By Andrea Pavlacka, '09 |Staff Reporter

The International Film Festival was a series of foreign films shown in the residence halls to encourage students to try seeing the world from another countries’ perspectives.

Lynn Arthur, resident director of Helyar Hall, came up with the idea for the festival in the fall semester of 2005. She shared her idea with the other residence directors on campus, and they all agreed it was an excellent idea.

The first International Film Festival launched last spring around this time, and it was a residence hall favorite.

Arthur’s goal in creating the International Film Festival was to “expose students to different perspectives and ideas.”

This year’s International Film Festival began on Feb. 18 and ended on Feb. 25. Each night had a different country theme, with foods and decorations from that country.

This year’s films and themes were “Shine” from Australia, “City of God” from Brazil, “Moolaade” from Senegal, “Butterfly’s Tongue” from Spain, “Bloody Sunday” from Ireland, “Crimson Gold” from Iran, “Amelie” from France and “Godzilla” from Japan. And for each movie, a different faculty or staff member hosted.

Faculty/staff hosts included John Schuster, Brian McDowell, Erin Colvin, Tim McCoy, Kurt Reymers, Roxana Paz, Stephanie Lawhorne, and Stephen Hinkle.  

During “Bloody Sunday” Erin Colvin, a counselor in the Educational Opportunity Program, said she hopes students would “do their own research on Bloody Sunday after seeing this film.”

This year, the festival added some advantages to seeing all of the foreign films. There were two prizes being offered to students who attended the several of the festival’s events.

The first prize was a $50 gift certificate to the MAC bookstore. Students who attended three or more of the films were eligible to receive this prize.

The second prize was an iPod. Students who saw five or more of the films were eligible to win this prize.

Some faculty in courses that included social and current events topics also gave their students class credit for attending the movies.

Freshmen Ed Peters and Randy Rodriguez are two of the four students who had attended most of the films during the International Film Festival.

When asked what they thought about the films and what it did for their perception of the world, Peters said, “It gave me a greater sense of appreciation for the life that I live.”

When asked the same question, Rodriguez said, “Because of these films, I feel lucky to live in the United States of America.”

Students were given passports that they took with them to each film so they could get them stamped. Passports were to be stamped before students could qualify for the prizes, or to receive class credit.