International Film Series Announces Fall Semester Schedule

Westminster College's Jake Erhardt International Film Series will kick off the fall semester with the 2010 French film Potiche (Trophy Wife) Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. in the Sebastian Mueller Theater of McKelvey Campus Center.

The event is free and open to the public.  A short introduction will be given by Dr. Leslie Kealhofer, Westminster visiting assistant professor of French, and a discussion will follow.

When her husband is taken hostage by his striking employees, a trophy wife (Catherine Deneuve) takes the reins of the family business and proves to be a remarkably effective leader.  Business and personal complications arrive in the form of her ex-lover (Gérard Depardieu), a former union leader.

The film's director, François Ozon, was nominated for a Golden Lion Award at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.

Additional films on the schedule are the 2007 Spanish film The Orphanage on Oct. 25 and the 1992 Italian film Ciao, Professore on Nov. 29.  Additional information on all films is available here.

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 professor of English and film studies and coordinator of the film series, at (724) 946-7030 or email for more information.

More Stories