Hosted in conjunction with the International Student Association, International Student Services, and sponsored by the Student Government, Cerritos College began an International Film Festival to correlate with International Education Week.
A week long celebration dedicated to diversity and the difference between other cultures, from Monday through Thursday, the ISA will be showing films chosen by different professors. Each film will be a visual representation of a different countries culture.
The first film of the week was the 2010 remake of The Karate Kid, which was chosen as an accurate depiction of Chinese culture by Professor Yiran Zhou.
” We decided to start with China because we thought it would attract more attention from students,” explained ISA President Brenna Varney. “Everyone knows the Karate Kid, be it the original or remake. It’s about learning to treat others the same, and that’s something that we want to teach this week.”
In addition to using each film to visually show culture, before every film students are offered free samples of traditional food of each day’s culture. Dishes for the Chinese theme included Lo Mein noodles, Egg Flower soup with corn, and almond cookies.
As students sat down, Zhou explained some of the aspects of the movie that students could observe.
“The movie, very ingeniously, envelops everything that is Chinese culture,” explained Zhou. ” We see real China, the mix of traditional living and modern. The mixing of the rich and the poor. We see an accurate portrayal of China.”
Vanessa Yanez, a student of the mental health care provider program, was taking Chinese with Prof. Zhou when she learned of the event.
” He had mentioned it on and off during classes, and then I got an email from him explaining it,” said Yanez.
“it’s always nice to see things from another person’s view. i know often we classify people by ethnicities like ‘oh that Italian director,’ but for me, it’s different. i just want to see a good film.”
” We have at Cerritos students from 25 or more different countries, and this film festival is great way for them to be more involved,” stated International Admission Specialist David Tilahun. “We wanted to make more activities for them, and hopefully we can continue this next year as well.”
