Flim Festival features 20th century movies rarely viewed in U.S.
By Nate Billings

Staff Writer

The words  classic film  are usually associated with movies like Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and It s a Wonderful Life.

The Missouri Southern International Film Society is trying to change this by introducing students to classic films from other countries and a few little-known movies from the United States.

Harrison Kash, director of the film society, said he has placed his emphasis on finding critically-acclaimed movies that have been written about but seldom seen in the United States.

 The goal of the film society is to present significant films from around the world through the 20th century that are no longer shown main stream,  Kash said.

The 16-millimeter films are from a film library in New York City. Kash said Missouri Southern has a rare opportunity to see these films because the only other places the films are shown are usually in large universities or film institutes. The films are not dubbed and are shown in their original language with English subtitles. Classic movies receive this distinction if filmed before 1980. Kash said the movies are usually as clear as some videos.

 Occasionally, we discover something unknown and little was written about, but it turns out to be a treasure,  Kash said.

He said finding a high-rated movie disappointing is true, too.

Dr. Pedro Talavera, associate professor of Spanish and Russian, helps Kash with the film festival. Talavera became involved in the film society seven years ago when he went to some of the films and became friends with Kash.

 He is very persistent,  Talavera said.  It s just a few people who have the stamina to do what he does. He s a wonderful person. 

Talavera said Kash does most of the work himself, and that many people associate him with the society even though Kash is retired.

Kash has worked with the film society since its beginning some 41 years ago. The society was originally funded by the Spiva Art Center and later came to Southern. The film festival is sponsored in part by the Institute of International Studies.

The films for this year s festival come from Cuba, England, Hungary, Germany, France, Czechoslovakia and Russia. The oldest film is the German film, Destiny from 1921. The first film is an American film from the Depression era. It is one of the few films produced at the time.

Rahila Khan, sophomore physics major, went to a French film the society viewed last year. She said the movies are different from pop culture. She said she would like to go once in awhile to see a film from another country.

 Even if I didn t like it, I d go see one again,  Khan said.