Mercy's School of Liberal Arts Hosts 14th Annual International Film Festival

Mercy College’s 14^th Annual International Film Festival will be held Tuesday, April 2 through Friday, April 5. This year’s festival features four films from around the world under the festival's curated theme, “Surprise Pairings.”   Highlights include a visit from an award-winning film director; a Golden Globe nominated film from France with an American remake in development starring Colin Firth; an award-winning film from the prestigious Cannes Film Festival that has never been released in U.S. theaters; a new film in limited release; and the stimulating conversation that attendees have come to expect at the festival every year.

The event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by Mercy College’s School of Liberal Arts. Films begin nightly at 6:30 PM in the Lecture Hall (Main Hall building, Dobbs Ferry).

On opening night (April 2), director Esther Podemski will personally introduce two of her short documentaries and lead a discussion following the films. The Peasant and the Priest (2010) captures the story of two Italian men in their 80s who strive to maintain traditional ways of life in a modern society. The film has been shown in venues throughout the U.S., including the Human Rights on Film Series in Portland, Ore., and abroad as part of Anthology Film Archives, Voices in Action and the 13^th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in Thessaloniki, Greece. House of the World (1999) follows a group of survivors 50 years after the Holocaust as they return to their hometown in Poland. When they arrive at the Jewish cemetery to hold a memorial service, they find only an empty field.   House of the World has been showcased in European and American art centers and festivals, including the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, Lincoln Center and Los Angeles International Jewish Film Festival. Discovery Communication and Jewish Broadcast Network purchased the film for broadcast.

Ms. Podemski is a filmmaker and visual artist who has exhibited her paintings in the Pacific Northwest and in New York City. Her grants include the New York State Council on the Arts, The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Yaddo Residency Program. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at Parsons School of Design in New York, Pacific Northwest College of Art and Sarah Lawrence College. Recent exhibitions include 5 Days in July, a two-screen projection that revisits the Newark riots of 1967, which won the director's choice award at the Black Maria Film Festival and the jury award for the best short at The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival.

The festival continues Wednesday, April 3, with the Golden Globe-nominated film, The Intouchables, a French comedy based on the true story of a quadriplegic aristocrat who hires a young Senegalese man from projects to be his caregiver. Although they could not be more different, the two men develop a strong bond that enriches both of their lives.  Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, the film grossed three times the amount worldwide as The Artist, the Oscar-winning French film released in the same year. An American remake starring Colin Firth is in the works. Guest Speaker: Dr. Joan Toglia, Professor of Occupational Therapy and Interim Dean of the School of Health and Natural Sciences.

Thursday’s feature film, The Wind Journeys (2009), follows a man who has vowed to give up his accordion after years of playing vallenato music, a combination of Colombian and afro-European rhythms, throughout the Colombian countryside. He is followed by a teenager determined to become his apprentice. The film won Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival and has not been released in theaters in the U.S.  Guest Speaker: Dr. Celia Reissig-Vasile, Associate Professor of Foreign Languages and Literature in the School of Liberal Arts.

The Festival concludes on Friday with the new release Lucky (2011), a South African film about a 10 year-old orphan who leaves his remote Zulu village with the hope of going to school. When his uncle has no use for him, he is taken in by Padma, an elderly Indian woman who overcomes her inherent fear of Africans to help. The film stars Jayashree Basavaraj, a highly respected actress and singer who was made a Member of Parliament in recognition of her contributions to the arts. Guest Speaker:  Dr. Saliha Bava, Associate Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. 

For more information, contact Dr. Ellen Kreger, Film Festival Coordinator, at ekreger@mercy.edu or call (914) 674-7791.