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Mary Ann Shumway McFarland (current instructor of the Intro to Women’s Studies course) discusses the impact of Iraqui Yazidi genocide survivor and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Nadia Murad.  

Mary Ann Shumway McFarland lecturing about the film “On Her Shoulders” at International Cinema, March 2019.

PROVO, Utah (March 6, 2019)—Mary Ann Shumway McFarland spoke at one of the latest International Cinema lectures about Nadia Murad, winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2014, Murad had been kidnapped from her home and sexually enslaved by the Islamic State (ISIS). This assault was a part of their campaign against all non-Muslims, including the monotheistic Yazidi minority group that Murad belongs to. 

Unfortunately, this type of violence against the Yazidi people is not uncommon; as McFarland noted, “Perhaps because they are a religious minority, perhaps because they have no written book of scripture, they have been targeted many, many times by larger religious groups.” 

Thankfully, Nadia Murad was able to escape her captors after three months of torment. Now, she works to raise awareness for those still held captive by ISIS. McFarland commented on the immense courage and strength Murad has demonstrated in speaking up for those still captive. Rather than letting her experiences break her, Murad has allowed her experiences to strengthen her.  

McFarland noted that in modern politics it is often difficult to get the right people to listen to the whole story. She remarked that “Nadia Murad is trying to. . . condense [the details of her story], to bring them down to a time where important people have the attention span to listen to her story.” 

Many have listened. Since Nadia Murad won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, many people know her name and story. The documentary film On Her Shoulders (Alexandria Bombach, 2018) has been made to help bring Nadia Murad’s story to those who have not yet heard it. To conclude, McFarland shared her hope that those who watch the film “will see we actually have a lot in common with Nadia Murad even though she’s from the other side of the world.” McFarland also urges us to “watch what [Nadia Murad’s] lifestyle is as she becomes a spokesperson and a mouthpiece for her people . . . [and] appreciate the fact that you are already in a place that is aware of situations like [Murad’s] and is actively working on how to assist and help women globally.” 

—Jensyn Eubank (English ’20) 

Click here to see original article published

on the College of Humanities Website.

On Thursday 28 March in 250 KMBL, Alan Keele (Emeritus Professor of German) will be presenting a special lecture on Bergman’s filming of Mozart’s great opera, The Magic Flute. The title and first paragraph of his presentation is: “One Act of Great Artistic Creativity As a Truly Great Interpretation of Another Great Act of Artistic Creativity: Ingmar Bergman’s Film Shows Us How Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Opera The Magic Flute Is a Powerful Testament To The Divine Potential Of The Entire Human Race.”

Prof. Greg Stallings (Spanish and Portuguese) lecturing on the work of Guillermo del Toro at International Cinema Feb. 20, 2019.

Dr. Gregory Stallings from the Spanish and Portuguese Department closely examines characteristics of films from renowned director Guillermo del Toro. 

see original article here: https://humanities.byu.edu/one-of-los-tres-reyes-mexicanos-de-hollywood-guillermo-del-toro/

PROVO, Utah (21 February, 2019)—Heart-pounding action. Unforgettable stories. Elevated genres. All these can be found in the movies of Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro. These directors have come to be known simply as los tres Reyes Mexicanos de Hollywood, or the three Mexican kings of Hollywood. 

Whether or not you realized it, you’ve likely already seen a movie or two directed by one of the big three. Cuarón has directed movies such as Gravity (2013), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban (2004), and A Little Princess (1995). Iñárritu is best known in America for The Revenant (2015) and Birdman (2014) while del Toro has been praised for hits like The Shape of Water (2017), Pacific Rim (2013), and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). 

At one of BYU International Cinema’s weekly lectures, Dr. Gregory Stallings further explored del Toro’s techniques. Stallings noted how del Toro frequently uses unique color palettes, elaborate backgrounds, and oblique references to Latin American culture and history in his films. Watching del Toro’s newest hit, The Shape of Water, one can find gorgeous shades of green present throughout the film. The sets and costumes themselves are also beautiful, another hallmark quality of del Toro’s expertise. Stallings noted how “Some people say he makes films for DVD watchers so you can stop the frame and kind of worship him and see the skillfulness of the mise-en-scène.” 

Del Toro’s films, although visually stunning, are not meant merely to sate the visual appetite of viewers. Stallings remarked on how they satisfy viewer’s hunger for new stories by taking the cliché or washed-out and making them new again. “[Guillermo del Toro] loves genres that historically have been marginalized,” Stallings noted. “He’s always trying to elevate genres.” In doing so, Stallings reminded, del Toro is able to pose questions that really make the audience think. 

Stallings went on to say that The Shape of Water includes a clear warning against the danger of seeing the world in terms of us versus them. He noted how the film works to give voices to those who are often ignored or cast aside in society through its representation of racial minorities, women, and those with disabilities. Stallings further argued that although the film is very much a fairytale in some regards, it deals with real issues that we are being faced with today: “We see these themes of immigration and empathy for the other.” 

Stallings ended the lecture with a quote from Guillermo del Toro himself: “The only thing that Jesus, Buddha, and the Beatles agreed on was that all you need is love.” He wholeheartedly agreed with del Toro, reminding that all of his films “have to do with something positive, with spirituality, with love, and with optimism.” All those positive subjects, Stallings noted, are perhaps the greatest things we can take away from del Toro’s masterful films. 

—Jensyn Eubank (English ‘20)

Every week, International Cinema hosts movies. This past week, Rex Nielson introduced Araby, and told us of the common Brazilian movie trope “the road.”

Prof. Rex Nielson (Spanish and Portuguese) lecturing on the film “Araby” January 2019 at IC.

PROVO, Utah (January 30, 2019) — International Cinema, as one of the few programs of it’s kind around the world, screens intriguing international film throughout the semester. This past Wednesday, January 30, International Cinema showed Araby, directed by João Dumans and Affonso Uchoa. Before the movie started, Rex Nielson gave a short lecture titled “Searching with Sound and Solace in Arábia: Brazilian Migrants in Contemporary Cinema” where he discussed the common trope within Brazilian cinema: “the road”. Nielson said that “The journey of the road often symbolically represents a transition.” He went on to say that the transition can be pretty much anything: whether a child transitioning into an adult, a transition from being single to finding “the one,” or really any transition that is “common in the course of human life”. Apparently, this trope is in almost every Brazilian movie, and reoccurs frequently enough to make it a recognizable theme in movies.

Nielson told the audience that “the genre may represent a search for national identity.” He then gave the statistic that up until the 1920’s, 75% of the population of Brazil (then about 30 million) did not live within a hundred miles of the coast. Then, over the course of the rest of the twentieth century, swaths of people migrated from the interior rural regions to the coastal urban regions with a dream to find work in the cities and better their station in life. At first, it was the women who moved to the cities to find work as domestic servants, then as the ratio of men to women decreased drastically, men have since began to leave the rural areas as well, typically with a dream and a desire to search for work. Nielson goes on to say that the main character of Araby is a member of this male population that traveling to the coastal regions to find work and a better life.

The narrative of Araby “centers on themes related to [the main character’s] search for meaning in life,” Nielson says. Whether that meaning is the role of fate, a search for God, or a search for love, “the journey of the road movie is often one of self-discovery: a search for lost origins.” If you find yourself hankering for a movie of self-discovery that explores the meaning of life, or if you’re just interested in watching a movie that explores a culture you are unfamiliar with, go down to International Cinema and watch a movie, you never know what things you can inexplicably discover about yourself when you’re immersed in a movie of another culture.

—Beverly Unrau (Editing and Publishing ’21)

Find the original article published on the BYU College of Humanities website here.

Every week we have a lecture at IC that provides context for one (or more) of the films that will be showing that week. Jensyn Eubank, writer for the college communications office, has been writing about them. Here are some of her articles:

50th Celebration Encore Weekend: https://humanities.byu.edu/international-cinema-celebrates-50th-anniversary-kick-off/

50th Gala: https://humanities.byu.edu/byu-international-cinema-50th-anniversary-gala/

Poverty Inc. Lecture: https://humanities.byu.edu/solving-the-poverty-problem/

What Will People Say Lecture: https://humanities.byu.edu/a-matter-of-honor-issues-of-immigration/​