WSC to host film festival

Published 7:49 pm Wednesday, October 24, 2007

By Noah Chandler

nchandler@cullmantimes.com



Organizers of an upcoming international film festival hope the event will be as educational as it is entertaining.

  Wallace State Director of Communications and Marketing Kristen Holmes, who is the head of the International Bazaar committee said the focus of the International Bazaar committee is to get students to recognize and understand different cultures. Some of which, she said, are here in Cullman.

“Part of Wallace State’s mission is our commitment to providing culturally-enriching programs and activities to our students and community,” Holmes said. “We hope that the International Film Festival reflects our increased focus on cultural arts. This is one more outlet for students to broaden their horizons. Through international films, they are introduced to other cultures, languages, new perspectives and different styles of filmmaking.”

The Wallace International Film Festival, in its second year, will be from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Nov. 6. Admission is free and concessions will be available.

International Bazaar member Donna Speaker said last year’s event was not as successful as the committee would have liked. She said last year’s event location at the James C. Bailey Center hurt the overall attendance.

“People are just not as familiar or comfortable with the Bailey Center,” Speaker said. “Hopefully students will feel more comfortable coming to the student center.”

Below is a list of movies and showtimes released by the International Bazaar Committee.

*10 a.m. — The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006, Irish, 127 minutes, NR) Driven by a deep sense of duty and a love for his country, Damien (Cillan Murphy) abandons his burgeoning career as a doctor and joins his brother, Teddy, in a dangerous and violent fight for freedom. As the Irish freedom fighters bold tactics bring the British to the breaking point, both sides finally agree to a treaty to end the bloodshed. The film was the winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.

*1 p.m. — Water (2006, Indian, 117 minutes, PG-13) Set against Gandhi’s rise to power, Water tells the story of Chuyia, an Indian girl married and widowed at eight years old, who is sent away to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Extremist groups waged a campaign of death threats, arson and riots to stop the production of this controversial film, but director Deepa Mehta would not be silenced from making this 2007 Academy Award nominated film.

*4 p.m. — Blood Diamond (2006, USA, 143 minutes, R) Amid the explosive civil war overtaking 1999 Sierra Leone two men, an ex-mercenary turned smuggler (Leonardo DiCaprio) and a Mende fisherman (Djimon Hounsou), join for separate missions. Directed by Edward Zwick, this urgent, intensely moving adventure shapes gripping human stories and heartpounding action into a modern epic of profound impact. Blood Diamond won both an Academy Award and Gold Globe in 2007.

*7 p.m. — Pan’s Labyrinth (2006, Spanish, 119 minutes, R) Inspired by the Brothers Grimm, Jorge Luis Borges and Guillermo del Toro’s own unlimited imagination, Pan’s Labyrinth is a fairytale for adults. Set in rural Spain, following a bloody civil war circa 1944, young Ofelia enters a world of unimaginable cruelty when she moves in with her new stepfather. Pan’s Labyrinth was a winner of three Academy Awards in 2007.

For more information call Speaker at 256-352-8167 or Holmes at 256-352-8118.