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The International Cinema Lecture Series is a continuing series of lectures sponsored by the Department of Media Arts featuring visiting lecturers who screen and discuss films.

As part of the Gus Blaisedell Memorial Lecture Series and International Cinema Lecture Series, The Department of Media Arts at the University of New Mexico Presents An Evening with Eva Hayward: Screening and Talk

Paradise Bent is one of the first cinematic considerations of Samoan fa'afafines-male children who are raised to be "women." The film documents how in large Samoan families there may be one or two fa'afafines who are not only accepted, but also appreciated. Through interviews with fa'afafines, Samoan elders, academics, and other residents of Samoa, the film explores constructions of gender identity, and the transformation of gendered traditions with the advent of global capitalism and cultural tourism. Representing how contemporary fa'afafines are becoming more westernized, moving away from family units and identifying as "transgender," the documentary grapples with change, personal struggle and pleasure, and shifting identities.

After the screening, visiting UNM lecturer Eva Hayward, a doctoral candidate in the History of Consciousness Department at UCSC, will offer an analysis of the film. Attending to the ethnographic language of the documentary, she will examine how Croall represents the convergence of cultures and the metamorphosis of social mores. Proposing that Paradise Bent resides at the crossroads of transnational traffic in Western/Non-Western ideas about gender, she will urge us to consider: What is the role of the Western filmmaker in the narrative of cultural exchange? Is Paradise Bent a story about cultural deterioration or hybridization? How does the film deal with problems of translating gender identity cross-culturally? Simply, Hayward will ask, "For whom is this film made, and why"?

Heather Croall - writer/producer/director

Croall founded Re Angle Pictures in 1993 and has since been working in many areas of documentary research and production. Her films are predominantly personal and humorous, telling stories of people who swim against the mainstream of society. From 1994-1997, she served as vice president of WIFT South Australia (Women in Film and Television). Since 1998 she has been a funding assessor for the South Australian Film Corporation's Creative Development Fund, and mentor for first-time directors of South Australian documentary productions.

Filmography:

1992 The Desert Surfers
1994 Disaster on Your Doorstep
1994 Imperial Crownings
1995 UNICEF South Pacific Documentaries
1998 Herd of Cows

Department of Media Arts
1 University of New Mexico
MSC04 2570
Center for the Arts, Room 2431
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131-0001
Telephone: (505)-277-6262
FAX: (505)-277-6314
E-mail: mediarts@unm.edu

Contact the department office for details on up-coming lectures.

Department of Media Arts
International Cinema Lecture Series
Center for the Arts
Albuquerque NM 87131
Telephone 505/277-6262
FAX 505/277-6314
e-mail mediarts@unm.edu

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