“45365,” a documentary chronicling everyday life in small-town America from the vantage point of the Midwestern town of Sidney, Ohio, will kick-off this year’s General Education Series this Wednesday at 7 p.m. It will be showing at the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts (LCVA).
This film is the first of three in the series this semester. Following “45365” will be the film “Step Up to the Plate” in October and “The Waiting Room” in November.
The series began in the fall semester of 2005 and is sponsored by the General Education (GNED) program as well as the LCVA and managed by Dr. David Shoenthal, Professor of Mathematics, and Dr. Wade Edwards, Professor of French.
Not long after setting foot on Longwood campus in 2004, Shoenthal began writing proposals to start a film series on the campus. It began as more of an explicitly pointed series in conjunction with the goals stated in the General Education program, having each film relate back to a specific goal.
The series has since evolved into a broader definition of general education, providing movies that step outside what a student might find even in their general education curriculum.
On the new blog for the series, students can, not only read about the current films, but they can also look at films featured in past years.
Those films can also be found on campus for rental at the Janet D. Greenwood Library.
Each film will begin with a talk by a professor with pertinent knowledge of the subject area of the film. Dr. Lee D. Millar Bidwell, professor of Sociology, who is sure to give some interesting sociological insight, will prelude “45365.”
If all you’ve ever seen are Blockbuster flicks, now is your chance to expand your mind. In the words of Edwards, “By seeing the movies that we pick you’re going outside yourself a little bit and you’re experiencing something completely different, which is what general education is for.”
For more information about the films themselves and the series visit http://www.blogs.longwood.edu/gefs.
The schedule for the film festival is as follows for the fall semester:
“45365” – Wednesday, Sept. 18 (LCVA, 7 p.m.)
“Step Up to the Plate” – Wednesday, Oct. 23 (Wygal 204, 7 p.m.)
“The Waiting Room” – Wednesday, Nov. 13 (Wygal 204, 7 p.m.)
