麻豆传媒AV

A new season of the Community Connections outreach film series kicks off Sept. 18 at 5:30 p.m. at the 麻豆传媒AV Pond Student Union Theater featuring the film 鈥淧lease Vote for Me.鈥�

Community Connections offers monthly sneak previews of films selected from the Independent Lens series. Each screening is followed by a speaker and audience discussion of issues raised in the film. The series is made possible through a partnership of Idaho Public Television, the Independent Television Service and 麻豆传媒AV. All screening events are free and open to the public.

 鈥淧lease Vote for Me鈥� is billed as 鈥渁n impossibly charming film鈥� featuring a third grade class in the Wahun province of China and the intense politicking in the race to become Class Monitor. Mud-slinging, bribes, heckling, mob mentality and offers of high office in the new administration are all part of the campaign tactics these 7-year-olds employ.

The story unfolds far from the giant factories, crowded markets, or even picturesque villages. The classrooms are state-of-the-art and the children鈥檚 homes look remarkably like middle class urban homes in the West. The film provides a private view of a microcosm of contemporary Chinese culture. It is also a classic election drama, albeit with 7-year-olds.

Ted Davis, an ISU faculty member in East Asian history, will speak and lead the follow-up discussion on the democratic process in the U.S. and in China.

The schedule for the remainder of the film series is as follows:

Oct. 9: 鈥淢iss Navajo,鈥� a celebration of traditional Navajo skills and language.

Nov. 13: 鈥淎n Unreasonable Man,鈥� Ralph Nader鈥檚 lifelong fight against the establishment, from cars to politics.

Dec. 4: 鈥淢apping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita,鈥� the high-stakes quest to harness the potential of stem cell medicine.

Jan. 29: 鈥淏anished,鈥� the shocking history of racial cleansing in U.S. cities and counties reverberates today.

Feb. 26: 鈥淚ron Ladies of Liberia,鈥� go behind the scenes with Africa鈥檚 first freely elected female head of state.

March 18: 鈥淜ing Corn,鈥� follow one acre of corn from field to destinations ranging from soda to cookies to fast food to your DNA.

April 15: 鈥淎 Dream in Doubt,鈥� a personal story of America鈥檚 first post 9/11 hate crime murder that punctuated a wave of violence.

For more information about the ITVS Community Cinema, visit www.idahoptv.org/cinema.