanian, Macedonian, Hindi with English subtitles. Not Rated. 110 mins. Funding provided in part by North House, The Commons.
A Night of Experimental Film
Saturday, October 30
Presented by: Office of the Chancellor and Film Studies Program
With special guest P. Adams Sitney, Professor of Visual Art, Princeton University and author of Visionary Film, the definitive account of American avant-garde film.
Presented as Part of MeMory, Cinema, Archive: Focus on Haiti
The Agronomist
Tuesday, November 2
Presented by: Colin Dayan, Professor of English, Robert Penn Warren Professor in Humanities
USA (2003) Dir: Jonathan Demme. Haitian radio journalist and human rights activist Jean Dominique is portrayed in this affectionate and illuminating profile that draws from footage of Haiti’s tumultuous past under the Duvalier dictatorship. English. PG-13. 90 mins. DVD. Funding provided in part by the History Department. Presented by The Public Archive, http://thepublicarchive.com
Fearless
Wednesday, November 3
Presented by: Vanderbilt Undergraduate Chinese Association Facilitated by: Peter Lorge, Senior Lecturer, History Department
China (2006) Dir: Ronny Yu. Based on the life of Huo Yuanjia, the most famous martial artist in China at the turn of the 20th Century. Challenging foreign fighters in highly publicized events, he helped define the true spirit of martial arts and restore pride and nationalism to China. Japanese, Mandarin, English with English subtitles. PG-13. 103 mins.
Presented as Part of MeMory, Cinema, Archive: Focus on Haiti
The Man By the Shore (L’Homme Sur Les Quais)
Tuesday, November 9
Presented by: Peter James Hudson, Assistant Professor, History Department
France, Canada (1993) Dir: Raoul Peck. When an 8 yearold girl witnesses the torture practices of Haiti’s corrupt leader Janvier, a story of trauma and terror unravels through the eyes of one coming to understand the savageness that surrounds her. Haitian Kreyol with English subtitles. Not Rated. 106 mins. Funding provided in part by the History Department. Presented by The Public Archive, http://thepublicarchive.com
Katyn
Wednesday, November 10
Presented by: Frank Wcislo, Dean of The Commons, Associate Professor of History
Poland (2007) Dir: Andrzej Wajda. The long-silenced story of the Katyn massacre following the Soviet and German invasions of Poland in 1939. Approximately 20,000 Polish officers, who represented the intellectual elite and potential threatto Poland’s sovietization, were captured, imprisoned, and murdered under Stalin’s order. Polish, Russian, German with English subtitles. Not Rated. 121 mins. DVD. Funding provided in part by the Germanic & Slavic Languages Department.
Presented as Part of MeMory, Cinema, Archive: Focus on Haiti
Aristide and the Endless Revolution
Tuesday, November 16
Presented by: Peter James Hudson, Assistant Professor, History Department
USA, Switzerland (2005) Dir: Nicolas Rossier. Mystery still surrounds the abrupt 2004 departure of Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Did he resign or was he kidnapped and forced into exile? This documentary reveals the web of hope, deceit, and political violence that brought the world’s first black republic to its knees. English. Not Rated. 84 mins. DVD. Funding provided by the Center for Latin American Studies as part of the year-long program on Liberation Theology and the History Department. Presented by The Public Archive, http://thepublicarchive.com
The Hurt Locker
Wednesday, November 17
Presented by: Katherine Carroll, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Director of Public Policy Studies; and Paul Young, Associate Professor of English, Director of Film Studies Program
USA (2008) Dir: Kathryn Bigelow. An intense portrayal of elite soldiers who have the most dangerous job of disarming bombs in the heat of combat. A skillful and emotional classic of tension, bravery, and fear, which will be studied when people want to understand something of what happened to American soldiers in Iraq. English, Arabic, Turkish with English subtitles.
Rated R. 131 mins.
Romero
Wednesday, December 1
Presented by: Lesley Gill, Professor, Anthropology Department
USA (1989) Dir: John Duigan. The true story of Archbishop Oscar Romero who lived in El Salvador during the political unrest in the 70s. Despite persecution, Romero continued to speak out against the atrocities the government committed against the people of El Salvador, until his public assassination in 1980. English. PG-13. 102 mins. DVD. Funding provided by the Center for Latin American Studies as part of the year-long program on Liberation Theology.
Reception and Book Signing for Film Critic Alonso Duralde
Wednesday, December 8 from 6-7 p.m.
Sarratt Student Center first floor lobby
You are invited to attend a reception and book signing for film critic Alonso Duralde (VU alum class of ’88), author of the book “Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas.” Reception and book sales will take place in Sarratt Lobby from 6-7pm. At 7pm in Sarratt Cinema the International Lens film series presents Tim Burton’s film “The Nightmare Before Christmas” one of the movies featured in Duralde’s book. Free admission and open to the public. These events are held in conjunction with the Sarratt Art Studios Holiday Arts Festival December 2-12 in Sarratt Lobby with handcrafted items for sale by local artists.
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Wednesday, December 8 at 7 p.m.
Presented by: Alonso Duralde, Vanderbilt alum class of ’88, film critic and author of the book “Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas”
USA (1993) Dir: Henry Selick
In Halloween Town, Jack Skellington is bored and unhappy with the life of being “The Pumpkin King”. He sets out to find something exciting and discovers Christmas Town. He takes it upon himself to take over the duties of Santa to deliver toys to children across the world. Tim Burton’s stop-motion animation is a stunningly original and visually delightful work. Rated PG. 76 mins.
The International Lens film series is coordinated by the Office of Arts & Creative Engagement and the Office of International Student & Scholar Services in collaboration with Vanderbilt University academic departments, centers, and programs.
Schedule is subject to change. All films in 35mm unless otherwise noted
“Not rated” films may contain material suitable for mature audiences only.
Sarratt Cinema is located on the 1st floor of the Sarratt Student Center at Vanderbilt University.
The MPR (Multipurpose Room) is on the second floor of The Commons on Vanderbilt’s Peabody Campus.
Parking for Nashville community members for International Lens screenings in Sarratt Cinema is available at no charge in Zone 2 lot 2 on West End Avenue. Please avoid parking in spaces that are reserved. If the lot is full, metered parking spaces are available on West End (NOTE: there is no charge after 6 p.m. for parking at meters along West End. ALL other meters on campus are enforced 24/7 so do not park at these meters).
Free parking for films at The Commons is available in Zone 1 lot 77 located on Horton Ave @ 18th Ave South.
For parking maps and additional information visit www.vanderbilt.edu/internationallens or call 322-6400.
The Tournées Festival was made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture (CNC). Festival sponsors include: the Florence Gould Foundation, the Grand Marnier Foundation, and highbrow entertainment.