Community Cinema kicks off third season at ISU

A new season of the Community Connections outreach film series kicks off Sept. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at the Idaho State University Pond Student Union Theater featuring the film “Please Vote for Me.”

Community Connections offers monthly sneak previews of films selected from the Independent Lens series. Each screening is followed by a speaker and audience discussion of issues raised in the film. The series is made possible through a partnership of Idaho Public Television, the Independent Television Service and Idaho State University. All screening events are free and open to the public.

 “Please Vote for Me” is billed as “an impossibly charming film” featuring a third grade class in the Wahun province of China and the intense politicking in the race to become Class Monitor. Mud-slinging, bribes, heckling, mob mentality and offers of high office in the new administration are all part of the campaign tactics these 7-year-olds employ.

The story unfolds far from the giant factories, crowded markets, or even picturesque villages. The classrooms are state-of-the-art and the children’s homes look remarkably like middle class urban homes in the West. The film provides a private view of a microcosm of contemporary Chinese culture. It is also a classic election drama, albeit with 7-year-olds.

Ted Davis, an ISU faculty member in East Asian history, will speak and lead the follow-up discussion on the democratic process in the U.S. and in China.

The schedule for the remainder of the film series is as follows:

Oct. 9: “Miss Navajo,” a celebration of traditional Navajo skills and language.

Nov. 13: “An Unreasonable Man,” Ralph Nader’s lifelong fight against the establishment, from cars to politics.

Dec. 4: “Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita,” the high-stakes quest to harness the potential of stem cell medicine.

Jan. 29: “Banished,” the shocking history of racial cleansing in U.S. cities and counties reverberates today.

Feb. 26: “Iron Ladies of Liberia,” go behind the scenes with Africa’s first freely elected female head of state.

March 18: “King Corn,” follow one acre of corn from field to destinations ranging from soda to cookies to fast food to your DNA.

April 15: “A Dream in Doubt,” a personal story of America’s first post 9/11 hate crime murder that punctuated a wave of violence.

For more information about the ITVS Community Cinema, visit www.idahoptv.org/cinema.