2012 Diversity Film Festival
The WSU Vancouver Diversity Council sponsors a yearly film festival, held during the fall semester. Films are chosen based on specific themes that reflect on multiple aspects of cultural diversity present in the world around us.
The festival's goal is to encourage and promote awareness and dialog about diversity issues present within the WSU Vancouver campus, the Vancouver community, and the world beyond.
Film Screenings in September
Come enjoy a short film (under an hour), fresh popcorn, and excellent films this September. If you are able, please bring food donations for our students in need. The Diversity Council will be collecting food for the food pantry during each film.
The film festival will be held over two weeks with one theme each week. The first week focuses on issues of political diversity, and the second week is about American Indians and native culture.
Week One: Political Diversity
Film 1: Please Vote for Me (2008; 55 minutes)
Monday, September 10, 2012
Firstenburg Student Commons
4 p.m.
This film about the policital process follows the elections for class monitor in a 3rd grade class in China. Three children have a few days to campaign and convince their classmates to vote for them as part of a school project/experiment with democracy. The candidates are seen at school and at home, while their parents do their best to influence the political process in order to assure their children will win their elections. This is a fascinating look at democratic principles, corruption, and interpersonal dynamics, as they play out in a country not known for democracy. Mandarian Chinese with English subtitles.
Recommended Readings
- The Making of the President 1960 (Theodore White)
- Is Voting for Young People? (Martin Wattenberg)
- America, the Owner’s Manual (by Bob Graham)
- The Candidate: What it Takes to Win – and Hold – the White House (Samuel Popkin)
Film 2: Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story (2008; 84 minutes)
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Firstenburg Student Commons
4 p.m.
Winner of the national Edward R. Murrow Award, the Polk Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the International Documentary Association's Donnet Award, Boogie Man has been called one of the best political documentaries ever made. The film follows the rise and fall of Lee Atwater, the charming, Machiavellian godfather of modern take-no-prisoners Republican political campaigns. Both a political thriller and a truly scary story, Boogie Man provides a context for controversial (some would say underhanded) tactics of current-day elections.
Recommended Readings
- Machiavelli’s “The Prince”
- Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms: My Life in American Politics (Ed Rollins)
- How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative (Allen Raymond)
- Steal This Vote: Dirty Elections and the Rotten History of Democracy in America (Andrew Gumbel)
- Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and Now Threatens the American Republic (Jay Cost)
Week Two: Native Americans
Film 1: Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian (2011; 88 minutes)
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Firstenburg Student Commons
4 p.m.
A Peabody Award winning film, Reel Injun journeys through a century of cinema film providing an entertaining and provocative look at Hollywood's depiction of Native Americans, and setting the record straight. Traveling through the heartland of the U.S., to the Black Hills and Monument Valley, Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond examines how the myth of the movie "Injun" has influenced the world's understanding—and misunderstanding—of Natives. With clips from hundreds of classic and recent films, it is a remarkable feat of historical research, documenting the shift from nuanced silent-era heroes to the Western's "noble savage" stereotype, leading up to the burgeoning Native independent scene of Smoke Signals and The Fast Runner. Containing candid interviews with celebrated directors, writers, actors and activists, including Clint Eastwood, Robbie Robertson, Sacheen Littlefeather, John Trudell, and Russell Means, Reel Injun is an insightful and essential compendium for understanding the racial politics of Hollywood and the continuing artistic vibrancy of Native peoples.
Film 2: Two Spirits (2011; 54 minutes)
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Dengerink Administration building, room 110
4 p.m.
This film tells the story of Fred Martinez; a "two-spirit" with both masculine and feminine traits—a special gift in native culture. Fred became one of the youngest hate-crime victims in history when he was murdered at age sixteen. This film examines tradition, controversy, sex and spirit, civil rights, gender issues, and the freedom to be yourself. The director of this film, Lydia Nibley, will be on campus this day for a discussion session following the showing and class talks, possibly a public lecture.
