Move over Sundance and Toronto, West Windsor is getting set to debut its own international film festival, with plans to make it an annual event. “A Journey Across Cultures,” three films on three Friday evenings (January 30, February 27, and April 16), is the brainchild of Elane Gutterman, a board member of the West Windsor Arts Council and a research scientist who runs Health Data Analytics, a consulting business with her husband.
She experienced the West Windsor school system’s “impressive amount of cohesion and activities that bring kids from different groups together” with her own children, but Gutterman, says “adults miss out on some of that.” She adds that the Arts Council’s Chinese art show and an art show mounted by West Windsor mayor Shing-fu Hsueh’s foundation “brought out whole segments of the Chinese community who don’t normally come to other Arts Council events.”
Each evening of the festival will include one film — one Indian, one Chinese, and one American — introduced by a speaker who will comment on the film’s cultural and historical context. The film will be followed by discussion and culturally-themed refreshments. “I wanted to make this festival a step in helping adults see the rich traditions that are in the community but also bring them together on an interpersonal level,” says Gutterman.
The festival kicks off Friday, January 30, with “Mr. and Mrs. Iyer,” directed by Aparna Sen, about the bond that forms between a young south Indian upper caste Hindu wife (played by Sen’s daughter) and a single Muslim photographer when the bus they are riding is attacked by a band of Hindu extremists.
The speaker will be Ram Kolluri, president of Global Value Investors in West Windsor and the chairman of the board of the Indian American Civic Forum, dedicated to enhancing understanding between the Indian and non-Indian communities in Middlesex and Mercer counties.
On Friday, February 27, the festival will present the 2003 film of Chinese director Chen Kaige (who also plays the lead), best known for “Farewell, My Concubine.” An American film will be shown on Friday, April 16. (Licensing agreements preclude the festival from announcing the titles of the Chinese and American films in advance.)
“I’ll feel really good if there are a lot of Indians and non-Indians at the Indian night,” says Gutterman, “but what will really indicate success is if there are Chinese who also come to the Indian night.”
A Journey Across Cultures, Fridays, January 30, February 27, and April 16, 7:30 p.m. at Grover Middle School. $10; $25 series pass (discounts for seniors and students), 609-919-1982.
