What is the transformative power of an odyssey, pilgrimage, quest, or crusade? What drives an individual to undergo hardship, isolation, and peril? Are the themes universal or specific to a particular place and time?

Join us on a cross-cultural exploration of the many meanings of odyssey in 8 feature films by a range of directors in different cultural locations:

• Yeelen/Brightness (Cisse, Mali)
• Whale Rider (Caro, Maori, New Zealand)
• Atanarjuat/The Fast Runner (Kunuk, Canadian Arctic)
• Smoke Signals (Eyre, Coeur d’Alene Reservation)
• Rabbit-Proof Fence (Noyce, Outback Australia)
• Lion (Davis, Tasmania/India)
• Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon (Lee, China)
• Roma (Cuaron, Mexico)

Format: The Coordinator will provide a warm and inclusive environment that encourages a high degree of collaborative learning through participation. Class members will screen the films for the class at home each week. After Week 1 class members are encouraged to facilitate each week for 30 minutes by taking either the first hour to organize a discussion of the film we have watched that week or the second hour to prep us for the film we will be seeing in the week to come. Presentations via PowerPoint, handouts, or questions distributed to the class electronically are all welcome.

Resources/Expenses: The films are available for streaming or rental on most popular services. Depending on what you subscribe to you may incur the rental costs if these cannot be found on some of the popular free streaming avenues. Films will be accompanied each week by additional materials available via links or in some cases, PDFs.

Coordinator: Donna Kerner has been a member of LLC since 2022 and has coordinated a number of courses: The Social Life of Objects, Being Human, It’s About Time, and most recently, Anthropology Goes to the Movies: Close Encounters with Another Kind. She is an anthropologist by profession and a life-long lover of movies.