FOR IMMEDIATE

Nov. 4, 2004

Contact: Tom Uribes (559) 278-5366 or 246-1717

‘Hmong Voices’ Films set
for Fridays at Fresno State

The Cineculture club at California State University, Fresno will host films every Friday at 7 p.m. in Kremen Education room 170, including “Smoke Signals” on Nov. 5.

The films are free and open to the public.

The first of these films was Hmong Voices, a minidocumentary in response to the eight Hmong teenage suicides that occurred from 1998-2001.  It was produced by Fresno State freshman communications major, and Cineculture club president, Ger Lee.

Assistant Professor Denise Blum of the Fresno State Curriculum and Instruction Department initiated the Cineculture club as a way to promote cultural awareness and address diversity issues in a relaxed environment that encourages dialogue and discussion.

“I saw and heard about people who represented different cultures – from faculty, to students, to community members – being discriminated against and at best, just being treated like they were invisible, “says Blum, who thinks film provides “a wonderful way to learn.”

Blum has incorporated Lee’s film into her Cultural and Social Foundation course and has asked him to accompany her to the American Anthropological Association Conference where they will present “Improving Multicultural Teaching Practices: Using Immigration to Understand Diversity Issues.”

Future films are decided weekly by those attending the gathering.

For more information, contact Blum at dblum@csufresno.edu

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(Copy by University Communications news aide Briana Jessen)