Foreign culture to be displayed through Fanfare film series

The Department of Languages and Communication is looking to provide a splash of foreign culture and language through the annual Fanfare Foreign Language Movie Series. The French, Italian, German and Spanish languages are each represented through a film in the language as well as the cultural setting. The films will be shown at 5 p.m. in the Student Union Theatre, with one playing each Tuesday in October, starting on Oct. 9. Everyone is invited to attend free of charge. “The foreign language movie series is a good opportunity for students to listen to their target language and be exposed to the culture,” said Aileen Mootoo, French instructor and coordinator of the Fanfare Foreign Language Movie Series. “For those who are not taking the language course, it will help expose them to other cultures through cinema.” According to Mootoo, the film series has been hosted annually for at least 10 years. The foreign films are all rated PG-13 with the exception of the Spanish film, “Talk to Her,” which is rated R. “I don’t watch all the movies we choose,” said Mootoo. “I ask my colleagues for different titles and suggestions, and then I check for appropriateness. I make sure instructors make it very clear when the movie is rated R, why it is rated R.” The Italian film to be shown, entitled “Life is Beautiful,” was made in 1997 and won both the Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Foreign Language Film. The star actor, Roberto Benigni, also won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Elisabetta LeJeune, an English instructor, will present the film. “‘Life is Beautiful,’ or ‘La vita e`bella,’ is the bitter-sweet story of an Italian family who ends up in a concentration camp during WWII,” said LeJeune. “Despite the tragic and serious situation the characters are facing, there is a great deal of comic relief.” The German movie to be shown, entitled