Are you looking for something to do on Friday evenings? CineCulture offers free screenings of independent films nearly every Friday during the school year to Fresno State campus students, faculty and staff and the broader community. The movies are followed by a discussion with someone involved in the film or an expert on the subject.

All films screened on campus are free and open to the public. Parking is not enforced after 4 p.m. on Fridays.

"Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" (2002)
When: 5:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7.
Where: Peters Education Center Auditorium (west of the Save Mart Center in the Student Recreation Center building)

Discussant: Dr. Ed EmanuEl

Chinese-French author, screenwriter and filmmaker Dai Sijie directed this feature film based on his own semi-autobiographical novel set in the early 1970s during the later stages of China’s Cultural Revolution. It tells the story of two young men, university students, who are sent to a remote mountain village in southwest China for three years of Communist re-education to purge them of their decadent Western education. Amid the back-breaking work and stifling ignorance of the community, they fall in love with a local beauty, the daughter of the most renowned tailor in the region. When they discover a hidden suitcase filled with banned books by western writers, they read these works to the little seamstress for hours on end in a secret meeting place. Thirsting for knowledge of the world beyond, she is mesmerized by the novels of 19th century French writer Honoré de Balzac and eventually falls in love with the two young men who read this author’s stories to her. On her mystical journey, the Little Seamstress finds the courage to leave her village for broader horizons.

Sponsor: Center for Creativity and the Arts

Coming next — " A Girl from Mogadishu" (2019)

Written and directed by northern Irish filmmaker Mary McGuckian, "A Girl from Mogadishu" is a feature film based on the true story and testimony of Ifrah Ahmed, a young Somali-Irish activist who emerged as one of the world’s foremost international activists against gender-based violence. Born in a refugee camp in Somalia, Ahmed (Aja Noami King) escapes her war-torn native country and is trafficked to Ireland as a teenager. Recounting her traumatic childhood experiences of female genital mutilation when applying for refugee status, she vows to devote her life to the eradication of this horrendous practice. Taking her campaign all the way to the President of Ireland and finally to the European Parliament and United Nations, "A Girl from Mogadishu" celebrates the power of testimony, for when women find the courage to stand up, speak out and tell their truth, the impact can be so inspiring and empowering that it acts as a meaningful catalyst for change.

For a complete schedule, visit the College of Arts and Humanities blog.