The Alan Lutkus
International Film Series
Presented by the Office of the Provost,
the Departments of Anthropology, Biology, Communicative Disorders and Science,
English, Foreign Languages and Literatures, History, Mathematics,
The Latin American Studies Program, and the IFS Committee

All film screenings are free


Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring (Korea, 2004; 103 min.)
Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 7:00 pm - Bailey Auditorium (Bailey 135)

Although many thinkers have compared the seasons of the year to the seasons of life, none have captured the essence of this idea with the visual beauty of this stunning film. Woven throughout is the Buddhist belief in rebirth and personal discovery. In Korean, with English subtitles.

Discussant: Robert Owens (Communicative Disorders and Science Department)

Strait Talk (U.S./Cuba, 2003; 141 min.)
Thursday, September 22, 2005 - 7:00 pm - Bailey Auditorium (Bailey 135)

A candid and revealing multi-media documentary investigating the two versions of reality that flank the Florida Straits. Includes excerpts of Castro’s speeches and one-on-one interviews with Cuban people and U.S. authorities. In English and Spanish, with English subtitles.

Discussant: John Locke (Canandaigua native and Producer and director of Strait Talk)

Lumumba (France/Belgium/Germany/Haiti, 2000; 115 min.)
Thursday, September 29, 2005 - 7:00 pm - Bailey Auditorium (Bailey 135)

The riveting political thriller about charismatic African leader Patrice Emery Lumumba, who became the first Prime Minister of newly independent Congo in 1960. Lumumba´s vision of a united Africa gained him powerful enemies, including U.S. corporations and the CIA. In French, with English subtitles.

Discussants: Rose-Marie Chierici (Anthropology Department) and Maria Lima (English Department)

Before the Rain (Macedonia/U.K., 1994; 112 min.)
Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 7:00 pm - Bailey Auditorium (Bailey 135)

Social tensions between Christians and Muslims in Macedonia--akin to the tension in the air before a storm--are poetically portrayed through three linked stories in this beautiful, touching and unflinchingly honest film that challenges everyday notions of time. In Macedonian and Albanian, with English subtitles.

Discussant: Duane McPherson (Biology Department)

Don Quijote de la Mancha (Spain, 1991; 180 min.)
Thursday, October 20, 2005 - 7:00 pm - Bailey Auditorium (Bailey 135)

A superb transformation to the screen of the great literary classic by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Starring the irreplaceable Fernando Rey, the journeys and adventures of Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza, are exquisitely filmed in this acclaimed production by Televisión Española. Part of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures celebration commemorating the 400th anniversary of the publication of Don Quijote de la Mancha. In Spanish, with English subtitles.

Discussant: Felisa Brea (Foreign Languages and Literatures Department)

Special Program: Dith Pran
Tuesday, October 25—Newton 214

Pran survived one of the bloodiest genocides in human history, the Cambodian tragedy set forth by the Communist Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. His story was portrayed in the Academy award-winning movie, The Killing Fields (to be screened on October 27). Determined to educate the world and assure that the Cambodian genocide is not forgotten, nor repeated, he has founded The Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project. Pran’s presentation is part of this year’s Culture Awareness Week.

The Killing Fields (United Kingdon, 1984; 142 min.)
Thursday, October 27, 2005 – 7:00 pm – Bailey Auditorium (Bailey 135)

Based on the true story of Dith Pran who, with New York Times journalist Sydney Schanberg, Cambodia’s civil war, in all its madness and tragedy. When the American forces leave, Dith Pran sends his family with them, but stays behind to help Schanberg cover the event, risking the wrath of the Khmer Rouge. Winner of three Academy Awards. In English, French and Khmer, with subtitles.

Discussant: Tony Macula (Mathematics Department)

Surname Viet Given Name Nam (U.S./Vietnam, 1989; 108 min.)
Thursday, November 3, 2005 - 7:00 pm - Bailey Auditorium (Bailey 135)

Trinh T. Minh-ha’s profoundly personal documentary explores the role of Vietnamese women historically and in contemporary society. Using dance, printed texts, folk poetry and the words and experiences of Vietnamese women in Vietnam—from both North and South—and the United States, Trinh’s film challenges official culture with the voices of women. In English and Vietnamese, with subtitles.

Discussant: Joseph Cameron (English Department)

A Very Long Engagement (France, 2004; 133 min.)
November 10, 2005 - 7:00 pm - Bailey Auditorium (Bailey 135)

Set in France near the end of World War I, this is the story of a young woman’s relentless, touching and sometimes comic search for her fiancée, who was court-martialed and disappeared under mysterious circumstances. This gorgeous, far-reaching film depicts the arbitrary nature of secrecy, the absurdity of war, and the enduring tenacity of the human heart. In French, with English subtitles.

Discussant: Anne Lutkus, University of Rochester (Modern Languages and Cultures Department)

Two Women (Iran, 1999; 96 min.)
November 17, 2005 - 7:00 pm - Bailey Auditorium (Bailey 135)

A feminist attack on the treatment of women in post-revolutionary Iran, by Tahmineh Milani, the most important and outspoken feminist filmmaker in contemporary Iran. The film contrasts the lives of two university students, one of whom has a liberated life after graduation, while the other is subject to the inequities of the patriarchal, Islamist society. In Farsi, with English subtitles.

Discussant: William Gohlman (History Department)