This year, you don't have

to travel to Sundance or Venice to catch a film festival.

"Women and the Arts"

is the third in a series of film festivals being presented by the Clayton

State Department of Humanities. The festival kicked off Monday at noon

and 2:30 p.m. with "The Color Purple, "Stephen Spielberg's

cinematic portrayal of the Alice Walker novel. Whoopi Goldberg gives a

masterful performance as Celie, the luckless mother and wife who struggles

to victory despite all the odds.

Next Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. sees

Jane Campion's film "The Piano" come to life on the big

screen once again. Holly Hunter's best actress performance continues

the dramatic theme with Sam Neill and Harvey Keitel on hand as husband

and lover. A second showing will run at 6:30 p.m.

"All About My Mother"

directed by Pedro Aldomovar follows Maneula (Cecelia Roth) as she goes

in search of her recently dead son's father. The winner of best foreign

film for 1999, the Spanish language feature with English subtitles shows

Feb. 23 at noon and 2 p.m.

Agnes Varda, a powerful, independent

French director is given two screenings of her 2000 documentary film "The

Gleaners and I," March 15 at 10:30 a.m. and 11:50 a.m. Called "a

protest film that's part social critique, part travelogue" by

the L.A. Weekly, the gleaners of the title are named according to the

Zeitgeist Films website "for those who pick at already harvested

fields for the odd potato or turnip." The movie is in French with

English subtitles.

Virginia Woolf's novel

"Orlando" comes to life with Tilda Swinton playing the oddly

lengthy life of the main character. Sumptuously filmed by Sally Potter

in 1993 with a cameo by Quentin Crisp in royal drag. March 29 Screenings

are at noon and 1:30 p.m.

The series ends with an acclaimed

film from 1991 directed by Julie Dash. "Daughter of the Dust"

tells the story of a large African American family moving North from early

twentieth century Georgia. Focusing in part on the culture of the Gullah

People, descendants of slaves living on islands off the Georgia coast,

Cora Lee Day stars as Nana, with Alva Rogers as Eula and Barbara-O as

Yellow Mary.

All screenings are free and

open to the public and will take place in the Arts and Sciences Building,

room G-132. The festival is being sponsored by The Art, Film and Video

Club and the new Women and the Arts course. For more information, go to

https://a-s.clayton.edu/humanities/film/festivals.html.

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