WW film series to showcase big events through ‘small eyes’

By: Molly Petrilla
   WEST WINDSOR — The West Windsor Arts Council will launch its "Large Events Through Small Eyes" film series Saturday with a screening of "Machuca" in the West Windsor library.
   Elane Gutterman, an Arts Council member, said she chose three films for the series because of their general appeal, and because they shared a common theme — all feature major upheavals told from children’s points of view.
   "Machuca" (2004) is set in Santiago, Chile, in 1973 and focuses on two young boys — one a member of the bourgeoisie and the other from the slums — and the changes in their lives and identities during Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s military coup.
   Princeton restaurant owner Carlo Momo — who Ms. Gutterman said has "a lot of close ties to Chile" since he spent a year there after Gen. Pinochet took power and has family members who still live there — will lead a discussion of the film after the screening.
   Ms. Gutterman added that other Chilean community members have said they also plan to share their experiences and answer questions from the audience.
   In January, the Arts Council will host a screening of "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" (2005) — the second film in the "Large Events Through Small Eyes" series. It tells the story of two boys who are sent to rural China during the cultural revolution in order to be "re-educated," Ms. Gutterman said.
   The series will conclude in March with "Live and Become" (2005), which centers on a young boy who is sent to a refugee camp in Sudan — and eventually relocated to Israel — as part of Ethiopia’s "Operation Moses" in the 1980s.
   All three movies are interesting and inspiring, Ms. Gutterman said, and offer a way "to understand how people use the past to build their future."
   From the films, she said, viewers can learn "what happened to people of the country during these upheavals (and also) understand their implications for culture today."
   Doors open Saturday at 7 p.m. in the West Windsor Library, and the film begins at 7:30 p.m. Seating is limited. There will be opportunity for discussion and refreshments afterward. Residents seeking more information should call (609) 919-1982.