The two days film festival on the theme of ‘Black History Month’ started today at USOL Auditorium (4^th floor), Panjab University (PU). The film festival is being organised by the American Centre in collaboration with University School of Open Learning (USOL), PU and Cinedarbaar.

        American Embassy’s Cultural Affairs officer Mr. Jonathan Kessler, American Embassy’s Information Resource Officer Mr. Bill Middleton, PU, DSW (Women) Prof. Nandita, Chairperson USOL Prof. R.K. Gupta and Library Director Kala Dutta inaugurated the festival.

        The two films were shown on the first day of the film festival. The film festival opened with the movie “Rosa Parks Story” by Julie Dash which shares experiences of the life of Rosa Park and her actions in civil rights. The second show was of film “Beloved” starring Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, Yadda Beener based on a book by Toni Morrison.

        Ms. Supriya, Mr. Nitesh, Prof. Archana Ojha, Indu Wadhwa, Programme Manager, American Embassy  and Jeesu Jaskanwar Singh from USOL, PU organised the quiz and interactive session with the audience during which the discussion on the black history, contemporary issues took place.

Mr. Jonathan discussed the achievements by black Americans and the importance of black history month. He also shared the commonality between Indian and American culture in respect to diversity and social issues.

Prof. Nandita also shared her views on the theme of the film festival and the values, we can imbibe from the films being showcased during the film festival. Prof. R.K. Gupta highlighted the achievements by black Americans. Mr. Sudhir Baweja gave the vote of thanks to the dignitaries present during the inauguration ceremony.

        The second day of the festival i.e. February 14 would show films “Talk to Me” at 9.45 AM which is a biographical film about a radio personality Petey Greene who was also a community activist in the 1960s. The festival comes to an end with two contemporary films- “42” at 12 Noon a biographical sports film about baseball player Jackie Robinson who became the first African- American Player. The closing film of the festival is marked by the filming of the historical drama and a critically acclaimed film “12 years of Slave” at 2 pm Directed by Steven Mc Queen.