News Releases @ TCC

TCC Presents A FREE International Film Series Nov. 14-21

Films from Iran and China are area premiers

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - (Nov. 3, 2003) - Tidewater Community College celebrates International Education Week with an International Film Festival, Nov. 14-21. The film series is free and open to the public.

All films will be shown at the Virginia Beach campus Pungo Auditorium at 1700 College Crescent.

"The films represent a broad range of styles and cultures," says Vernon Cramer, TCC's director of instructional technology and film festival organizer. "We're pleased to offer free showings to give our students and the community an opportunity to learn more about international films. This year, we are particularly pleased to present two area premiers with "Together" and "Marooned In Iraq." Dr. Bill Jones, a professor from Virginia Wesleyan, will provide a brief introduction for each of the films. The film series is the inspiration of the TCC

International Programs Office and is funded by the Virginia Beach campus Student Activities Office.

Whale Rider , Nov. 14, 5 and 7:30 p.m. (New Zealand)

Whale Rider has been something of a sensation on the international film-festival circuit, winning awards at influential festivals such as Sundance, Toronto, Rotterdam, San Francisco and more. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by

tradition to pick a male leader. Pai sets out to prove herself worthy of the post. The film, released in June, 2003, is based on the novel by Witi Ihimaera and was written and directed by Niki Caro.

L'Auberge Espagnole , Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m. (France)

A huge hit in France, this comedy centers around a French college student who gets his first taste of European diversity when he moves into a Barcelona apartment and embarks on a yearlong study-abroad program. His roommates are three guys from Italy, Denmark and Germany and three girls from England, Belgium and Andalusia. Together, the seven experience life, romance and endless adventures. Written and directed by

Cedric Klapisch.

Nine Queens , Nov. 18, 7:30 p.m. (Argentina)

This captivating heist tale follows two small-time grifters who team up to pull off a big-time score involving a set of valuable counterfeit stamps known as the Nine Queens. But when the rules of the con game unexpectedly change, the two crooks find themselves pitted against each other in this taut psychological thriller in which neither the players nor the audience know for sure who is playing whom. Written and directed by Fabian Belinsky.  

Together , Nov. 19, 7:30 p.m. (China - AREA PREMIER)

From the director of "Farewell My Concubine" comes this moving and beautiful film about a 13-year-old violinist and his father who move from their small town into Beijing so the boy can get training he needs

to audition for a prestigious music academy. Once he arrives, he finds that his talent and dream of success are set off course by the corrupting power of money and misguided friendship. Directed by Chen Kaige and written by Xue Xiao Lu.

Marooned In Iraq , Nov. 20, 7:30 p.m. (Iran - AREA PREMIER)

The war with Iran is over and Saddam's air force is now engaged in exterminating the Kurdish population. In the midst of the chaos, Mirza, an aging well-known Iranian Kurdish singer receives an urgent message from his ex-wife Hannah that she is in need of help. Accompanied by his two musician sons, Mirza begins a perilous journey to help her that is marked both by comic misadventures and near heartbreak. Written and directed by Bahman Ghobadi.

Nowhere In Africa , Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m. (Germany)

A love story spanning two continents, "Nowhere in Africa" is the extraordinary true tale of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for a remote farm in Kenya. Winner of the 2002 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, "Nowhere in Africa" is based on the bestselling autobiographical novel by Stefanie Zweig. Written and directed by Caroline Link.

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Tidewater Community College is the second largest of the 23 community colleges in the Commonwealth of Virginia, enrolling more than 34,000 students annually. The 37th largest in the nation's 1,600 community-college network, TCC ranks among the 50 fastest-growing large community colleges. Founded in 1958 as a part of the Virginia Community College System, the college serves the South Hampton Roads region with campuses in Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach as well as the TCC Jeanne and George Roper Performing Arts Center in the theater district in downtown Norfolk and a regional Advanced Technology Center in Virginia Beach. Forty-three percent of the region's residents attending a college or university in Virginia last fall were enrolled at TCC.

For more information, visit www.tcc.edu.

Media Contact: Laurie White, Chief Communications Officer
757-822-1085, LWhite@tcc.edu