The 1957 film, Mother India, for example, is shown year after year in Nigeria to sell-out crowds, according to Lutgendorf. Films may reflect or influence cultural values. There is an interest in learning what the popularity of Indian films says about the culture in which they're made and about the people who go to see them. Indian film conventions differ from those in U.S. films in a number of ways. One of the most striking, according to Lutgendorf, is that the great majority of movies made in India are musicals.
Movies also tend to be three hours long, with an intermission.
One such film will be shown as part of the symposium. The film, which is subtitled in English, is free and open to the public. The symposium is a collaborative effort of the UI's African Studies Program, the South Asian Studies Program, and the Institute for Cinema and Culture. It is supported by the Ford Foundation, UI International Programs, the College of Liberal Arts, Office of the Vice President for Research, and the Project on the Rhetoric of Inquiry.