The Center for Global Citizenship and the International Students Association is sponsoring an International Film Festival this Thursday, Nov. 11 at Bulldog Theater in lower Olmsted. The event is being held as a part of the Center for Global Citizenship’s International Film series and also coincides with the International Students Association’s international week.
The festival is free and open to the public. The ISA encourages students to wear masks and dress for a masquerade ball.
Earlier this year the two organizations teamed up to show a Bollywood film, but this time they are going European with “The Other Boleyn Girl.” According to the Internet Movie Database “The Other Boleyn Girl” is a “sumptuous and sensual tale of intrigue, romance and betrayal set against the backdrop of a defining moment in European history: two beautiful sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn (played by Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson), driven by their family’s blind ambition, compete for the love of the handsome and passionate King Henry VIII.”
Darcie Vandegrift is the interim director of the Drake University Center for Global Citizenship and associate professor of sociology. She said ISA chose the film to represent British film because of how fast-paced and highly dramatic it is.
“I like to see [British films] as both a fun, guilty pleasure and a way to ask the question of how screenwriters and directors turn history into cinema,” Vandegrift said. “We can both swoon at the costumes and enjoy the melodrama while also asking if this is the only way to tell the story of the Boleyn sisters.”
Vandegrift said the event is designed to be an entertaining look at global cinema, and it also works to get students involved and interested in ISA and CGS. However, it is not the only way to get involved in the international organizations on campus.
“We have an exciting lineup next semester, including a co-sponsored exhibit and lecture series on young adults in urban China in the Cowles Reading Room, a lecture series by visiting international natural and social scientists as well as humanities scholars and another international film series that looks at war and conflict from a global perspective,” Vandegrift said.
The Center for Global Citizenship is devoted to educating students to “function effectively in different cultural contexts, and to see their own culture from the perspective of others. The Center also works to ensure that global perspectives and issues are an integral part of the intellectual and cultural experience of all members of the Drake community.”
The International Film Festival is a great way to get involved and get a dose of global perspective while enjoying an entertaining film. By examining the cultural contexts with other interested students you can truly get a cultural experience right here at Drake.
