University to Host Spanish Film Club Festival

Texas A&M University-Commerce was recently awarded with a grant by the Spanish Film Club to host a cinematic event.

Sponsored by PRAGDA (a film distribution company, specializing in the educational market), Spanish Film Club is a program that offers a highly competitive grant biannually to help universities and high schools bring Spanish and Latin American cinema to campuses to introduce students to the language and cultures of these territories. Fifteen countries are represented in the films, which renew every year and feature English subtitles. More than 100 universities have participated in this program so far. The winning campuses are allowed to select a minimum of five films from a catalogue to create a film festival on their campus. The films are selected by a committee of American and Spanish experts in Spanish language cinema.

Dr. María Fernández-Lamarque, associate professor in the Department of Literature and Languages, applied for the grant, and A&M-Commerce was one of the schools selected to participate in the program. Dr. Lamarque is also a Distinguished Global Fellow, meaning that she can apply for funds to organize global activities such as this one. With the grant, along with another awarded by the QEP, the university will organize and host the Spanish Film Club Festival.

“The Spanish Film Club is possible thanks to a collective effort and collaboration from the QEP Project and professors from the Spanish program and across colleges at the university,” said Lamarque. “This festival will introduce students and a generally broader audience to the cultures of these territories stimulating knowledge and cultural exchange, which are keys for educating students in an interconnected world.”

The Spanish Film Club Festival showed its first film on March 24. The film was presented by Dr. Johanna Delgado-Acevedo of the biology department to over 70 attendees. The festival will show three other films in The Club on March 31 (Dr. Chris Green from curriculum and instruction presents), April 6 (Dr. Carlos Bertulani of the physics department presents), and April 14 (with Dr. Mark Moreno of the history department presenting). An additional film will be shown on April 22 at the Universities Center at Dallas (with Inmaculada Lyons of the department of literature and languages presenting). All events are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided by Sodexo.