USC’s first Multilingual Film Festival

Student filmmakers and language professors gathered in Taper Hall Wednesday night for USC’s first Multilingual Film Festival. The screening of six short films in six different languages was complete with laughter, applause and support from the multilingual community, truly demonstrating how learning about other languages and cultures can bring people closer.

The Multilingual Film Festival was hosted by the Center for Languages and Cultures and organized by its Community Outreach Committee as an initiative to bring awareness to the importance of studying foreign languages, particularly to cultivate appreciation and understanding for other cultures. Professor Maria Mercedes Fages Agudo, master lecturer in Spanish and chair of the Community Outreach Program, explained that organizers chose to organize a film festival because of the medium’s accessibility. 

“We thought ‘These days, you know, students walk around with their phones, and they’re always photographing, videotaping, watching TikTok,’ so it looked like the natural transition would be to ask them to produce a video where they were using the target language we use in the classroom, but outside of their normal four walls,”  Fages Agudo said.

As audience members and filmmakers hurried to the event, they were warmly greeted by either Professor Fages Agudo or Evgeny Dengub, professor of Russian and director for Center of Languages and Cultures.

“I hope that [audience members] will take away that language is fun, and that using a foreign language is something they don’t just do in the classroom when they study a verb or conjugations, but it’s something that helps them discover and open up their creative potential and bring more joy to the world,”  Dengub said.

While staffers prepared the screening, Professor Dengub taught the audience of around 40 to say “Hello” in the six languages that were represented in the Film Festival: Arabic, Chinese, German, Hebrew, Russian and Spanish.

After opening remarks, the films began to play. The theme of the film festival was “A Day in the Life of a USC student,” which Professor Fage Agudo explained was chosen for its universality.

“Teaching so many languages at so many different levels, how could we find a topic that could be the same for every language that we are teaching?” Professor Fages Agudo said. “We thought “A Day in the Life of a Student” would be an easy one to connect to.”

First was the Arabic language film, “Empty,” made by Faatima Abdul-Aziz, a sophomore majoring in law, history and culture, and Anthony Khoory, a senior majoring in sociology. Khoory explained that their video about an aspiring actress and her strained relationship with her husband was inspired by the style of Arab soap operas.

“I looked at Arabic musalsal, which are television dramas,” Khoory said, “and we actually used the theme song from a Turkish show … and used the idea of like divorce and big family topics and cultural elements.”

Next was the Chinese language film, “The Power of Chinese,” made by Yana Savitsky, a sophomore majoring in media arts and practice, Vihan Raj, a junior majoring in computer science, Rich Qian, a sophomore majoring in cognitive science and David Zheng, a junior majoring in game and interactive media design. Their film explores a rivalry between two students in a Chinese class, and how their competition escalates to comedic effect. 

After that was the German language film, “Stress Traum,” made by Justin Compy, a sophomore majoring in cinema and media studies, and Schuyler Gebhardt, a senior majoring in history. Their film follows a student studying for a test in his German class who falls asleep and has a nightmare about the exam.

Next was the Hebrew language film, “End,” made by Jack Yonover, a sophomore majoring in philosophy. His film is about a student going through his day, struggling with feelings of hopelessness.

Then the Russian language film, “How to Find Friends in Strange Circumstances,” made by Marguerite Bysshe, a freshman majoring in intelligence and cyber operations, Christopher Keating, a senior majoring in theatre, Claire Fausett, junior majoring in international relations and Russian, Sophia Wittmeier, a senior majoring in intelligence and cyber operations, and Christopher Gunning, a senior majoring in Russian, was streamed. The video is about a Russian language student who transforms into the Russian cartoon character “Cheburashka” after studying the character for a project.

Bysshe, the group’s director, explained the motivation behind their film. “I know I wanted to do something funny and I love Cheburashka… I learned about [him] in my high school Russian class.”

Finally, the Spanish language film “I like USC!,” made by Alana Bright, a junior majoring in theatre, and Bianca Novak, a junior majoring in health promotion and disease prevention studies, was played. Their film documented their day as USC students.

All along, the audience applauded and laughed, showing support for one another’s works. Afterward, Professor Fages Agudo and Professor Dengub held a Popular Choice vote, which “How to Find Friends in Strange Circumstances” won.

After the audience decided the winner of the Popular Choice award, there was a separate award ceremony to celebrate the movies. The winners were decided by a jury from the Community Outreach Committee and presented by teaching fellow Steven Gonzalez. Gonzalez explained that the films demonstrated the strength of the language program at USC. 

Among these awards, Best Acting went to Abdul-Aziz and Khoory for “Empty.” Best Cinematography went to “Stress Traum.” Funniest Film went to “How to Find Friends in Strange Circumstances.” Best Film went to “Stress Traum” in third, “Empty” in second and “How to Find Friends in Strange Circumstances” in first. 

The winners were given small Academy Award-esque statues for their wins and pictures were taken. The audience applauded all the filmmakers once again, and the night ended with a trivia game for free T-shirts which, albeit competitive, was very fun.

With the success of this Multilingual Film Festival, Professor Dengub hopes that the initiative will become an annual event and that even more students of the 15 languages offered at USC will participate, emphasizing that the medium of film can help learners bridge language barriers. 

“The language of cinema is pretty much universal,” Professor Dengub said, “and with the help of subtitles you could really, you know, make a film in any language and enjoy [it].”