Monday evening, Texas Tech University’s International Film Series (IFS) launched the Spanish Film Festival portion of the creative installment.
“El Regreso,” or “The Return,” directed by Herman Jimenez, was screened in room 169 of the Human Sciences Building at 5 p.m. The remainder of the Spanish films will be shown at the same location and time.
“The title is celebrating diversity because we want to show the diverse social realities in the Hispanic world,” Juan Morillo, president of the Texas Tech Spanish Club, explained. “Spanish is the second-most spoken language in the world.”
Students and faculty gather into room 169 of the Texas Tech University Human Science Building to watch “El Regreso,” or “The Return,” as a part of the International Film Series’ Spanish Film Festival on Monday.
Originally from Seville, Spain, Morillo mentioned the Spanish Club organized this miniseries within IFS.
“We want to use this event to promote the Spanish Club,” the graduate student currently studying Spanish literature began, “the Spanish studies, everything related to Spanish.”
Students enrolled in Spanish classes filtered into the room with extra credit slips as Marta Tecedor Cabrero, an assistant professor of Spanish, echoed Morillo’s sentiment for spreading awareness of the cultures that surround the language.
“The idea is to bring to the community and undergraduate population Spanish-speaking films from different countries, different genres,” Cabrero said.
According to Cabrero, Ph.D., the Spanish Club received a grant from Pragda, a film distribution company for the promotion of Spanish and Latin American cinema, in order to present Spanish films throughout the next two weeks.
Preceding the presentation of “El Regreso,” Juan Muñoz, senior vice president for institutional diversity, equity, and community engagement and vice provost for undergraduate education and student affairs, noted the importance of college students learning Spanish.
“Right now, in the state of Texas, Hispanics are already the majority of K-12 education,” Muñoz said. “…Who comes into college? K-12 students. Who goes to law school, medical school, dental school? It’s going to be those students.”
The lights dimmed as the flick began to play, documenting the fictional journey of a Costa Rican man returning back to his native country from the United States.
Remaining showings in the Spanish Film Festival include “Un Cuento Chino,” or “Chinese Takeaway,” on Wednesday, “Wilaya,” or “Tears of Sand,” on Friday, “Zona Sur,” or “Southern District,” on Feb. 23, and “Post Mortem” on Feb. 24. All of the screenings are free to the public and will have English subtitles.
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