The Multicultural Film Festival is an expansion of initiatives to demonstrate Palm Beach Community College's commitment to diversity awareness and understanding. During the three-day event, being held for the first time, films will be shown on each campus.
There will be an official opening of the festival with PBCC President Dennis Gallon on Thursday Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at Stage West at the Duncan Theatre prior to the screening of "Pray the Devil Back to Hell." This film will be hosted jointly with the local arm of the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM), and representatives of the organization will be attending.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2009
PBCC at Boca Raton- Humanities and Technology Building, HT 111
The Visitor (2007) @ 4 p.m.
Directed by Thomas McCarthy. Rated PG-13; 104 minutes
Starring Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira, Hiam Abbass
Hailed as "one of the 2007's most intriguing dramas" (Claudia Puig, USA TODAY), The Visitor stars Best Actor Academy® Award nominee Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) in a perfect performance as Walter, a disaffected college professor who has been drifting aimlessly through his life. When, in a chance encounter on a trip into New York, Walter discovers a couple - a young, Syrian musician named Tarek and his Senegalese girlfriend - has taken up residence in his apartment in the city, he develops an unexpected and profound connection to them that will change his life forever. However, the wheels of injustice in immigration crush all manner of hope in post-9/11 America. As challenges arise for his tenants, Walter finds himself compelled to help his new friends, and rediscovers a passion he thought he had lost long ago. Writer-director Thomas McCarthy has created a wonderfully measured story about change and renewal and about rediscovering life's rhythms in the most unexpected places.
PBCC at Belle Glade - Dolly Hand Cultural Arts Center Lobby
 CRASH (2005)
@ 7 p.m.
Directed by Paul Haggis. Rated R; 100 minutes
Starring Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, Jennifer Esposito
A seemingly simple car accident in Los Angeles brings together a very diverse group of people. As their lives collide the issue of racism and racial profiling is explored as each of these people work through their own fears and inherent prejudices. This film is an example of the interconnectedness of life in the melting pot.
Academy® Award Winner - Best Picture (2005)
(Panel discussion after the film)
PBCC at Lake Worth - Stage West @ the Duncan Theatre
United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) presents
 Pray The Devil Back To Hell (2008)
@ 7 p.m.
By Abigail E. Disney and Gini Reticker. Unrated; 72 min.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the gripping account of a group of brave and visionary women who demanded peace for Liberia, a nation torn to shreds by a decades-old civil war. The women's historic yet unsung achievement finds voice in a narrative that intersperses contemporary interviews, archival images, and scenes of present-day Liberia together to recount the experiences and memories of the women who were instrumental in bringing lasting peace to their country. The film is the extraordinary story of a small band of Liberian women who came together in the midst of a bloody civil war, took on the violent warlords and corrupt Charles Taylor regime, and won a long-awaited peace for their shattered country in 2003.
(Panel discussion after the film, moderated by Leslie Gray Streeter of the Palm Beach Post)
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2009
PBCC at Lake Worth - Stage West @ the Duncan Theatre
IMMOKALEE U.S.A. (2008) @ 6 p.m.
A film by Georg Koszulinski. Unrated; 77 minutes
An intimately observed documentary focused on today's migrant farmworker, a misunderstood, maligned, necessary yet frequently forgotten group living in the shadows of America's massive food production machinery. Georg Koszulinski's at times invisible camera follows a family of undocumented workers as they work hard, raise their children, and are systematically exploited with poor conditions, menial wages, and the threat of prosecution constantly hanging over them. (Q&A with filmmaker after the screening, moderated by PBCC Associate Professor Steve Brahlek)
PBCC at Lake Worth - Stage West @ the Duncan Theatre
 The Class (Entre les murs) (2008)
@ 8:45 p.m.
Directed by Laurent Cantet. Rated PG-13; 128 minutes
François and his fellow teachers prepare for a new year at a high school in a tough neighborhood. Armed with the best intentions, they brace themselves to not let discouragement stop them from trying to give the best education to their students. Cultures and attitudes often clash in the classroom, a microcosm of contemporary France. As amusing and inspiring as the teenaged students can be, their difficult behavior can still jeapordize any teacher's enthusiasm for the low-paying job. François insists on an atmosphere of respect and diligence. Neither stuffy nor severe, his extravagant frankness often takes the students by surprise. But his classroom ethics are put to the test when his students begin to challenge his methods. 2008 Cannes Film Festival : Winner of the Palme D'Or; Winner: Best Foreign Language Film - Independent Spirit® Awards; 2009 Academy® Award Nominee - Best Foreign Language Film.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2009
PBCC at Palm Beach Gardens - Meldon Hall
Salaam Bombay! (1988) @ 4:30 p.m.
Directed by Mira Nair. Not Rated; 114 minutes (in Hindi with English subtitles)
Starring Shafiq Syed, Hansa Vithal
Before Slumdog Millionaire there was Salaam Bombay! Salaam Bombay!, an early film by acclaimed director Mira Nair (soon-to-be released Amelia starring Hillary Swank; Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake), is a gritty drama about a young street beggar in the slums of Bombay trying to raise enough money to return to his mother's house in the country. In the process he encounters every range of experience from humiliation to love.
Admission is free. Seating is limited. First come, first served.
General Admission tickets available one half hour prior to each screening
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