International Film Series to Show Israeli Film

The Jake Erhardt International Film Series will show the Israeli film Bikur Ha-Tizmoret (The Band's Visit) Tuesday, March 3, at 7 p.m. in the Sebastian Mueller Theater in the McKelvey Campus Center.

The event is free and open to the public. A short introduction will be given prior to the showing and a discussion will follow.

The 2007 film is directed by Eran Kolirin and won nearly 40 international awards.

The Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra arrives in Israel from Egypt to perform at the opening ceremony of a new Arab cultural center. There is no one to meet them. They take the wrong bus and end up in a remote town that, according to one of its residents, not only doesn't have a cultural center, but has no culture.

Unable to get transportation until the next morning, the band accepts an invitation to stay overnight in a restaurant. Over the course of the evening, the Israelis and the Egyptians get to know each other, finding that beneath the language and cultural differences they are simply people.

The final film in this semester's series will be the Russian film Mongol scheduled for April 7.

The International Film Series is named in honor of its founder, Dr. Jacob Erhardt, professor of German emeritus at Westminster College. Erhardt, who taught at Westminster from 1968 until his retirement in 2004, served as chair of his department from 1970-1986, was named the Language Educator of the Year by the Pennsylvania State Modern Languages Association, translated into English Robert Reitzel's Adventures of a Greenhorn, and was recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities as an outstanding member.

Contact Dr. Deborah Mitchell, Westminster associate professor of English and coordinator of the film series, at (724) 946-7030 or e-mail dmitchel@westminster.edu for more information.