Foreign Film Series screens its first selection of spring semester

Adjunct faculty member Donnie Kirk kicked off this semester’s Foreign Film Series on Feb. 19 with his presentation of Rodrigo Garcia’s 2011 film Albert Nobbs.

The film takes place in 1890s Ireland, and stars Glenn Close as Albert Nobbs, a woman who dresses up as a man to find work in a posh hotel.

“Something very interesting about it is we find the main character at the intersection of a variety of different things,” Kirk said. “From a tragic incident early in life, to being a woman and dealing with the way women were treated, as well as the rigid social class and caste system during this particular time.”

The Foreign Film Series was started in 2002 as a way to show MSU and the Wichita Falls community films they wouldn’t otherwise get to see in a normal theater.

“I love it because, for the most part, the films that you’ll see aren’t films that you can normally see at any movie theater because there’s not much of a demand for it in town,” Kirk said. “Many of our films in the United States are explicit in the messages they send. I find that the international films are very implicit, and they’re told from a different perspective. I think it’s very important to see that different perspective.”

While the series was originally presented at the Kemp Center for the Arts, the university changed the location to the Museum of Art at MSU once it acquired the museum in 2005. According to the Center of Continuing Education, anywhere from 25-100 people usually attend the screenings.

Kirk has participated in both the Foreign Film Series and the Classic Film Series for the past five years, but he has attended them for the past eight years.

Of all the films Kirk has shown, he lists his favorites as Persepolis, an animated feature about the overthrow of the shah of Iran in the 1980s from a young girl’s perspective, and The First Grader, a true story about an 84-year-old Kenyan man who goes back to school to learn how to read, as films that he’s shown.

“I loved (The First Grader) because it was historical, very dramatic and very tough in some scenes,” Kirk said. “But it really shows the human spirit and that’s what I like about it.”

According to Kirk, the Foreign Film Series is open to any and all faculty members interested in presenting.

Center for Continuing Education director Pam Morgan contacts interested faculty members to present a film for the series, but after that, it’s up to the presenter as to what they’ll show.

“I selected (Albert Nobbs) because I like Glenn Close, and I like to look at marginalized cultures or populations within our society to do an in-depth study of them. I thought this movie was a pretty good example of that,” Kirk said.

While the Classic Film Series focuses on older films that are deemed “classic” by those presenting them, the Foreign Film Series concentrates on new and current foreign films.

“There’s never usually a theme for a particular evening,” he said. “Many times I have a particular film in mind, but for this presentation, I didn’t. I looked through a list provided by a licensing agency, and I had seen this particular film on the list.”

According to Kirk, the cost for the Center for Continuing Education is $400-$600 for licensing fees depending on the film, and they are primarily funded through department funds, and sometimes grants. Students and faculty, as well as members of the Wichita Falls community are all encouraged to attend these screenings.

“It’s advertised in a variety of formats,” Kirk said. “You’ll hear about it on NPR, in the Times Record News and even in The Wichitan. The majority of people that come to this are the community people. You’ll see a few faculty members there from time-to-time, and you’ll usually see students there for extra credit purposes.”

Kirk said his favorite thing about the Foreign Film Series is the audiences’ ability to not just watch a movie, but to fully engage with it and discuss it afterwards.

“We’re not just passively watching a film, and everyone leaves at the end,” Kirk said. “We’re having an open chat about the film, and you’d be pretty surprised about what people think and have to say about it.”

Although Kirk said members of the Wichita Falls community are the most engaged with commentary, students in attendance participate as well. Whether the student is there for extra credit or leisure, Kirk believes that many times the films shown are rousing enough to get them involved by the end of it.

No matter the reason for attendance, Kirk said he hopes that the audience will be able to connect with Albert Nobbs and take something from the film with them.

“I think we have it so good in the United States,” he said. “I think that women have it so good. I hope that people realize that we’ve come a long way from that time period and the particular struggles this character goes through once they see this film. I always hope that whoever sees the film comes away with a sense of gratitude.”