World Theatre brings global awareness to Kearney
Katie Coker
Antelope Staff
From Guatemala to Bosnia, the UNK@TheWORLD Film Series hopes to bring new international perspectives to Kearney.
This season, the movies are connected by common topics: Race, ethnicity and their effects on society. Michelle Warren, assistant professor of Spanish, hopes the films will show the people of Kearney a side of the world they might not ever get to see otherwise, and that by viewing these films, people will come to see and understand the similarities that connect us as human beings.
“Even though we seem to be different from people in different places, we are all ultimately human beings, dealing with the human condition,” -Michelle Warren
Warren helped launch UNK@TheWORLD four years ago and remains at its helm today. The series will be showing three movies over the next three months beginning Feb. 7.
The first movie, “Ixcanul,” shows on Feb. 7. Doors of the World Theatre open at 6:30 p.m., and the movie will begin at 7:30.
The audience will be treated to free food from Komal before the movie, and a discussion about the movie with Michelle Warren follows the film. “Ixcanul,” which translates to volcano, was filmed in a language of indigenous peoples of Guatemala.
Warren said this was the film she was most excited about showing for UNK@TheWORLD this season. “My favorite film of this season is the first —“Ixcanul.” It is rich and stunning visually, and the storyline is heartbreaking. It also represents a very underrepresented population in cinema —poor indigenous people from rural Guatemala. The fact that it was filmed completely in the indigenous language is also fascinating to me–it’s like a salute to a very under-recognized culture.”
The second movie “Chloe and Theo” which will show at the World Theatre March 7. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the movie will begin at 7:30 p.m. “Chloe and Theo” is the tale of an Inuit from the Arctic, traveling to New York City to warn world leaders about the catastrophic impact of global warming on the planet.
After the movie, Dr. Nate Bickford, associate professor of biology, and Dr. Sonja Bickford, lecturer of industrial technology, will be speaking about key points addressed in the film.
The third and final film of the festival is “The Whistleblower” and will have three showings of the movie at the World Theatre: April 7 – 8 at 7:30 pm and a matinee on Sunday Feb. 9 starting at 2:00 p.m.
“The Whistleblower” is a US production about Bosnia and human trafficking. The story follows a former Nebraska police officer in her fight against human trafficking in Bosnia. Following the movie, Jace Heuser from UNK’s International Justice Mission will speak.
The film comes at the end of International Justice Mission’s Justice Awareness Week, capping off the events. During the showings of “The Whistleblower,” an art installation by NYC artist Molly Gochman for the Red Sand Project will be present and audience members are encouraged to take a bag of red sand and sprinkle the sand into the cracks of the streets and sidewalks as a reminder of the people who have been “lost in the cracks” through human trafficking.
The UNK@TheWORLD has been funded by The Office of the Dean of Natural and Social Sciences, The Office of the Dean of Fine Arts and Humanities, Organization of International Studies, Humanities Nebraska and in Cooperation with the World Theater.
UNK at The World
• Ixcanul – Feb. 7 @ 7:30 p.m.
• Chloe and Theo – Mar. 7 @ 7:30 p.m.
• The Whistleblower – April 7-8 @7:30 p.m. and April 9 @ 2 p.m.