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Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World | 33rd Annual Film Series

NW 27th Street and McKinley Ave, Oklahoma City, OK 73106

A discussion session follows each film for those who wish to stay

Free Admission, Donations Appreciated

Director: Dr. Harbour Winn, [email protected] | Coordinator: Bryan Kimmey

For More Information, Call (405) 208-5472

September 28, 2014, Kerr McGee Auditorium, 2 PM

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Like Father, Like Son, Japan (2013), 121 Min.

What if the child you are raising turns out not to be yours? Would you choose your natural child, or the one you believed was your own during six years together? Kore-eda, the acclaimed director of films shown in past series—Nobody Knows and Still Walking—offers another moving family drama, showing why he is Japan’s greatest living director. Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2013 Cannes festival. Two sets of parents from different socio-economic classes question their own values and must choose between nature and nurture, a decision that will change their lives forever. This film’s screening is timed to connect with Marian Wright Edelman’s September 24th speech on campus in the OCU Distinguished Speaker Series.

October 12, 2014, Kerr McGee Auditorium, 2 PM

Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt, Denmark (2012), 115 Min.

Mads Mikkelsen won the Best Actor Award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival for his penetrating portrayal of Lucas, a former school teacher who has been forced to start over after a tough divorce and the loss of his job. Just as things are starting to go his way, his life is shattered when an untruthful remark throws his small community into a collective state of hysteria. As the lie spreads, Lucas is forced to fight a lonely struggle for his life and dignity. One of the two most requested films on last year’s evaluation forms.

October 26, 2014, Kerr McGee Auditorium, 2 PM

Joon-ho Bong’s Memories of Murder, South Korea (2003), 129 Min.

Memories of Murder blends the familiar crime genre with social satire and dark comedy, capturing the all-too human desperation of its key characters. South Korea in 1986 under the military dictatorship: two nerdy rural cops and a special detective from the capital investigate a series of murders. Before DNA testing and other tools of modern forensics, the cops’ crude measures become more desperate with each new corpse found. Director of Madeo, shown in a past Film Institute series, Bong and the actors won major international festival awards.

November 9, 2014, Kerr McGee Auditorium, 2 PM

Christian Petzold’s Barbara, Germany (2012), 105 Min.

A young doctor in 1980s East Germany makes the mistake of applying for an exit visa and as a result is banished to a small hospital in the hinterlands. Barbara must weigh her absolute dedication to her patients against a potential escape to the West, and her newfound attraction to a doctor in whom she sees a kindred spirit. A story of self-sacrifice, freedom, and quiet heroism at a time and place when such values are at a premium. The best Iron Curtain drama since The Lives of Others. Nina Hoss has won acting awards around the world.

January 25, 2015, Kerr McGee Auditorium, 2 PM

Jia Zhangke’s A Touch of Sin, China (2013), 125 Min.

Inspired by true events that forced the world’s fastest growing economy into a period of self-examination. This reflection on capitalist China focuses on four people, living in four different provinces, who are driven to ultimate actions. Winner of best screenplay at Cannes and other awards at festivals around the world. Written and directed by Jia whose Still Life was shown in a past Film Institute series. One of the two most requested films on last year’s evaluation forms.

February 8, 2015, Kerr McGee Auditorium, 2 PM

Asghar Farhadi’s The Past, Iran (2013), 130 Min.

Farhadi, director of acclaimed Oscar winner A Separation, presents another great Iranian film, the country again most requested on evaluation forms. Ahmad reunites with his estranged wife in Paris to finalize their divorce, which is soon complicated by a shocking revelation by her daughter from a previous marriage. Beautifully written, sensitively directed, and powerfully acted, The Past serves as compelling testament to Farhadi's gift for finely layered drama. Won or nominated at film festivals around the world for best film, actress, director, screenplay.

February 22, 2015, Kerr McGee Auditorium, 2 PM

Francois Truffaut’s The Story of Adele H., France (1975), 97 Min.

Based on the real-life diaries of Adèle Hugo, daughter of the great French literary and political figure, The Story of Adele H. is a psychological drama opening in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the 1860s. Adèle has left her father's home and concealed her identity to seek out her fiancé who wants nothing to do with her. But she obsessively follows him, spending time writing madly in journals and letters. Her madness grows when a bookseller discovers her true identity and gives her a copy of her father's latest work, Les Miserables. Isabelle Adjani gives a brilliant, Oscar- nominated performance as Victor Hugo’s daughter. Truffaut’s most fascinating, complex, study of emotional obsession and romantic excess.

March 8, 2015, Kerr McGee Auditorium, 2 PM

Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo, Singapore (2013), 99 Min.

Set in Singapore during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Ilo Ilo chronicles the day-to-day drama of the Lim family: troublesome grade-schooler Jiale and his overstressed working parents. Comfortably middleclass, they hire Teresa, a Filipino immigrant, as a live-in maid and nanny. An outsider in both the family and Singapore itself, Teresa initially struggles to manage Jiale's antics and find her footing in her new community. Few films have captured more memorably the emotional inter-relations of children growing up with a nanny. It reminds us that an entire generation of children have grown up in the hands of servants. Chen: “I believe the universal experience of children growing up with maids is one of having a surrogate mother, a friend and a confidant. What is intriguing and never brought to light is the emotional inter-relations created, nurtured, cherished, and yet potentially ephemeral when circumstances change.” Winner of the Camera D’Or at Cannes and first film from Singapore shown in the Film Institute’s history.

The Dali Lama’s book Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World will provide direction and reflection for our cross-cultural study. The book will be available at the film showings and Full Circle Bookstore.

Admission to the film series is free, but donations help sustain the Institute's mission. Donations can be made at each film or mailed to the OCU Film Institute Endowment at Oklahoma City University or the OCU Film Institute’s Designated Endowment in the Community Foundation of the Kirkpatrick Family Fund. Oklahoma City University and the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Endowment Fund for the university’s Center for Interpersonal Studies through Film and Literature also support the Institute.

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