World Film Series
The World Film Series is offered to the Wofford community in support of the College’s goals of developing intellectual curiosity and aesthetic sensitivity. Often these films are incorporated into course syllabi to enhance classroom learning and to increase cultural awareness. The Series is funded through the Wofford College Cultural Affairs Committee and the Department of Foreign Languages.
The films will be shown in widescreen DVD. Students are admitted free to all showings. There is no charge for films in DVD. All films are in the original language, with English subtitles when appropriate. The films are presented in the Teaching Theater of the F.W. Olin Building (Olin 101). All films are shown Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., on the dates indicated. Some films may not be appropriate for younger viewers.
For more information regarding the World Film Series, email Iliana Villanueva at villanuevaji@wofford.edu.
2012 Spring Schedule
February 15, 2012
Berlin 36
Director: Kasper Heidelbach
Germany, 2009; 100 mins.
In German with English subtitles
Based on the true story of Gretel Bergmann who
unwittingly became the biggest threat to the Nazi Party in 1936. Berlin was
hosting the Summer Olympic Games, and Gretel was one of Germany’s best gold
medal contenders. She was also Jewish. Her skill and ethnicity undermined the
Nazi belief that Aryans were the superior race, so the German authorities
schemed to replace Gretel with another woman — but “she” had a secret that, if
uncovered, could be even more embarrassing to the Nazis.
March 7, 2012
The Hedgehog (Le hérisson)
Director: Mona Achache
France 2009; 100 mins.
In French (some dialogue in Japanese) with English subtitles.
A moving story about love, life and the beauty of
unexpected friendships. Renée is the concierge of a grand Parisian apartment
building, who meets with society’s expectations of what a concierge should be:
reliable though totally uncultured. But beneath this façade lies the real
Renée: passionate about culture and the arts, and more knowledgeable in many
ways than her employers, with their outwardly successful but emotionally void
lives. Meanwhile, several floors up, 11-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to
avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her, and in an effort to
show how absurd her life is decides to film the people around her. Unknown to
them both, a chance acquaintance with their elegant and enigmatic new neighbor,
Mr. Ozu, will change their lives forever.
March 21, 2012
Ladrón que roba a Ladrón
Director: Joe Menendez
Mexico, 2008; 98 mins.
In Spanish with English Subtitles
A pair of reformed crooks team up to pull one more
heist. Their target? Master con artist Moctezuma Valdez, a popular television
infomercial pitchman who’s gotten rich by swindling countless unsuspecting
immigrants. The former thieves attempt to recruit some of their criminal
cohorts to help pull off the plan, but when they refuse, the two turn to day
laborers to participate in the elaborate robbery scheme.
APRIL 18, 2012
Taking Father Home (Bei Ya Zi de Nan Hai)
Director: Ying Liang
China, 2005; 100 mins.
Sichuan dialect with English Subtitles
Seventeen-year-old Xu Yun leaves the Chinese
countryside to search for his father and finds instead a nightmare vision of
survival in the modern city. Traveling with no money and only two ducks as
collateral, Xu Yun walks into an urban jungle of gangsters and thieves,
throwing his life into danger. He earns the sympathy and support of streetwise
hustler Scar and a cynical policeman. Both help Xu Yun find clues to the
whereabouts of his father, but their efforts are dashed by a 24-hour flood
warning that forces the sudden evacuation of the entire city. Will Xu Yun find
his father in time, and if so, will he bring his father back home?
.