Hosting Mira Nair

January 17, 2006 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Award-winning director Mira Nair will speak in Grand Rapids on
Thursday, February 23, 2006, at 7 pm in the Gezon Auditorium on the
campus of Calvin College. An author reception will follow the
presentation, which is free and open to the public. Doors will open at
6:30 pm and a sign-language interpreter will be provided.

Also, on the two evenings preceding the lecture, there will be a
retrospective of Nair's work at the Urban Institute for Contemporary
Arts, in Grand Rapids, including "Salaam Bombay!" on Tuesday, January
21, at 7 pm, and "Hysterical Blindness" and "Laughing Club of India" on
Wednesday, January 23, at 7 pm.

The film festival and the public lecture, titled "Between Two Worlds:
An Evening With Mira Nair," are being sponsored by the West Michigan
Women's Studies Council, which was formed in 2001 to inform the West
Michigan community of gender issues, foster dialogue and give voice to
feminist thought and ideas.

Since 2001 the Council, which consists of members from Aquinas, Calvin,
Davenport, Grand Rapids Community College, Grand Valley and Hope, has
brought to West Michigan such thought-provoking speakers as Molly Ivins,
Anita Hill and Margaret Atwood.

Helen Sterk, professor of communication arts and sciences at Calvin,
and president of the West Michigan Women Studies Council, says Nair will
be equally compelling.

"Mira Nair is one of the most accomplished women directors working
today," she says, "and we are delighted to have her speak in Grand
Rapids. Her work merges the best from the Western and Indian traditions
of film making, and her unique vision has made her a role model for
women interested in directing."

Nair perhaps is best known for Monsoon Wedding, a 2001 film that was
winner of the Golden Lion at the 2001 Venice Film Festival and nominated
for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Salaam Bombay!, her
debut, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
in 1988, and went on to win 27 international awards, including the
Camera D'Or (for best first feature) and the Prix du Publique (for most
popular entry) at the Cannes Film Festival.

Her 1991 film Mississippi Masala, an interracial love story starring
Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury, garnered three awards at the
Venice Film Festival including Best Screenplay and The Audience Choice
Award.

For the full story see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2005_06/mira_nair.htm

Contact 616-331-2748

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Received on Mon Jan 16 23:00:09 2006