Films can be transportive. Foreign films in particular can take you to other parts of the world and deepen your understanding of different cultures and global issues. The NYU SPS Academy of Lifelong Learning (ALL) course, Global Hotspots Through Foreign Film, will allow you to delve into rich foreign films from diverse cultures. This class begins February 23rd, and will be taught by adjunct instructor, Roberta Seret-Bayer. Seret-Bayer is the Director of Advanced English and Film at the United Nations for the Hospitality Committee and Founder of the NGO at the UN, International Cinema Education. She’s the author of World Affairs in Foreign Film, and her fiction series Transylvanian Trilogy.
Read on below for our interview with Seret-Bayer and learn more about her course!
What can students expect from the global hotspots through foreign film class?
RS: Foreign film entertains, educates and inspires. Each film we view is made in another country, using history and politics as the factual background and fiction for the storyline. Fact and fiction blend together to take the viewer to a different culture. Discussing them in class opens our mind and allows us to share thoughts and learn from others.
How did you curate the film list for the course? Which films will be in the curriculum?
RS: Following foreign events and matching a film from a global hotspot is a passion and puzzle for me. International filmmakers tend to share my interest and use the current events of their country as their film’s infrastructure. Directors today of global cinema are journalists. They use cinema as their tool to show what is happening in their country and make their viewers around the world aware of their country. Many of these films win prizes at Cannes, Berlin, Toronto. Watching these films allows us the pleasure of travelling without needing a passport or visa. And we can enter a country through the screen that might be prohibitive to us.
This Spring semester we will travel all over the world to Global Hotspots by using cinema as our vehicle. The list is exciting of our 8 films from 8 different countries:
“Lydia Tar/ Tar” (Germany/ USA)
“Persepolis” (Iran)
“Olga” (Ukraine)
“Triangle of Sadness” (Sweden)
“Tsotsi” (South Africa)
“Bardo “(Mexico)
“Argentina” 1985 (Argentina)
“The Fencer” (Estonia)
What can foreign films teach us about geopolitics and cultures around the world?
RS: The world is very much with us. The internet, social media and television have made global events come closer and faster to us. What happens in Ukraine or China in the morning becomes part of our awareness in the afternoon and evening. The foreign films from our class give us the factual background via storyline and visuals. This helps us better understand the country’s culture and today’s current events. For each film, I give my students a packet of handouts that includes a map of the film’s host country, historical and political background, and a summary of the film and analysis. The literature reinforces the visual and at the end of our 2-hour class, we understand better the film as well as the country’s geo-politics.
How has your experience at the U.N. influenced how you teach film?
RS: I have the privilege through my NGO at the United Nations, International Cinema Education, to teach diplomats and their families ESL by using foreign films. The captions help increase their vocabulary and our discussions help improve their fluency in speaking English. Often, I have a student from the host country of the film, and we get first-hand commentaries and explanations. In this way, we learn some hidden secrets. These are the films that I share and screen for my NYU students, and I include this first-hand, inside information.
What do you find most rewarding about teaching this class?
RS: EVERYTHING! I am the one who learns the most. I see each film 2 or 3 times as I prepare it for my class, and that allows me to delve deeper and concentrate on details. I also value our discussions. We form a community of friends in our class that extends outside the classroom. This coming together offers us an ease in communicating to each other in class and sharing what we think. What could be more exciting than to use cinema as a vehicle to learn and enjoy at the same time? And the films take us to countries we may have seen in the past or on our wish list to visit.
Sign up for Global Hotspots Through Foreign Film, beginning February 23rd online.
