The presentations are free and open to the public. All films will be projected in widescreen format from a DVD or 16 mm print. The Festival seeks to promote dialogue about global systems and diverse cultures by examining the ways in which contemporary international filmmakers explore issues such as generational conflict, intolerance, or culture clash.
Directors often use film as social commentary.
The movies included in the festival reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the societies featured in them. The Festival seeks not only to expose participants to different cultures, but to encourage discussion. This year's program, which was designed in consultation with faculty, staff and students from the Library, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Honors Program, will showcase cinematic adaptations of literature. Each adaptation focuses on a director from a different culture than that portrayed in the original work. Discussion following the film will question the ways in which directors were inspired by books, but will also examine the ways in which they created entirely new cinematic oeuvres that stand on their own.