Films from across the world illuminate Fresno State’s CineCulture
CineCulture is set for a semester of exciting new films from around the world. All screenings will be in the Peters Educational Center Auditorium (West of Save Mart Center in the Student Recreation Center Building.) Each film will be followed by a conversation about the film with a featured discussant who was involved in the filmmaking process or is a subject matter specialist.
CineCulture is a film series provided as a service to Fresno State campus students, faculty and staff, and the broader community. CineCulture is also offered as a three-unit academic course (MCJ 179) in the Media, Communications and Journalism Department. The CineCulture Club promotes cultural awareness through film and post-screening discussions.
If you want to be updated regularly, check for announcements on the CineCulture website or via email. If you’d like to subscribe to the CineCulture listserv to receive weekly announcements, email CineCulture’s director, Dr. Mary Husain, at mhusain@csufresno.edu.
The films will be screened every Friday at 5:30 p.m. unless otherwise stated. All screenings are free of charge and open to the public, and parking is not enforced after 4 p.m. on Fridays.
February 2: Chinatown Rising (2023)
Discussant: Josh Chuck (Director)
Against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-1960s, a young resident of San Francisco’s Chinatown named Harry Chuck, armed with a 16mm camera and leftover film scraps from a local TV station, turned his lens onto his community. Totaling more than 20,000 feet of film (approximately 10 hours), his exquisite unreleased footage captured a divided community’s struggles for self-determination. Chinatown Rising is a documentary film brought to the public light by Harry’s son Josh. It presents the Asian American Movement from the perspective of the young residents on the front lines of their historic neighborhood in transition. Publicly challenging the conservative views of their elders, their demonstrations and protests of the 1960s through the 1980s rattled the once-quiet streets during the community’s shift in power. Forty-five years later, in intimate interviews these activists recall their roles and experiences in response to the need for social change. 85 minutes.
February 9: The Old Oak (2023)
Discussant: Dave Turner (Lead Actor)
**Film Screening will begin at 5 p.m.**
The Old Oak is a special place. Not only is it the last pub standing, it is the only remaining public space where people can meet in a once thriving mining community in northeast England that has now fallen on hard times after 30 years of decline. TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner) the landlord hangs on to the Old Oak by his fingertips, and his hold is endangered even more when the pub becomes contested territory after the arrival of Syrian refugees who are placed in his village. An unlikely friendship develops when TJ encounters a young Syrian with a camera, Yara (Elba Mari). Can they find a way for the two communities to understand each other? So unfolds a deeply moving drama by British director Ken Loach about loss, fear and the difficulty of finding hope. 113 minutes.
February 16: Armenian Short Films Program
Discussants: Tatiana Boudakian & Arman Ayvazyan, , Armine Anda (Directors) & Zela Margossian (Composer)
Dehatsi – I was Another Place
Anoush is a young Armenian woman who travels to Brazil without a return ticket. Once she is welcomed and inserted into the Armenian community in São Paulo, her biggest challenge is to adapt to the large and cosmopolitan city, so far from her roots. Directed by Tatiana Boudakian. In Armenian and Portuguese with English subtitles, 20 minutes.
Crossing the Blue
Anoush, an emigrant, who fled from her abusive husband in Post-Soviet Armenia is facing eventual deportation years later… Directed by Victoria Aleksanyan. In Armenian and English with English subtitles, 12 minutes.
Sunset
With sunlight quickly fading on the horizon, a student goes on a fantastic journey contemplating the importance of happiness and budding friendships versus their studies. Directed by Kristine Khanamiryan, 4 minutes.
Stones
The brutal Nagorno-Karabakh War of 2020 ended in a Russian-mediated ceasefire forcing Armenia to cede territory it had controlled to Azerbaijan. As a result, thousands of Armenians living in these regions were forced to leave their homes. Days before the handover deadline, a group of volunteers risk their lives to enter the Lachin region to search for and save sacred ancient Armenian stone inscriptions known as “khachkars,” from destruction. Directed by Arman Ayvazyan. In Armenian with English subtitles, 17 minutes.
The Road
The poetic vision of director Charlotte Mungomery converges with the spellbinding score of Armenian-Australian jazz band, Zela Margossian Quintet in “The Road.” This international art-film collaboration catches you from its opening, luring you into a liminal desert space, blurring the bounds between diorama and reality. Circumnavigate these stories of isolation and connection through the opulent and atmospheric eye of a filmmaking collective poised from their recent experimental opera film, ‘A Delicate Fire.’ Directed by Charlotte Mungomery, 8 minutes.
The Mud
Rafael notices a lone goose while approaching his home. No one in the village keeps geese. When he opens the door the goose sneaks inside. Without removing his dirty shoes, Rafael rushes after the goose and catches it. When in the middle of the room, he notices that he had not removed his shoes and that the room is now dirty. He takes off the shoes and, without cleaning the dirt marks on the floor, leaves the house to climb the mountain. Shortly afterward, Ashkhen, Rafael’s wife, returns home and sees the disappearing footprints and the feathers on the floor, and the mystery unfolds. Directed by Vahan Grigoryan. In Armenian with English subtitles, 11 minutes.
Sponsors: Armenian Studies Program, Armenian General Benevolent Union, Greater Fresno
Chapter, and AGBU Arts’ Armenians in Film Series.
February 23: Ludi (2021)
Discussant: Edson Jean (Director)
Ludi (2021), by Haitian-American director Edson Jean, follows a young Haitian immigrant Ludi Alcidor, who works day and night as a nurse at a private nursing home. Her goal is to earn money for her family back in Haiti while struggling to find out what she wants and needs for herself. “America is the land of opportunity,” they say. “You can make it here,” they say. That’s the biggest lie ever told. Black people and immigrants, surviving paycheck-to-paycheck while supporting their families is what America is truly about. In French, Haitian Creole, Spanish, and English with English subtitles. 85 minutes.
Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures.
March 1: Marguerite’s Theorem (Le théorème de Marguerite) (2023)
Discussant: To be announced
**Film Screening will begin at 5 p.m.**
Directed by Anna Novion, Marguerite’s Theorem tells the story of Marguerite Hoffman, a brilliant mathematics student at France’s top university the Ecole Normale Supérieure. But on the day of her thesis presentation, a mistake shakes up all the certainty in her planned-out life, so she decides to quit everything and start afresh. What will she do? How will she deal with this unfortunate event? In French with English subtitles. 112 minutes.
Sponsors: The French Program and the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures.
March 8: New Gods Yang Jian (2022)
Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl
**Film Screening will begin at 5 p.m.**
Thirteen years after Yang Jian imprisoned his sister beneath a mountain, the once powerful god now scrapes by as a penniless bounty hunter. When a mysterious woman hires him for a new job, Yang Jian soon finds himself chasing down a familiar figure. He must stop Chenxiang, his long-lost nephew, who is in search of the magical lotus lantern that will free his mother, even if it will bring catastrophe. As Yang Jian confronts the actions of his past, he must face a host of dangerous vigilantes seeking the same treasure with the power to alter the balance of their worlds. This latest entry in the New Gods universe from Light Chaser Animation (White Snake, New Gods: Nezha Reborn) features awe-inspiring action sequences set against breathtaking and wildly imaginative environments. Combining ancient lore with dazzling animation, New Gods: Yang Jian is a timeless adventure of epic proportions featuring one of China’s legendary mythic figures. In Mandarin with English subtitles, 127 minutes.
March 15: Judged Bodies: The Fight for Reproductive Rights (2023)
Discussants: Mariana Carbajal (Director) & Morena Herrera (featured in the film)
Between 2000 and 2011, 128 women were prosecuted for abortion or aggravated homicide in El Salvador, a nation that has some of the strictest abortion laws. These laws have been criticized by human rights organizations. Mariana Carbajal, an Argentinian pioneering writer and journalist on gender issues, traveled to El Salvador to interview Evelyn and other victims of the fierce social condemnation and state violence against women. Many poor women have been sentenced to long prison terms after facing obstetric emergencies. Carbajal also profiles Morena Herrera and other activists who fight for women’s reproductive rights. In Spanish with English subtitles. 69 minutes.
March 22: Long Distance Swimmer – Sara Mardini (2023)
Discussant: Charly Wai Feldman (Director)
At 20, Sara was already famous. She fled Syria in 2015 with her younger sister Yusra. When their boat broke down as they were crossing the sea to Greece, Sara and Yusra and two others jumped into the waves and swam for three and a half hours in open water to stop their dinghy from capsizing, saving the lives of everyone on board. Their journey made headlines around the world, and is dramatized in a Netflix film called The Swimmers. Our story begins when the fictionalized drama ends. Sara has spent three years rescuing refugees on the same journey that made her famous, but she was suddenly arrested in August 2018. Sara was accused by Greek authorities of running a criminal enterprise and charged with “international espionage and people smuggling”. If convicted, she faces up to 25 years in prison and the end of her humanitarian career. Banned from Lesbos and waiting for news of the trial, she lives a surreal existence in Berlin. Studying at a liberal arts college by day, and escaping to techno clubs at night, she tries to reconnect with her family, while Yusra trains for the Tokyo Olympics, a dream the two sisters once shared. In Arabic, Greek, English and German with English subtitles, 89 minutes.
April 5: Promises of Our Grandmothers
Discussants: Gingger Shankar (Director) and Erin Cook (producer)
Promises of Our Grandmothers is a multimedia program performed by Gingger Shankar (vocals, double violin), Daniel French (jarana, vocals, keys) with other musicians (to be announced). This unique performance includes a documentary film about the Giniw Collective, a diverse resistance group founded by Tara Houska and led by Indigenous women and two-spirit frontline warriors dedicated to protecting Mother Earth, defending the water, and living in balance as they fight Enbridge’s Line 3, a pipeline that will carve trenches through 340-miles of Minnesota’s unspoiled wetlands, poisoning water, Indigenous land, and threatening to destroy their very way of life. With more arrests than Standing Rock, youngsters to grandmas continually put their bodies on the line during a global pandemic to fight the multi-billion-dollar oil giant. With incredible tactical knowledge and skill, alongside their collective wisdom and knowledge of the land and the people, this small group of women and allies in the middle of the woods in northern Minnesota held off Enbridge for almost three years with very little media coverage and serious danger to themselves. In English, Ojibwe, and Lakota.
Sponsor: Department of Art, Design and Art History
April 12: Signs of War (2023)
Discussants: Juri Rechinsky (Director) & Pierre Crom (Co-Director and photographer featured in the film)
After years of work in the Dutch Parliament, photographer Pierre Crom decides that “it might be more interesting to follow the results of their political decisions rather than make propaganda for politicians.” In February 2014, he traveled with a one-way plane ticket to Crimea in Ukraine, one day before its annexation by Russia. From that moment on, he found himself in the midst of a rapidly escalating conflict and decided to stay. The start of the war in Sloviansk, the crash of flight MH17, tank battles in Debaltseve – he gained access to the most significant historical milestones of this war. As a photographer, Pierre had “luck.” However, as a human being, he had to face violent events on a scale he could never have imagined before. In French, English, Russian and Ukrainian with English subtitles, 85 minutes.
Sponsors: The French Program the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures
The College of Arts and Humanities at Fresno State 