WNC Friday Night Film Series spans the continents

Western Nevada College continues its Friday night series of films that span the continents and portray the lives and struggles of people of different cultures.

This Friday's offering, "Song From the Southern Seas," is a drama set in a remote part of Russia.

All films are English close captioned and shown at 7 p.m. at Marlette Hall in the Cedar Building. Cost is $3, and free to WNC students with college ID.

"Southern Seas" portrays two couples, one Russian and one Kazakh, who live side by side in relative harmony on the Great Steppe. But when the fair-skinned Russians give birth to a boy of decidedly darker skin, 15 years of suspicion and acrimony arises between them, and can only be resolved by an ironic twist of family and fate.

The film is at times darkly somber, at other times tender and wistful-and buoyed throughout by a soundtrack of folk-inspired melodies.

On October 2, the viewers will travel to South America with a mystery drama, "Possible Lives." The film depicts a wife on a desperate mission to find her husband who disappeared during a business trip to Patagonia.

During her search, she makes a startling discovery: a man with an uncanny resemblance to her spouse, but with another name and a wife. Convinced the stranger may be her husband, she ignores entreaties to quit her search just as police discover a body that may be the real man she seeks. Shot amid majestic vistas and suffused with vibrant color and sexuality, director Sandra Gugliotta's feature is a haunting and suspenseful study of grief and letting go.

Designed to promote cultural awareness, films are part of the Global Film Initiative's "Global Lens 2009" series. Support comes from the Nevada Humanities Committee.