Global Film Festival resumes, also features Kildee, Ramsdell, Rao
By Andrew Keast
The Global Issues Film Festival continues as usual this month, with another set of cinematic views on people and problems not often covered in the popular media. This, the second half of the Festival’s 14th season, will be held at the McKinnon Theater on the campus of Kettering University, though two of the set’s five films can be seen at the Kiva at UM-Flint as well.
The festival is co-sponsored by Kettering, Mott Community College and the University of Michigan – Flint.
While the films are aimed at enhancing students’ understanding of the world, according to event planners, all shows are free and open to the public at large.
The Festival was begun in 2003 by Dr. Badrinath Rao, associate professor of sociology and Asian studies in the Department of Liberal Studies at Kettering University. Determined to bring students into contact with “different parts of the world, and in particular with parts of the world that many of them would otherwise never encounter,” Rao said he decided on film as an effective medium for dramatic exposure that might both inform and inspire a desire to get involved with such contemporary challenges as hunger, political oppression and environmental destruction. Funds for the festival over the years have come from the C. S. Mott Foundation, the Greater Flint Arts Council and others, although Kettering remains the Festival’s primary source of financial support.
Dividing the program into two sessions accommodates Kettering students, who alternate sessions away from campus for co-operative work experience. Students who miss the Festival’s first half, which usually occurs in November at Mott Community College, could attend the second half, usually held at Kettering in January, when many of those who catch the first half will be absent.
Discussions after the films will be led by experts in relevant fields or by the filmmakers themselves. After this month’s presentation of Inequality For All, for example, local Congressman Dan Kildee will discuss economic and political trends with the audience. Flint native Mike Ramsdell will take questions after his documentary When Elephants Fight. Finally, the festival’s founder, Dr. Rao, will join the audience after Quitte le Pouvoir/Wade, Get Out!
Here is the schedule for the 14th annual Global Issues Film Festival second half:
Inequality For All
Thursday, January 21, 7 p.m.
Bikes Vs. Cars
Thursday, January 28, 7 p.m.
When Elephants Fight
Friday, January 29, 7 p.m.
100% Dakar – More Than Art
Saturday, January 30, 1 p.m.
Quitte le Pouvoir/Wade, Get Out!
Saturday, January 30, 2:30 p.m.
100% Dakar and Quitte Le Pouvoir also will be screened on Tuesday, February 2, at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, in the Kiva auditorium at UM-Flint as part of Africa Week celebrations.
Staff writer Andrew Keast can be reached at akeast@umflint.edu.
