Below is a list of upcoming lifelong learning opportunities for alumni, students and friends of Southwestern University. Please contact the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations at alumni@southwestern.edu or by calling 800-960-6363 with any questions.

Southwestern Holds French Film Festival
The French Program at Southwestern University has received an $1,800 grant that will enable it to host its second annual community-wide Tournees Film Festival. The festival will feature five recent films from or about France. Films will be shown Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m. beginning Sept. 10. The theme will be films on love, ranging in focus from warm recollections of friends and family, to first glances and flowering passions, to spiritual life in a monastery in the Alps. The series highlights both diverse approaches to the relationships that define us and an array of cinematic techniques that evoke how love shapes our lives. The movies to be shown are as follows:

• Sept. 10 – “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.” An enthralling true story of a stroke victim’s reconnection with the world and his loved ones.
• Sept. 17 – “Tell No One.” A fast-paced thriller in which a man deeply in love with his wife must lead his own investigation into her alleged murder.
• Sept. 24 – “‘L’origine de la tendresse’ and Other Tales.” A program of short films, including on love found in the Paris metro and a woman’s immigration to France.
• Oct. 1 – “Lady Chatterley.” A stylish, sensual adaptation of D. H. Lawrence’s controversial 1928 novel “Lady Chatterley's Lover.”
• Oct. 8 – “Into Great Silence.” A transcendent look at spirituality quietly filmed at the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps.

All films will be shown in French with English subtitles, in Room 105 of the F.W. Olin Building (building 10 on the campus map). They are free and open to the public. The events are being organized by Aaron Prevots, assistant professor of French in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. For more information on the festival, including synopses of each film, click here.

The Sarofim School of Fine Arts Fall 2008 Arts Calendar
Southwestern’s Sarofim School of Fine Arts has announced its slate of performances and exhibitions for the fall semester. Highlights include an art exhibit, “Near East Meets West,” to run Oct. 1-31, the Theatre School’s performance of a new adaptation of Aristophanes' “Lysistrata,” October 1-5, the Southwestern University Opera Theatre’s performance of Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas,” scheduled for Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, and a Black Box Theatre performance of Joyce Carol Oates’ “I Stand Before You Naked,” Nov. 6-9, during Homecoming and Reunion Weekend. For theatre tickets and show-times, contact The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center box office at 512-863-1378, Monday–Friday from 1-5 p.m., or visit www.southwestern.edu/boxoffice. The fine arts gallery is open weekdays, 1-5 p.m. You can visit The Sarofim School of Fine Arts Web site for the full calendar of events.

Tibetan Writer and Filmmaker Visits Southwestern
Tibetan writer and filmmaker Dorje Tsering Chenaktsang, commonly known as Jangbu, will speak at Southwestern University Oct. 6-7, 2008 as part of a month-long festival highlighting the art and culture of Tibet. On Monday, Oct. 6, Jangbu will give a talk titled "An Overview on the Development of Modern Tibetan Literature." The talk will begin at 7 p.m. in the F.W. Olin Building, Room 110 (building 10 on the campus map). On Tuesday, Oct, 7, Jangbu's latest documentary will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater (building 12). The documentary, titled "Kokonor," is about the impact of tourism on a small Tibetan community on Lake Qinghai (in the People's Republic of China). "Jangbu is one of Tibet's most innovative modern writers, and one of Tibet's first filmmakers," said Patricia Schiaffini, a Chinese professor at Southwestern whose research focuses on Tibet. In addition to writing scripts for world-acclaimed movies about Tibet, Jangbu also is a well-known poet. In conjunction with Jangbu's visit, Southwestern will host an exhibit of pictures of China and Tibet by Austin-based artist Rama Tiru. The exhibit will be on display throughout October in the Walzel Lobby outside the Alma Thomas Theater. For more information on the events, contact Patricia Schiaffini at 512-863-1460.

Road Scholars Hit the Road
Several local associations are planning Road Scholars Presentations for Fall 2008. Make sure you do not miss the Southwestern University faculty member visiting your area! Scheduled events include:

• The Big Apple Association (Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008) - Dr. David Gaines, Associate Professor of English; Director of the Paideia Program, “Global Citizenship and Southwestern University: Paideia and Computers for the Children of Honduras.”
• The Washington, D.C. Association (Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008) - Road Scholar: Robert “Bob” Snyder, professor of political science, “US Foreign Policy and the Next President.”

For more information, contact the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations at alumni@southwestern.edu or 800-960-6363.

Azar Nafisi to Serve as the 2008 Writers Voice Speaker
Iranian writer, scholar and social activist Azar Nafisi will be the 2008 speaker for the Writers Voice series sponsored by the A. Frank Smith, Jr. Library at Southwestern. The 2008 Writers Voice lecture has been set for Nov. 11, 2008, in The Alma Thomas Theater. Nafisi is best known as the author of Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, which spent two years on the New York Times Best Seller List. The book details how Nafisi met privately with a group of her women students to discuss works of literature against the back drop of Tehran in the mid-1990s. Nafisi was ousted from her teaching position at the Tehran University in 1995 for refusing to wear the mandatory Islamic veil. Today, Nafisi is a visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., and teaches courses on the relation between culture and politics. She also is director of the SAIS Dialogue Project at the Foreign Policy Institute of the University’s School of Advanced International Studies. For more information about the author and the event, please click here.

Alumni Travel: Chianti, Italy
For its first international alumni travel program, The Association has arranged a tour of the Tuscany region of Italy through AHI Travel. The tour will take place September 13-21, 2009 with prices starting at $2,495 plus airfare and value-added tax (VAT), based on double-occupancy. For questions or to make a reservation, please contact AHI Travel at 800-323-7373.

Click here to read about lifelong learning opportunities that took place this academic year.