Students expand cultural boundaries with new club

There’s a new club on campus, and founders said they have high hopes it will bring IU students closer together.

Graduate student Nathan Montgomery has created the Chinese Film Society at IU and will be host to the first of its film screenings tonight.

“One of my primary goals of this organization is to foster intercultural dialogue,” he said.

According to the University’s website, IU Bloomington is home to more than 6,000 international students. Montgomery said a majority of them are Chinese, and his film project will be a chance for all demographics of students to connect.

“I think it would be a shame for domestic students to lose an opportunity to broaden their horizons and for Chinese students to interact with non-Chinese and find common ground,” he said.

He said misconceptions between students from China and America on campus have been discouraging to him. He said he hopes to knock down some cultural barriers.

“From hearing conversations in English and Chinese on campus, I know there are quite a few unfortunate perceptions of different groups here,” he said. “I hope this organization can help break down those walls.”

The screenings will take place at 7 p.m. Thursdays in room 150 of the Student Building.

The first film to be shown, “Farewell My Concubine,” is a Cannes Film Festival award winner.

He said he and Zhou Zhifei, another key member of the society who studied film in undergrad in China, put a lot of thought into what films would be shown.

“We talked about what films we think might be both high quality and have enough popular appeal to attract audiences,” Montgomery said.

He said he thinks anyone and everyone should be able to find something of value in the films.

“The more diverse the audience, the better,” Montgomery said. “A freshman from Indiana and a Ph.D. student from China will both be able to get something out of the screenings and following discussions.”

He said the discourse that will develop among viewers will make them more sympathetic to the mixed society we live in.  

“I’m looking forward to meeting people who are interested in engaging Chinese cinema and the special questions it poses to us as people living in a globalized world,” Montgomery said.

Follow reporter Ashley Jenkins on Twitter @ashmorganj.