Pacific University is hosting the Tournées Film Festival, an event which strives to bring quality French films to American universities. This is the second year Pacific will host the event.
“I’ve always been really interested in film, especially as it helps bring out the cultural relations and the intercultural connections that France has with the rest of the world,” French professor Jeanne-Sarah de Larquier said, “many of these films are actually not necessarily even in French.”
Larquier helped bring the Tournées Film Festival to Pacific for the first-time last year. She applied for the grant and, with the help of other organizations both on and off campus, successfully hosted the first festival in the fall of 2017. She hopes the festival becomes a permanent annual event at Pacific.
Each film will begin with a discussion led by a faculty member of Pacific. The faculty member is chosen based on their area of specialization and relevance to the film.
“[We’re] trying to find ways to bring some of that French culture to students who aren’t necessarily interested in studying French,” Larquier said. “A lot of the literature, the history, the culture of France spans much farther, and it’s nice to try and bring out those connections.”
Larquier takes input from other faculty when choosing the films in order to span as many topics as possible. The goal is for students to want to see, and to enjoy, the films regardless of their area of study.
This year, there were six films shown over the span of five weeks. The first film, 12 Jours, screened Oct. 17. The last two films will be “Francophonia,” showing Nov. 7, and “The Pearl Button” Nov. 12.
“Francophonia,” which was released in 2015, is a drama film focusing on the Louvre and its conditions during WWII. The languages spoken in the film are French and Russian but it includes English subtitles.
“The Pearl Button,” which also came out in 2015, is a Chilean documentary that focuses on the stories of the indigenous people of Chile and the victims of Pinochet to reiterate the history of Chile. The film is in Spanish but will also include English subtitles.
Both films will be shown at the Forest Theater at 6 p.m. Admission is free to the public.
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