Newsroom – California State University, Northridge

CSUN’s College of Humanities 4th Annual International Film Festival to Explore Privilege in a Racially Diverse Society

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Oct. 26th, 2009) ―

The privileges and exclusions experienced in a racially diverse world will be explored at Cal State Northridge’s fourth annual College of Humanities International Film Festival on Monday, Nov. 2.

The festival, titled “Race, Privilege, Exclusion,” is free and open to the public. It will take place at the Armer Screening Room in Manzanita Hall, from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Nov. 2, 2009. Manzanita Hall is located on the west side of campus located at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

The festival is curated by Beatriz Cortez, associate professor and program coordinator of Central American Studies at Northridge and Sheena Malhotra, associate professor and chair of CSUN’s Department of Gender and Women’s Studies.

“This is the fourth time this film festival is celebrated on our campus, and we hope to build on our successes of the past three years in each consecutive year,” said Malhotra. “Some of the films we hope to screen at the festival have a domestic focus on race in the U.S., while others explore race in international contexts,” she said.

Among the films to be screened are: “The Exiles” (USA), “New York” (India), “The Civilizers” (Germany & Guatemala), “Children of the Camps” (USA) and “Mirrors of Privilege” (USA).

“These films have been selected in order to illustrate the history of privilege in contrast to the exclusion that has been experienced by Japanese Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, and Muslim Americans, among other groups in the U.S.” Cortez said. “At the same time, the films will address issues of global racism and global capitalism as it affects the lives of Indigenous peoples in Guatemala.”

Also this year, a film directed and produced by CSUN faculty member Marta Lopez-Garza, entitled “When Will the punishment End?,” will be screened. Malhotra said that will be “on the implicit exclusions in the challenges facing former incarcerated women.”

The film festival has support from a variety of campus groups, clubs and organizations from campus including Associated Students, Queer Studies, Liberal Studies, Jewish Studies, Graduate Studies and the Central American United Student Association (CAUSA).

Parking on campus is $6. For more information, call Beatriz Cortez at (818) 677-3585 or Sheena Malhotra at (818) 677-7217.

---