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November 19, 2007

Honors course hosts film festival Nov. 26 - 29

ÍřĆŘĂĹ’s Honors Social Science course will host a film festival, “When Utopias Go Bad,” Nov. 26 – 29 in Airway Sciences room 134, beginning at 6:30 each night.

"When Utopias Go Bad" will feature dystopian films, futuristic films that portray a darker society, or the antithesis of utopia. In addition to showing the films, which span from 1980 to the present, the class will lead discussions and dissect each film's historical context.

John Sutherlin, PhD., assistant professor of political science, teaches the honors course, which focuses on politics and film. The class has viewed “Citizen Kane,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “All the President's Men.”

"All semester we have watched films that reflect major trends in political film-making. With this dystopia film festival, the students will be able to show and discuss those films that they feel best represent a political genre. I am very excited about what they have put together."

Rebel Fornea, a senior English major from Angie, is a student in the course.

Of the upcoming festival, she said: “Our class has focused on how the changing political environment of our nation and our world has affected the films we produce and how films affect our politics. We've chosen to present a film festival about dystopias because dystopian films serve as a warning to the members of a given society; they basically give us an example of how our world could turn out if we continue with our current political and social trends. No matter what kind of political environment exists in a society, someone can always make a dystopian film about how bad that society could get … This is something we really wanted to explore with our audience.”

Film Festival schedule:

The class will sell refreshments to raise money for the Honors Program.

For more information, contact Sutherlin at sutherlin@ulm.edu

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