The third annual Margaret Mead Traveling Film Festival is coming to the Virgin Islands. Each year, the American Museum of Natural History in New York screens dozens of the best innovative, non-fiction films and selects favorites for its traveling show. Once again, the University of the Virgin Islands will host this traveling festival of excellent films from around the world on April 10-12.
This year's program features six films. All of them will be screened free of charge from 6-10 p.m., in Chase Auditorium, Room 110 of the Business Building on the St. Thomas campus and on St. Croix in the Theater – Evans Center, room 401. Two films will be screened each night.
Saturday April 11
"River of No Return" – Australia – Darlene Johnson- 52 minutes.
Frances Daingangan is a 45-year old mother of three, who comes from the remote community of Ramingining in North East Arnhem land. Like many young girls, Frances dreamed of being a movie star – a dream that came true when Rolf de Heer cast her in the lead female role of Nowalingu in "Ten Canoes." Her journey from traditional tribal life to red carpets and award ceremonies is unlike any other. It's a fascinating and unique story as Frances learns to overcome huge personal and cultural challenges. "River of No Return" is a story of change and transformation as she learns to move between the ancient life of the Yolgnu and the modern world of the white culture.
"Today the Hawk Takes One Chick" – Swaziland – Africa – 72 minutes.
Witnessing the highest prevalence of HIV in the world and the lowest life expectancy, three grandmothers in Swaziland cope in this critical moment in time. Today, "The Hawk Takes One Chick" moves delicately between the lives of three unique grandmothers, whose experiences highlight a rural community at the threshold of simultaneous collapse and reinvention. Through the poignant perspective of the three women, the film creates a portrait of a community by layering discrete moments in time. Presented without overt narrative structure or narration, the film's drama emerges from the patient accumulation of steady details that, in sum, tell a greater story of family, struggle and the weight of an uncertain future in a world dictated by AIDS. The events in the film occur in a rural area within a 15-mile radius of St. Phillips Health Center where one of the women, Thandiwe Mathujwa, works as a nurse. The facts that precede the film are that in the southern African kingdom of Swaziland, nearly 40 percent of its people are HIV positive and life expectancy has dropped to 32 years. The lives of the three grandmothers featured in the film have been consumed by addressing the needs of their community while at the same time remaining the threads of the fraying traditional life.
Seating is limited and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. For information about the Margaret Mead Film Festival, contact Prof. Alex Randall at 693-1377 or by e-mail at arandal@uvi.edu
