'World Cinema series offers look at Arab culture, history'



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Sunday: 20-January-2002

World Cinema series offers look at Arab culture, history

Tim Brouk, Journal and Courier

As the war on terrorism continues and clashes between Israel and Palestine seem to never end, the politics, life, and culture of the Middle East have been on the minds of many Americans.

A half a globe away from the United States, it’s easy to misunderstand the Arab world. To educate and introduce Arab culture, the World Cinema film series at Purdue University is introducing “A Season of Films from the Arab World.”

The weekly series began Jan. 12 with the 1987 film Wedding in Galilee that portrayed life in a Palestinian village under Israeli rule. Early reaction to the series has been strong and positive.

“(Viewing a film series) is one of the best ideas I can think of to become familiar with other cultures,” said Joe Rubinstein, a retired Purdue professor living in West Lafayette who attended the Jan. 12 screening. “It’s a part of the world we have to know more about and a culture we have to understand.”

“A Season of Films from the Arab World” is presented at 7 p.m. Saturday through May 4 at Purdue’s Stanley Coulter Hall, Room 239. Piggybacking on the Arab films is a second film series, “A Season of Films on Judgment & Action,” which is screened at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Purdue’s Johnson Hall of Nursing, Room B-002. The series are presented in partnership with the Purdue departments of history, political science, and sociology and anthropology.

Organizer and host B. Frédérique Samuel chose the theme for the spring film series after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the success of his fall series that focused on films from Iran.

“I thought the misunderstanding of Arab culture was contributing to some ill feelings,” Samuel said. “While it may not be a modern technology culture like the United States, it still has a lot to offer. I think when people come to understand each other, there is less hatred.”

During the semester, the films will explore Arabic history, mythology, and folklore.

Samuel chose films of “Judgment & Action” that dealt with events in world history that have some similarities to the Sept. 11 tragedies.

“All of those countries have survived and people have gone on with their lives. It’s an encouragement. People got along with their lives and so will we,” Samuel said. “It’s a sense of hope on one hand and a lesson on the other to say, ’Look it’s not only happening here. It’s been happening in other places.’”

“Judgment & Action” started on Jan. 9 with the 1993 Irish film In the Name of the Father, which was nominated for seven Oscars and dealt with the true story of a tragic Irish Republican Army bombing near London in 1974. Five innocent men were imprisoned for the bombing, and Samuel and his audience compared their plight to innocent Islamic Americans who were detained after Sept. 11.

“The language was exactly the same to the audience. The main character was jailed for 15 years, and he was never near the incident,” said Samuel, who lived in London in the ‘70s. “The power is to reflect, to see how different or how much the same it is here and what lessons we can learn from that.”

After each film is shown, Samuel leads a discussion with viewers, and Rubinstein thought the discussion after Wedding in Galilee was especially interesting.

“There were no Arabs at the last meeting, but I wish there were so we could bounce ideas around and talk,” Rubinstein said. But different people had different ideas about what was being depicted, what the meaning was of the film.”

Rubinstein’s wife, Bette, believes that without the World Cinema film series, most people in the community wouldn’t be exposed to foreign films.

“It’s really added a lot of culture here that you get in bigger cities,” said Bette Rubinstein, also a retiree. “We don’t get many international films here.”

Purdue senior Kat Triezenberg said many of the films offered in the World Cinema series, especially in the Arab series, can’t even be found in most video rental stores’ foreign sections.

“I think it’s a really good series in terms of getting stuff out to people that they haven’t seen before,” said Triezenberg, who has been a regular at screenings for three years.

Lafayette retired Purdue Professor Macalyne Fristoe started attending screenings in the middle of last fall.

“I wish I discovered this earlier,” Fristoe said.

Fristoe quickly became a dedicated viewer of the Iranian film series.

“The cinematography was unbelievable,” Fristoe said. “They had some interesting messages, but the visual was the part I really enjoyed.”

Samuel has been leading the World Cinema series for 11 years, and this semester may be his last. An instructional specialist at Purdue’s Center for Instructional Excellence, Samuel recently finished his Ph.D. studies, and career opportunities may take him away from Greater Lafayette.

“It’d be nice to see people take it over, but we don’t know,” Samuel said. “I think any good program should not die because of one person (leaving), in my belief.”

The Rubinsteins hope the series continue, and they believe Samuel has provided Greater Lafayette with unique filmatic experiences.

“He is doing a tremendous service,” Bette Rubinstein said. “It’s just a labor of love.”

FYI

What: World Cinema: “A Season of Films from the Arab World”; “A Season of Films on Judgment & Action.”

When: 7 p.m. Saturdays; 7 p.m. Wednesdays

Where: Stanley Coulter Hall, Room 239; Johnson Hall of Nursing, Room B-002 Purdue University

How much: Free

On the Net:

PHOTO CAPTION:

RICHARD ROWLEY listens to conversation before the start of A Man for All Seasons at Purdue’s Johnson Hall of Nursing. The film was part of the World Cinema film series “A Season of Films on Judgment & Action.”

Photo by Frank Oliver, Journal and Courier.

Copyright © 2002, Federated Publications, Inc. A Gannett Site.

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