Short film is an interesting medium. Its brevity forces directors to distill thoughts and ideas to their most essential form; its status of niche product makes it a great environment for experimentation; its lower production costs allow a vast number of young creatives with fresh ideas to approach this form of art.

Together with all the other language interns, in our role of “cultural ambassadors” at Colgate, we curated a selection of short films we will be screening in four separate events throughout the semester, the first one being this Thursday (January 28th) at 5:00PM in Lawrence 20. For each screening, we chose a broad theme and selected short films reflecting our own cultures: the first theme will be identity, in all of its shades (nationality, gender, ethnicity, profession, and so on).

The claim for this event could be speed dating ideas from around the world: in about one hour, we will confront ourselves with a variety of different takes on the notion of “identity”, watching a diverse and fast-paced series of works lasting from 2 to 15 minutes. For our first event, Russian and Italian food and snacks will be served at the end of the screening.

Here is the complete calendar of the festival (all four events will take place at 5:00PM in Lawrence 20):

1/28 Identity (food from Russia and Italy)
2/25 Memory (food from France and China)
3/24 Spirituality (food from Japan and Germany)
4/14 Conflict (food from Spain and the Middle East)

Don’t miss it!

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This week I attended one of two sessions of the fifth Digital Witness Symposium sponsored by the Central New York Humanities Corridor in conjunction with Hamilton College and Syracuse University. This year, the symposium brought two fascinating speakers, both experts in new media, who spoke about the way that digital media (especially film) is being used to highlight social issues around the world. Each of the speakers brought up some though-provoking points about how the internet has created the opportunity for interaction beyond the typical film structure. And I think the projects they showcased offer some great opportunities for integrating film into a course in a way that engages students in higher-order thinking.

The first speaker, professor of film and new media at Ithaca College Patricia Zimmerman, focused her message on the way that documentary makers are changing the way they interact with their audience. Rather than produce a linear film that has a singular message mediated by a single director, these new documentaries use methods of crowdsourcing to get more directly to the people affected by  a certain social condition. This type of filmmaking is less about telling a story, and more about engaging people in deeper discussion. There is less a sense of direct confrontation and more of a feeling of open dialogue. The four aspects that characterize this new style, Zimmermann said, are that 1) they deal with very specific people and places, on a small scale (as opposed to documentaries that would take on larger, global issues). 2) they are about designing encounters and promoting discussion about an issue (as opposed to promoting a specific plan or political agenda), 3) they rely heavily on collaboration, and 4) they are inviting of people of all viewpoints.

The second speaker, Sarah Wolozin, runs the Open Doc Lab at MIT and is herself an accomplished film and new media artist. In her talk, she showcased some of the more ambitious documentary projects similar to those described by Zimmermann. She showed how filmmakers are exploring new ways of interacting with films, mixing new techniques with web-based platforms that allow users to explore a film outside of the traditional linear path that would normally be set by a director. These new forms allow for individualized viewing experiences, but also encourage users to continue thinking about and discussing the issues beyond the film by connecting online. I found all of these new approaches to filmmaking fascinating, but also a rich resource for classroom use. Many of the projects came from different countries, and could easily be used to help students learn more about a different culture and engage them in higher-order thinking as they become active users exploring information in a new way and finding ways to contribute. Below are a few projects that caught my eye and that could be useful in various language classrooms.

18 Days in Egypt

18 Days in Egypt is a web site that accompanies a film of the same name in an attempt to gather and tell the stories of experiences during the 2011 uprisings. The site has a variety of user-created streams with photos, videos, audio, and text. Students could explore the site endlessly, learning both about culture and using their Arabic language skills. The site has many resources, both in Arabic and English.

Quipu Project

The Quipu Project is an effort to make the stories of victims of forced sterilization in Peru heard. The project involves mobile storytelling, but bringing mobile technology to remote villages.

From their web site:

Inspired by the Quipu, an Inca communication system made of knotted threads, the project is creating a collective string of oral histories. Contributors can record and listen to themselves and others, through an interactive phone line and local radio stations, while connecting to a wider audience through the web.

Engage Media

Engage Media is one of the most ambitious and perhaps richest of these types of projects. Engage Media is an alternative to YouTube dedicated, allowing uploads related to social justice in the Asian Pacific. Users can browse by country, which is extensive and includes several languages, including Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Arabic, and many, many more. Videos can be easily shared using links, and even downloaded for later use or for showing in areas without internet connections. This video, for example, showd the umbrella protests in Hong Kong.

Patricia Zimmermann has curated a list of these types of projects in several languages, and they can be viewed on her blog. Any of these project offers a great resource for students, and they could be asked to explore and present to the class something they learned from the project. Each also has the potential for collaboration for more advanced students.

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By Sonia Pérez Escalante
Spanish Language Intern

Although knowing the grammar is an essential step in learning any language, textbooks are not always able to convey the linguistic and cultural nuances, because it’s actually in the jargon, dialects, emotions, and humor where the soul of languages is… Especially in languages such as Spanish, spoken in over twenty different countries each of them with its own specific characteristics. For this reason, a good way to discover the differences among all the Spanish speaking countries is through movies, which give the viewer an easily understandable cultural and linguistic context through images, body language, and expressions. Here we show a top-five list of Spanish movies (suitable for students from beginner to advanced levels) that will help you with the study of this wonderful language.

TRES METROS SOBRE EL CIELO
(Beginner)

This Spanish movie by Fernando González Molina, based on a novel by the Italian writer Federico Moccia, it’s a romantic drama that tells the story of a young couple who belong to different worlds. Hugo (Mario Casas) is a handsome and rebellious boy who likes speed and extreme living. And on the other hand, Babi (Maria Valverde), is a girl from an upper-middle class family, raised in purity and innocence. The vocabulary is rather simple, making it easy to follow the plot without difficulty. The film also contains good examples of the typical way young people speak in Spain.

EL HIJO DE LA NOVIA
(Beginner/Intermediate)

This film by Rafael Belvedere is an emotional story about love, family, dreams, and learning to get old. “El hijo de la novia” (“The Son of the Bride”) tells the story of a single father trying to take care of his young daughter as he struggles to maintain the family restaurant he inherited from his parents. This movie is not only funny and touching, but it is also a great way to face the Spanish of Argentina and learn the vocabulary and grammatical differences between Latin American Spanish and the “standard” Spanish.

DIARIOS DE MOTOCICLETA
(Intermediate)

Diarios de Motocicleta (Motorcycle Diaries) is a story based on the real diaries of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the leader of the Cuban and Latin American revolutions. In Diarios de Motocicleta we see a young doctor Guevara traveling from Argentina to Peru to volunteer at a leper colony. His experience on the road and the subsequent exposure to the impressive local indigenous poor tribes shows the development of Guevara who will eventually lead a revolution that radically changed the destiny of Latin America. This movie is a fantastic viewing for students of all levels because it contains examples of slang and dialects throughout South America, essential for any well-formed Spanish speaker, and also important information about Latinos’ history.

MAR ADENTRO
(Intermediated High)

Directed by the acclaimed Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar, Mar Adentro is based on the true story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who fought an almost 30-year campaign in favor of euthanasia and his own right to die. Although this movie requires a more advanced level of Spanish, you will have the chance to recognize the imperative, subjunctive, and past tenses and get used to them in colloquial situations.

AMORES PERROS
(Advanced)

Amores Perros is a 2000 Mexican drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. The film is constructed from three distinct but overlapping stories linked by a car accident that brings the characters briefly together, showing the viewer the huge gap between social classes which still exists in Mexico DF and helping Spanish students improve their vocabulary and their understanding of some complex forms of Spanish grammar thanks to the explicit images which always accompany them.

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Media type: Short films

Source: Youtube

Language: Brazilian Portuguese

Language Level: Varies from intermediate to advanced, but could be used for beginning level classes

Porta dos Fundos (Backdoor) is unlike the typical films that one might find in a language class. In fact, it’s not a film at all, but a series of humorous videos produced entirely on a YouTube channel. Nevertheless, Porta dos Fundos is a great source for students of Brazilian Portuguese. The excellent production quality and good acting will keep students interested, and the films could easily be adapted for activities ranging from beginning to advanced language study.

Perhaps the aspect of Porta dos Fundos that is most appealing for use in a language classrooms is its production quality. The videos do not resemble the typical humor one might associate with Brazilian television. They are much more similar to Saturday Night Live Digital Shorts. Even more important, the humor of Portas dos Fundos rarely relies on wordplay, meaning that students can more easily understand the situational humor and do not have to struggle with intricate double meanings.

Take, for example, the following video, in which a doctor informs a happy couple of new parents that they will not be having a boy or a girl, but a cat. (Note: this is taken from the group’s English-language Youtube page, which posts a selection of videos with English subtitles).

Here students, even at a beginner or intermediate level, could easily get the joke.

Another benefit of Portas dos Fundos is that it covers a wide variety of topics, making it possible to find a video that would work well with the grammar or vocabulary being used in class. Take this video, for example, of an interesting exchange that occurs when a woman tries to check her baggage before a flight. The video would nicely compliment  a unit on travel.

But Porta dos Fundos offers more than just silly situations with strange people. It covers important cultural and political questions that could be part of larger class discussion in an advanced conversation class. For example, this video take humorous look at the way people view the poor in Brazil, which could help lead to lengthier discussions in a conversation class.

Or this video, which deals with the timely topic of food politics.

In addition to the YouTube videos, Porta dos Fundos has published a book with the scripts of many of their videos, which may help in lower-level classes. They have also produced a DVD, which has Portuguese-language subtitles that may help students needing help with understanding content.

The Portas dos Fundos videos are both entertaining and useful in a classroom setting. The only caveat would be that instructors should be careful about which videos they show, since many of them may not be completely appropriate (although they will give students some vocabulary they wouldn’t normally learn in a classroom setting).

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Beginning this semester, the Keck Center will use this blog space to provide useful material for faculty and students learning languages at Colgate. Our posts will focus on finding ways to make language learning more productive as well as highlighting some of the activities going on at the Keck Center and some of the work being done with languages by students and faculty at Colgate. We will be reviewing language learning materials , including software, web sites, mobile apps, and foreign films. We will highlight the work of our language interns, student workers, and majors and minors in the language departments. In addition, you can find information about upcoming events, and notes and materials from workshops presented by the Keck Center. We look forward to having a great, productive year of language learning at Colgate!

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