Oregon State University will host its first Spanish Language Film Festival, featuring films of the Spanish Film Club, May 3 through May 10. Screenings will be held in Corvallis, Madras, Bend and Tillamook.

Spanish film director Felix Viscarret will run a number of workshops in conjunction with screenings of the five films featured in the festival. All events are free and open to the public and will be accessible to both English and Spanish speakers.

"We wanted to reach out to Spanish-speaking communities and engage them by providing them opportunities to watch and discuss contemporary Spanish and Latin American cinema," said Sebastian Heiduschke, coordinator of the World Languages and Cultures program in OSU's College of Liberal Arts.

Heiduschke partnered with the Spanish Film Club to bring the films to Oregon. Spanish Film Club is an initiative of the film distribution company PRAGDA to bring contemporary Spanish and Latin American cinema to college campuses.

The schedule of screenings and workshops is:

  • Bend, Saturday, May 3: 1 p.m., "Que Culpa Tiene el Tomate," 3:30 p.m. "Chico y Rita," and 5:30 p.m., "El Regreso." Screenings will be held in the Hitchcock Auditorium in Pioneer Hall at Central Oregon Community College, 2600 N.W. College Way, Bend.
  • Madras, Sunday, May 4: 8 a.m., Juntos program, with traditional Mexican breakfast and workshop. 11 a.m., "Chico y Rita," Central Oregon Community College Madras campus, 1170 E. Ashwood Road.
  • Corvallis, Monday, May 5: 6 p.m. workshop and 6:30 p.m. screening, "Chico y Rita," followed by a question and answer session. Darkside Cinema, 215 S.W. Fourth St.
  • Corvallis, Tuesday, May 6: 6 p.m. workshop and 6:30 p.m. screening of "Wilaya," followed by question and answer session, Darkside Cinema.
  • Corvallis, Wednesday, May 7:  6 p.m. workshop and 6:30 p.m. screening of "El Regreso," followed by question and answer session, Darkside Cinema.
  • Corvallis, Thursday, May 8: 6 p.m. workshop and 6:30 p.m. screening of "Que Culpa Tiene el Tomate," followed by question and answer session, Darkside Cinema.
  • Corvallis, Friday, May 9: 6 p.m. workshop, 6:30 p.m. screening of "Viajo Porque Preciso," followed by a question and answer session, Darkside Cinema.
  • Tillamook, Saturday, May 10: Screening of "Chico y Rita," time and location to be announced.

The screenings are sponsored by the School of Language, Culture and Society in the OSU College of Liberal Arts. The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of PRAGDA and the Embassy of Spain in Washington D.C., Spain-USA Foundation. Event organizers say they also appreciated the support of the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.

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Contact: Sebastian Heiduschke, 541-737-3957, [email protected]

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