Carroll Arts Center is hosting its annual FLICC’s Foreign Film Festival featuring amazing films from Russia, Mexico, Netherlands, and Israel with English subtitles every Friday in February with two screenings at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The best part? They’re free.
FLICC is a comprised of volunteers from Carroll County that love films, especially films from other countries. They call themselves “Film Lovers in Carroll County” or the FLICC.
This is the twelfth year that Carroll Arts Center is hosting this event with the help of volunteers and the sponsorship of McDaniel College.
Sandy Oxx, the Executive Director of Carroll Arts Center, is very proud of the success that the Foreign Film Festival had year after year. According to Oxx, the Foreign Film Festival has been hosted by Carroll Arts Center since they opened the theater.“It has been a success, so we continued it,” Oxx explains.
Oxx said that this festival has become a tradition for the residents of Carroll County and that is why the FLICC group does its best every year to bring the best movies to the theater.
According to Oxx, FLICC is in charge of choosing which movies to screen based on the amount of awards won and the interest that it would generate to the residents of Carroll County. To know what interests residents, this group of volunteers listen to the audience’s comments after each film. This feedback serves as a guide of what types of movies people like or do not like.
One member of FLICC, Fran Nicolas, explains that several people from the group have to see the film. Then, all of the members get together to review the films and make a decision about which show.
It takes a couple of months for FLICC to plan this event. “The planning of this festival starts in the fall and we always have February saved for the event,” said Oxx.
The first screening of the month was Mongols from Russia and the second screening was Instructions Not Included from Mexico.
Mongols is about a strong man who decides to change the laws and behaviors of the Mongols in 1206 and who has to go through slavery and other difficulties to accomplish his goals.
Nicolas thought that Mongols was a wonderful movie and she loved it because even though she was part of the selection of this movie, it was the first time that she saw it in its entirety.
Alfonso Navarro, a sophomore at McDaniel College of Mexican descent who attended the screening of Instructions Not Included, shares that he liked excited to see a movie from his country. “I liked how I was able to explain certain words to my friends that didn’t understand Spanish,” says Navarro.
Navarro encourages McDaniel students to attend this event because it opens minds and makes people see the world differently.
Oxx says she is very thankful for all of the years that McDaniel College has sponsored this event because without the college’s support, they would not have the funding to buy the public screening rights for all of these movies.
Oxx strongly encourages the students to attend this event because of all the help that McDaniel offers to Carroll Arts Center and the community. “We hope that McDaniel students take advantage of this and come,” says Oxx.
The last two screenings are Wadjda from Netherlands on Feb. 20 and The Band’s Visit from Israel on Feb. 27.
Wadjda is about a Saudi girl who works hard by entering her school’s Koran recitation competition to buy the bicycle of her dreams. The Band’s Visit is about a band that is lost in a small town and have to live through many hardships.
Tickets are on sale in the lobby of the theater. They are $6 for adults and $5 for CCAC Members, students, and seniors. Tickets for the McDaniel community are free!
For more information visit www.carrollcountyartscouncil.org, call 410-848-7272, or email info@CarrollCountyArtsCouncil.org. They would be very happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Thanks for the wonderful coverage of our Foreign Film Festival. We hope to welcome many McDaniel students and faculty to the final two screenings!