East Central University’s Ninth Annual Foreign Film Festival will celebrate its finale with an event titled “ECU Celebrates Mexico,” on Saturday, Feb. 9, at 6 p.m. in the Bill S. Cole University Center.
The event is free and open to the public. The evening’s entertainment will include musical performances of Spanish-language songs by ECU vocalists Mariana Escobar Chavez, Zach Smith, Ivan Huerta and Juan Oseguera. ECU Showtime, under the direction of Vickie Reifsnider, will perform Julio Iglesia’s “Bailando” and a Spanish-language version of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Members of ECU’s Percussion Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Nicholaus Meyers, will perform “Así te soñé” by Bernard Hendriquez (Guatemala) and “Cielito Lindo,” a traditional Mexican song, arranged for percussion by Ruth Jeanne.
Manuel Jesus Figueroa, Miguel Figuero, Osiel Franco and Valentin Figueroa will also give a rope-spinning demonstration (“floreo de reata”), and Delicias Mexican restaurant will sell tacos and elotes. ECU’s Office of Campus Involvement will be providing free tacos to the first fifty ECU students in attendance.
At 7 p.m., the director of ECU’s Spanish Language program, Dr. Errol King, will introduce the evening’s feature film, “3 Idiotas,” which will be screened in the Raymond J. Estep Multimedia Center. A Spanish-language comedy about college life in Mexico, “3 Idiotas” is rated “PG-13” and has a run time of 1 hour and 45 minutes. Admission to the film is free and open to the public.
At 3:30 pm on Friday, Feb. 8, the afternoon before the Festival finale, ECU’s International Student Connection Club will announce the winner of their Golden Frame Short Film contest. The winning entry will then be screened for the audience. At 4 p.m., Dr. Joshua Grasso, professor in ECU’s Department of English and Languages, will introduce the afternoon’s featured screening: “Anna Karenina: The Musical,” a Russian-language stage performance recorded live at the Moscow Operetta Theatre.
This high-tech production features an original libretto based on Leo Tolstoy’s dramatic love story about the married Anna and a dashing military officer, Alexey Vronsky, set against the luxury of 19th century Russian nobility. Run time for “Anna Karenina: The Musical” is 2 hours, 15 minutes, including one intermission. It is rated “PG-13.”
After each screening, lucky audience members will be given door prizes in the form of books, food and art representative of the cultures featured in each film. Additional door prizes have also been generously donated this year by Delicias Mexican Restaurant, D.K. Nutrition Center, Hardnox Coffeehouse, Hot Shots Coffee House, and The Perfect Blend.
ECU’s Foreign Film Festival is supported by the ECU Foundation, the Cultural Activities Committee, and the Department of English and Languages, and it relies on work provided by student volunteers from Sigma Tau Delta (ECU’s English Honors Society) and ECU’s Honors Student Association.
To learn more about ECU SCREENS and the spring schedule, like the ECU SCREENS Facebook page or visit www.ecuscreens.blogspot.com. Dr. Rebecca Nicholson-Weir, co-director of ECU SCREENS, may be contacted at (580) 559-5929 or rnichlsn@ecok.edu.
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