Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 11/2/05 Section: Culture

In honor of Canada and France, Western's campus is filled to the brim with events for the next several weeks.

The week of Oct. 31 is Canada Week at Western, with the peak of the week being Canada Day on Nov. 2. According to Anthropology Professor Robin Smith, guest speakers Ryan Heavy Head and Francis First Charger, scholars of Redcrow Community College, will visit classes such as cultural anthropology and cultural geography to "give a [Canadian-Native American] perspective to current social issues and movements." Representatives from the Canadian government will travel to the campus to speak, as well.

"[Western is] a member of the Pacific Northwest Canadian Studies Consortium, which is a group of universities in Canada, Idaho, Washington and Oregon who coordinate to share information with Canada," said Smith. Being members, the Canadian government provides funds for campus faculty to research in Canada and provides scholarships, as well, for students to study abroad in Canada.

"Our mission is to get information about the opportunity to students on campus," said Smith.

During the rest of the week, a short film event will take place. Each year the British Columbia Provisional Government provides funds to filmmakers as part of a competition known as Crazy Eights.

"Local filmmakers get up to $50,000 to go and make a film in eight days," said Geography Professor Shaun Huston.

Thanks to the Canadian government the campus has been permitted to show a collection of these short films.

"Some [of the films] are funny, some are dramatic, some are silent," Huston said. "They are incredibly diverse."

The films will be played Wednesday, Nov. 2 from 4-5 p.m. in Campbell Hall 101, and again Thursday, Nov. 3 from 12-1 p.m. in HSS 237.

An ongoing affair that intertwines with Canada Week is the French Film Festival, a collection of films with French dialogue that are being shown on campus every Wednesday night in ITC 211 for four weeks. They are free of charge and open to the public.

The first film, A Very Long Engagement, was shown on Oct. 26, and the films will continue to play up through Nov. 16. The next film to be viewed is The Barbarian Invasions, on Nov. 2. This film, though in French, was made in Quebec and therefore connects Canada Week with the French Film Festival. Other films still to be shown include Notre Musique, to be played on Nov. 9, marking National French Week (Nov. 2-8), Abouna (Nov. 14) and Eight Women (Nov. 16).

Considering the fact that it costs several hundred dollars to gain public performance rights to show just one film, the campus needed some assistance if all five films were to be shown.

"I applied to the [Canadian] government for aid, and they accepted our proposition because there are other events for the films to double up with," said Huston.

Alone, the French films might not have been shown on campus, but because so many events are able to correspond with the film festival in the next few weeks, the government agreed to provide financial assistance.

"It [National French Week] is a week-long festival celebrating the French culture and people," said French Professor Sylvain Fremaux.

During the week, all French professors will have programs and present lectures in honor of National French Week. There will be events taking place every day of the week.

"The film series runs until International Education Week, which is Nov. 14-18," explained Smith.

International Education Week is the culmination of the events, with activities going on all week long, including a faculty panel, a literature reading and an international potluck dinner.

The French films are free to any who want to see them and are being shown at 7 p.m. in ITC 211.

 

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