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Mead Film Fest at Little Theatre this weekend
April 3, 2008
KALAMAZOO--The Margaret Mead Traveling Film Festival will
be at Western Michigan University, with nine films screening
Friday and Saturday, April 4-5, in the Little Theatre.
Begun in 1977, the Margaret Mead Film Festival is the longest-running
annual showcase for international documentary films in the United
States. The film topics always encompass a broad spectrum, from
indigenous community media to experimental non-fiction.
The traveling festival comes direct from the Museum of Natural
History in New York City, where the main festival takes place
each year. It is celebrated for its diverse and exceptional films,
which address some of the most engaging and provocative issues
of our time.
All shows are open to the public free of charge, presented
by the WMU Anthropology Student Union. Seating is limited.
The Little Theatre is located at the corner of Oakland Drive
and Oliver Street on WMU's East Campus. Free off-street parking
is available behind the theatre. For more information, contact
wmuasu@gmail.com, or call
the Little Theatre movie line at (269) 387-8221.
Margaret Mead Traveling Film Festival
Little Theatre, Western Michigan University
Friday, April 4
6 p.m. Stranger Comes to Town (2007) 28 min.
This video re-purposes animations from the Department of Homeland
Security, combining them with stories from the border, images
from the online game World of Warcraft, and journeys via Google
Earth, to tell a tale of bodies moving through lands familiar
and strange. Goss focuses on the questions and examinations used
to establish identity at the border, and how these processes
in turn affect one's own sense of self and view of the world.
6:45 p.m. Village of Dust, City of Water (2006) 28 min.
A lyrical and chilling ciné poem about social exploitation
over access to water in India, where rural water supplies are
redistributed to serve booming cities and whole communities are
displaced to create dams.
7:30 p.m. Gimme Green (2006) 27 min.
Gimme Green is a super-real look at the American obsession with
lawns, and their impact on our environment, our wallets, and
our outlook on life. From subdivisions in Florida to sod farms
in the arid Southwest, Gimme Green peers behind the curtain of
the $40 billion industry that fuels our nation's most irrigated
crop - the lawn.
8:30 p.m. The Water Front (2007) 50 min.
In Highland Park, Michigan, local activists dealing with economic
justice and welfare rights fight to keep their community's water
from being privatized. Their battle engages the debate of how
water, a valuable and essential public resource, should be managed
in the midst of an economic crisis that silences claims to human
rights. The story is an unnerving indication of what may be in
store for residents around the world facing their own water struggles.
10 p.m. Promised Paradise (2006) 52 min.
Jakarta-based puppeteer Agus Nur Amal travels to Bali to call
to account the individuals responsible for the terrorist bombing
of a Balinese nightclub in October 2002. As in his theatrical
performances, Agus uses humor to explore the complexities of
these acts of hate. The results are both revealing and sobering.
Saturday, April 5
5 p.m. The Birthday (2006) 63 min.
Sexuality remains bound to tradition in modern Iran, and yet
within this rigid structure, transsexuals find a government supportive
of their desire to be reborn through surgery. This sensitive
portrait offers a window into the complex issues of gender and
sexuality in an Islamic society.
6:30 p.m. The Thread of Karma (2007) 52 min.
In 1991, filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam made The Reincarnation
of Khensur Rinpoche (Mead Festival 1992), which followed the
search and discovery of a 4-year-old reincarnated lama, Phara
Khenchen Rinpoche. Sixteen years later, the directors revisit
the reincarnation at Drepung Monastery in South India. The film
offers an intimate look at the life of a young lama as he aspires
to live up to the reputation of his former incarnation. It also
explores his moving relationship with the two people closest
to him, his attendant and his spiritual master, both of whom
were connected to him in his previous life.
8 p.m. Scream of the Stone (2006) 59 min.
Once the source of legendary wealth in colonial days, Potos''s
now economically destitute silver mines have been opened as a
tourist destination for visitors to Bolivia. Grito de Piedra
follows a Potos' miner, Gavino, and his son, Pedro, a tour guide
to the mines. Depicting their lives in the mines and as participants
in a burgeoning cultural tourism industry, this film reveals
the enduring power of colonial enterprise to shape life in South
America.
9:30 p.m. Super Amigos (2007) 82 min.
Outfitted in the regalia of the Lucha Libre, five former professional
wrestlers in Mexico City don the personas of superheroes to fight
injustice and inspire others within their local communities.
Combining live action and comic book-style animation, the film
follows the caped crusaders - Super Barrio, Super Animal, Super
Ecologista, Super Gay, and Fray Tormenta--on their mission to
protect the underdog.
Media contact: Thom Myers, (269) 387-8400, thom.myers@wmich.edu
WMU News
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
(269) 387-8400
www.wmich.edu/wmu/news
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