Ava Chuppe
Staff Writer
[email protected]
The spring film lineup for Cinema International is underway and will continue until April 23.
So far this semester, the program has shown “The Green Knight,” “Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams,” “Harriet” and “Vatel.”
Therese St. Paul, associate professor of French, has been the Cinema International director for six years, but the program has existed at Murray State for 14 years. St. Paul says films are an amazing educational tool.
“It’s a long-standing program at Murray State,” St. Paul said. “I ask around to my colleagues [and] I send a message to different departments and ask if there is any movie that would fit into their program, courses or topic that they would like to share.”
Since she became director, St. Paul has expanded the team of colleagues to include those from other departments, including political science, art, sciences and nonprofit leadership studies. These departments have proposed films relevant to their course material.
“Students already pay quite a bit to come to school, so donations have to come from outside, from departments, from different [academic] colleges,” St. Paul said. “If one department wants to show a movie, they contribute to the licensing fee.”
This semester, the history department contributed to the fee for “Harriet,” and the biology department is contributing to the fee for “Water’s Way: Thinking Like a Watershed,” which will be shown April 23.
As one may expect, the global languages department plays a large role in Cinema International. St. Paul said the six
languages taught at Murray State are frequently represented in the showings.
“We always have, at least, movies that showcase our languages,” St. Paul said. “You see more than the language. You see the culture, the interaction and the social context.”
The program’s recent showing of “Harriet,” a 2019 film about Harriet Tubman, is not an international film, but provided American cultural context for Black History Month.
Each showing is followed by a brief discussion, often with guest speakers who specialize in the topic the week’s film covers.
Besides the licensing fees of about $300 per film that comes with presenting them publicly, St. Paul says other barriers can exist to screening.
“They’re not always easy to find,” St. Paul said.
One film that had been planned for Feb. 17 and 19, “Haute Cuisine,” fell through because of an issue with the distributor. St. Paul adapted and switched the film to one that deals with similar issues, “Vatel.”
“We had planned to show ‘Haute Cuisine,’” St. Paul said. “This is a rare occurrence, but as you can see, it happens.”
Cinema International is constantly involved in publicity efforts as well. Every Thursday at around 11:15 a.m., St. Paul speaks with Tracy Ross on WKMS, the University’s National Public Radio station, about the film scheduled for the week.
St. Paul says she also displays posters and banners in various locations around campus, including Faculty Hall.
“We have posters everywhere,” St. Paul said. “We put it on the website, so it’s often not only to the University community but to the community at large.”
In addition, Cinema International is always accepting donations. Anyone interested in donating can do so by contacting the Office of Development or by visiting the Cinema International webpage.
On Feb. 24 and 26, Cinema International will present the 2018 German film “Transit” as its next selection.
Showings are on Thursdays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Thursday showings are in the Barkley Room in the Curris Center, and Saturday showings are in the Curris Center Theater. Both rooms are located on the third floor.
For a full list of showings this semester and a link for donations, visit murraystate.edu/cinemainternational.