Social Justice Film Series hopes to provide purpose to moviegoers

While it may appear that Richmond’s 2006 spring cinema offerings vary only between one male comedian disguised as an old woman versus another, VCU’s first Social Justice Film Series provides a viable and free alternative.

Spanning from February through the beginning of April, the five-part film series features documentaries with compelling human rights issues presented by their creators – local filmmakers and various professors from around Virginia.

Social Justice Film Series
Monday, Feb. 27 “Videoletters”
Monday, March 20 “Compadre”
Monday, April 3 Two films by Claudia Ferman

Regions shown in the series range from Peru to Europe to southern Mexico and highlight issues such as terrorism and the fear thereof, dire poverty and living and writing in modern Cuba.

“These films help us imagine ourselves in situations that are quite unbearable,” said Gina Kovarsky, associate professor of Russian and international studies and one of the series’ creators. “They help us make that leap of imagination and think about what is necessary to other people. These films are very stimulating and disturbing. They’re hard to watch at times but in a good way.”

The third installment, “Videoletters,” takes place at 4 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 27, in the Commons Theater.

Composed of several short documentary films, “Videoletters” gives voice to the scattered inhabitants of war-torn Yugoslavia and seeks to reconnect separated friends in the region.

“The lesson from (Videoletters) is that it is possible to look at the other person as another human being, not demonizing them, and not allowing your hurt to become a defense mechanism.not allowing that hurt to preclude dialogue. So it actually shows a renewal of dialogue.”

The film series follows in the recent footsteps of World Studies 210: International Social Justice, the seminal class in a developing social justice curriculum at VCU, also in its first year. With 50 students enrolled, the class proves to teacher Mark Wood that around VCU there “seems to be tremendous hunger for living a less alienated life, one of real meaning and purpose.”

Featuring guest speakers ranging from VCU professors and the Sierra Club to the Fulton Hill Community Resource Center, the class covers local concerns varying from a living wage for Richmond’s working class to cleaning the polluted Chesapeake Bay.

“Social justice is about improving the overall quality of life for all of us,” said Wood, also one of the collaborators on the film series’ creation. “It’s about creating the conditions that allow every person to flourish, so it’s not limited really.”

While many may see social justice and activism on its behalf to involve great personal sacrifices, Wood disagrees.

“It’s not a matter of altruism,” he said. ” People often say you have to go sacrifice, but take a look at the number of people taking medication to feel better about their lives. About one out of every seven people is on prescription mood-altering medication. Add to that non-prescription, getting trashed on whatever it is, and you’ve got a pretty good percentage of people that aren’t that happy with their lives.”

After Monday’s showing, the Social Justice Film Series will return on Monday, March 20 with Mikael Winstrom’s “Compadre” and on Monday, April 3, with two films by Richmond’s Claudia Ferman. The two screenings cover a filmmaker’s struggle to maintain a friendship with an impoverished Peruvian named Daniel, and the lives of contemporary Cuban writer Leonardo Padura and Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, respectively.

“I would invite everyone to come,” Kovarsky said. “You don’t have to be a student of Peruvian politics.to identify with the endurance and suffering of people in this region.”

Wood hopes that students would walk away from the film series with a broader idea of how to interact in the world around them.

“By showing some examples from the past ,” he said, “you can light a spark and inspire people to commit not only to their own advancement, but uplifting others and in doing so to live a truly beautiful life.”