By Elisabeth George | Reporter
The first event in a weekly World Cinema Series was held on Tuesday evening, showing the Spanish film, “Techo Y Comida” in the Bennett Auditorium by Spanish lecturer Julio Aguilar.
Hosted by the Modern Languages and Cultures department, they plan to hold a movie showing every Tuesday in one of the foreign languages represented in the department.
Rosario Colchero-Dorado, Spanish lecturer at Baylor and the event’s organizer said the event has been held for about eight years.
“The idea is to show the students that the foreign languages they are studying are alive and show a different perspective on every aspect of the different cultures they represent,” Dorado said. “It is very easy to think of foreign languages as simply a lot of grammatical rules and vocabulary that you have to memorize in order to pass, and forget about the practical part it has learning a foreign language.”
Dorado said the movies are chosen each week by the professors who teach their respective languages. They can be related to topics such as current events, cultural issues or subject matter covered in class.
“All movies are shown with English subtitles, so you should have no problem following the plot. It is really interesting to learn about other perspectives, points of views, on the same issues that we are used to see through our own eyes,” Dorado said.
Some professors encourage attendance by requiring students to attend as part of an assignment for class or for extra credit.
Los Angeles freshman Megan Ober said she came to the event for class credit in her Spanish class. Ober said attending this event gave her a better appreciation for the language.
“Just to be able to see it more in context; and [I got] a better appreciation for their film industry as well,” Ober said.
Austin senior Maya Kobalik attended the event too and said she loves to learn about culture and is taking both Spanish and French, but did not attend the event for class credit. Kobalik said while she may not personally recommend the movie presented, she would still encourage her friends to attend this event.
