Carnegie Mellon’s annual International Film Festival (CMU IFF) opened on Thursday, March 21 at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. The opening night was celebrated with a screening of “Four Daughters,”directed by Kaouther Ben Hania. The film followed the story of a Tunisian mother and her four daughters growing up with the struggles of domestic violence, the Tunisian revolution, social and gender roles, and the lure of radical religious groups. Afterward, the audience was treated to a Q&A discussion with the director and food catered by Salem’s Market.
Spanning March 21 to April 7, CMU IFF will screen 13 films, hold one short film competition event, and present two workshops on filmmaking. The films are internationally acclaimed, by directors around the world, and have won prizes at film festivals like the Berlin, Cannes, Hong Kong, Mar de Plata, and Seattle film festivals. The short film competition is a contest among student filmmakers in the Pittsburgh region to produce “meaningful, interesting, and unique films,” which will be scored by a panel of judges for a $1,000 grand prize. Additionally, the two filmmaking workshops provide attendees with learning opportunities based on the same techniques employed by the festival’s acclaimed filmmakers.
Four theaters are hosting the screenings: the Harris Theater downtown, the Gailliot Center at Carlow University, McConomy auditorium at Carnegie Mellon, and the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty. The festival is planned and coordinated by a team of students and young professionals, among them Jolanta Lion, the director, and Isaac Fisher, executive assistant. After Thursday’s guests finished their food and left, the team gathered for a huddle to discuss some logistics in preparation for the upcoming events.
The festival has several sponsors, which include Carlow University and the University of Pittsburgh. The Dietrich College Humanities Center is a primary sponsor and organizer. Among the other Carnegie Mellon sponsors, the Department of Modern Languages in Dietrich College and Heinz College’s Office of Diversity, Inclusion, Climate, and Equity also have considerable roles. Professors in the Modern Languages department are moderating several of the post-screening discussions, and Professor Nevine Abraham moderated the discussion on Thursday’s opening night. Students in the Department of Modern Languages also have a free pass to all the festival’s showings.
This year’s theme is “Faces of Fear,” which explores the ways “each of us copes with and learns from our different worries.” The festival is intended to ask the audience, “How do we defy and overcome our fears?” The festival presenters believe that fear is a mask which deserves to be uncovered, freeing us from our physical and metaphorical shackles. It costs $10 to attend a screening, which are scheduled for most days this week.
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