by Rod Jones
The 野狼社区 University Film Institute鈥檚 series will continue its 34th year at 2 p.m. Oct. 4 with Abderrahmane Sissako鈥檚 鈥淭imbuktu鈥� in the Kerr McGee Auditorium of Meinders School of Business. The school is located at N.W. 27th Street and McKinley Avenue.
Admission to all films in the series is free. The series is supported in part by the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Endowment Fund and endowments through OCU and the 野狼社区 Community Foundation.
Africa鈥檚 most illustrious living filmmaker, Sissako directed the Oscar-nominated 鈥淭imbuktu鈥� to blend politics and poetry in a lyrical examination of the repercussions of the jihadists in northern Mali. In the film, Kidane lives peacefully with his family not far from fundamentalist leaders. Sissako uses meticulously composed imagery, imaginative metaphor and a measured, impressionistic narrative to render Kidane鈥檚 family life. The director never demonizes the zealots as monsters 鈥� they remain recognizably human, albeit profoundly and cruelly misguided.
The theme of this year鈥檚 season is based on Viktor Frankl鈥檚 classic book 鈥淢an鈥檚 Search for Meaning.鈥滺arbour Winn, director of the series, said the theme is intended to help participants come to understand the purpose of suffering.
鈥淭he films in this series stress the importance of an individual鈥檚 attitude to existence,鈥� Winn said. 鈥淓ven when life seems restricted by external forces, we can choose the attitude with which we live and make meaning, to find value.鈥�
A discussion session follows each film screening for those who wish to participate. The remaining dates and films in the series are:
* Oct. 18, Kenji Mizoguchi鈥檚 鈥淯getsu鈥�
* Nov. 1, Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne鈥檚 鈥淭wo Days, One Night鈥�
* Jan. 24, Michelangelo Antonioni鈥檚 鈥淏low-Up鈥�
* Feb. 7, Ritesh Batra鈥檚 鈥淭he Lunchbox鈥�
* Feb. 21, Asghar Farhadi鈥檚 鈥淎bout Elly鈥�
* March 6, Andrey Zvyagintsev鈥檚 鈥淟eviathan鈥�
For more information about the series, call (405) 208-5472 or visit okcu.edu/film-lit.
