Foreign Film Festival Continues at WFU

The 1993 film is a commentary on life in Havana, as well as gay-straight relations in Cuba as told through the relationship between a young university student and a slightly-older, homosexual man.

“Strawberry and Chocolate” is the first of four films that will be shown this semester. All films, which are free and open to the public, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in Benson University Center’s Pugh Auditorium. A discussion follows each film.

The films correspond to the monthly topics featured during the Year of Globalization and Diversity. The topics this semester are human rights in January; war and peace in February; health and aging in March; and the environment in April. The film schedule is as follows:

• Monday, January 25
  “Strawberry and Chocolate,” 1993. Comedy. Cuban filmmakers Tomas Gutierrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabio. Life in Havana and gay-straight relations in Cuba are examined through the relationship between a young university student and a slightly older, homosexual man.
• Monday, February 22
  “Welcome to Sarajevo,” 1997. Docudrama. Directed by Michael Winterbottom, produced by filmmakers in the United States and the United Kingdom. Based on the real-life experience of Michael Nicholson, a British war correspondent, during the 1992 fighting in Sarajevo. The story focuses on the risks journalists take covering a war. Nicholson’s character, upset about the plight of children, smuggles an orphaned girl out of the city so he and his wife can adopt her.
• Monday, March 29
  “Antonia’s Line,” 1995. Comedic drama. Dutch film directed by Marleen Gorris. Antonia, an 88-year-old matriarch, realizes her death is near and calls for her daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter to be by her side. The film retraces 30 years of Antonia’s life beginning just after World War II when she had returned home to help her elderly mother. Won an academy award for best foreign language film.
• Monday, April 26
  “Ta Dona Fire!” 1991. Drama. African film directed by Adama Drabo. A young man working in Mali’s Ministry of Rivers and Forests brings modern resource management techniques to villages and researches an ancient herbal remedy.
  For more information about the films or the Year of Globalization and Diversity, call 336-758-5788.