OWU, Strand Theatre Join Forces for Community Film Series

April 4, 2002

DELAWARE, OHIO -- Ohio Wesleyan University's Community Film Series provides students and Delaware community members the opportunity to view movies in the "way they were intended to be seen." At least, this is how Helmut Kremling, OWU Professor of Modern Foreign Languages, feels about the series. Classic and foreign films are shown on a large screen at the Strand Theatre in downtown Delaware on Tuesdays at 9:15 p.m. and on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door and a whole package of series tickets is $32.

The Strand has supported the film series for 11 years. This program is sponsored by OWU's English department and was initiated as part of the requirement for the film classes taught by Kremling and Lynette Carpenter, an OWU Professor of English, but it is open to the entire Delaware community. Kremling said 60 to 70 people show up to The Strand each film series night, and only half are students. Kremling sees this as an opportunity for community members and students to come together. People in Delaware have come to connect him with the film series, so they often ask about the films when they see him out, and he says he's gotten to know many community members better this way.

The series includes mainly genre films, such as westerns and musicals, as well as international films from Third World countries, where English is not the main language. The next film to be shown is The Vertical Ray of the Sun, on April 9 and 10. Kremling says he is especially looking forward to this film because it is particularly unique, being spoken in Vietnamese. Kremling says they have not repeated a film over the 11 years at The Strand unless he and Carpenter have felt strongly about showing an especially significant western or musical to every class. After Vertical Ray, three more films will be shown in this series, including Run, Lola, Run (April 16 and 17), Hour of the Star (April 23 and 24), and Bram Stoker's Dracula (April 30 and May 1).

For more information, contact Dr. Helmut Kremling at 740-368-3668.