DRAKE OFFERS SUNDAY FOREIGN FILM FESTIVAL TO FOSTER INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING

This fall Drake University will present a semester-long Sunday Foreign Film Festival featuring nine movies exploring desire, food and cultural difference. A new film will be shown each Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the Pharmacy Auditorium in the Morgan E. Cline Hall of Pharmacy and Science, 28th Street and Forest Avenue.

The first film in the series, "Like Water for Chocolate," a Mexican film released in 1992, will be shown Sept. 15. The entire series is free and open to the public.

"It's interesting that all the films we're showing about food also deal with cultural differences," said Susan Hanson, associate professor of French at Drake. "I think it makes sense because one way to bridge cultural differences is to eat together and enjoy the comforting aspects of food."

The festival, which is designed to foster international understanding, will include a discussion following each screening. The discussions will be led by Hanson and two other Drake faculty members: Fernando Arribas-Garcia and Vibs Petersen.

"So often after you see a film you'd like to be able to talk with other people about their impressions of it. That's what led us to set it up like this," said Jan Marston, director of the Drake University Language Acquisition Program, which is co-sponsoring the festival. "We hope many members of the Drake and Des Moines community will come and participate."

The schedule for the series is listed below:

• Sept. 15: "Like Water for Chocolate," Mexico, 1992
• Sept 22: "Babette's Feast," Denmark, 1988
• Sept. 29: "Chocolat," United States, 2001
• Oct. 6: "Strawberries and Chocolate," Cuba, 1993
• Oct. 13: "Chocolat," Cameroon, 1990
• Oct 27: "Baghdad Cafe," United States, 1988
• Nov. 3: "The Widow of St. Pierre," France, 2000
• Nov. 10: "Wild Strawberries," Sweden, 1957
• Nov. 17: "Gabriela Cravo e Canela," Brazil, 1983

In addition to the Drake University Language Acquisition Program, the film festival is sponsored by Drake's Modern Languages and Literatures and Study of Culture and Society departments. For more information, call (515) 271-2038 or send an e-mail message to susan.hanson@drake.edu.