Now showing: Foreign and independent films
January 27, 2020

The April 7th showing of Song of the Sea has been cancelled.

Are you tired of the same corporate blockbuster Hollywood movies? The endless onslaught of sequels, reboots, and remakes getting you down? Join us in the Hodges Library auditorium on the first Tuesday of each month for free screenings of independent and foreign films.

Practice your language skills and join us for a discussion following each film. Here’s the fall semester line-up for the library’s foreign and independent films:

Feb. 4 — The Raid Redemption (2011; Indonesian with English subtitles)
March 3 — Science of Sleep (2006; French, Spanish, English, with subtitles)
April 7 —Song of the Sea (2014; English, Irish, with subtitles)

All films: 7-9 p.m., Lindsay Young Auditorium, 101 Hodges Library

For more information, feel free to contact Michael Deike (mdeike@utk.edu) or just drop by the Public Services Desk on the second floor of Hodges Library and ask to talk to Michael about movies!

More about the films:


Tuesday, February 4, 7–9 p.m.
Lindsay Young Auditorium, 101 John C. Hodges Library

Film: The Raid Redemption (2011)
Runtime: 101 minutes
Director: Gareth Huw Evans
Language: Indonesian with English subtitles

Synopsis: In Jakarta, Indonesia, Lieutenant Wahyu organizes the invasion of an apartment building that is the safe house of the powerful and cruel drug lord Tama and his gang. The SWAT team breaks into the building, but one lookout sees and warns the gangsters and the police force is trapped on the seventh floor. They learn that Lt. Wahyu has not informed his superiors about the operation. Now the police officers have to fight with limited ammunition against the armed and dangerous gangsters. The Raid: Redemption takes a simple plot of cops versus robbers to an insane level, offering one of the most graphic and harrowing action movies of the decade. 


Tuesday, March 3, 7–9 p.m.
Lindsay Young Auditorium, 101 John C. Hodges Library

Film: Science of Sleep (2006)
Runtime: 105 minutes
Director: Michel Gondry
Languages: French, Spanish, English, with subtitles

Synopsis: Following the death of his father in Mexico, Stéphane Miroux, a shy insecure young man, agrees to come to Paris to draw closer to his widowed mother, Christine. He lands a boring job at a calendar-making firm and falls in love with his charming neighbor, Stéphanie. But conquering her is no bed of roses for the young man, and the only solution he finds to put up with the difficulties he is going through is escape into a dream world. The Science of Sleep takes a surreal and abstract approach to storytelling through the lens of a dreamlike reality, mixing in a dose of comedy, romance, and drama that highlights the difficulties in managing relationships.


Tuesday, April 7, 7–9 p.m.
Lindsay Young Auditorium, 101 John C. Hodges Library

Film: Song of the Sea (2014)
Runtime: 93 minutes
Director: Tomm Moore
Languages: English, Irish, with subtitles

Synopsis: Saoirse is a child who is the last of the selkies, women in Irish and Scottish legends who transform from seals into people. She escapes from her grandmother’s home to journey to the sea and free fairy creatures trapped in the modern world. Song of the Sea is the second film by the acclaimed animation studio behind films such as The Secret of Kells and, more recently, The Breadwinner, and it continues the exploration of traditional folk religion presented through a traditional Irish art style reminiscent of the illuminated manuscript.