The Global Lens film series at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College concludes with Margarette’s Feast, a film from Brazilian director Renato Falcão. The film will be shown at 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec.11, and Sunday, Dec. 13, in the Olin Arts Center, Room 105, 75 Russell St.

Hosted by the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Museum of Art, the series has been held on Fridays and Sundays throughout the fall. Admission is $5. For more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.

The annual series is produced by the to promote cross-cultural understanding by showing American audiences little-known, skillfully made independent films. The initiative believes that “a powerful, authentic narrative can foster trust and respect between disparate cultures and mitigate the social and psychological impact of cultural prejudice.”

Made in 2002, Margarette’s Feast (90 min.) is a black-and-white silent film. It’s the story of a man named Pedro who, upon losing his job, comes across a magical suitcase that never runs out of money. This discovery sets Pedro off on a spending spree that culminates in a lavish birthday feast for his wife Margarette. The film is both a fantastical story and an exploration of the social conflicts of contemporary Brazil.

Brazilian-born director Renato Falcão has shot five feature films, more than 20 short films and numerous documentaries. He has won several awards at various film festivals around the world, including Best New Director at the “35 Festival de Cinema de Brasilia” for Margarette’s Feast, his first feature film.

about Margarette’s Feast and the Global Lens series.

Hosted by the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Museum of Art, the series continues on Fridays and Sundays throughout the fall. Admission is $5. Mutum is in Portuguese with English subtitles (86 min.). For more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.

The annual series is produced by the Global Film Initiative to promote cross-cultural understanding by showing American audiences little-known, skillfully made independent films. The initiative believes that “a powerful, authentic narrative can foster trust and respect between disparate cultures and mitigate the social and psychological impact of cultural prejudice.”

A 2007 adaptation of Campo Geral, a short story by J. Guimarães Rosa, Mutum depicts Thiago, a sensitive and imaginative young boy living on a small farm. His life, filled with the reality of his parents’ unhappy marriage and his father’s abuse, changes completely after a single chance encounter.

In order to capture the details of rural Brazilian life, Kogut set up workshops where local children and farmers could work together with the actors. According to Kogut, “their backgrounds, their personalities and comments helped to build the world in which the film would later be set.”

Mutum is described by Daniel Getahun of “Getafilm” as “richly layered with religious and cultural themes.” The film offers “moments of joy that are so pure and innocent that you’ll feel like crying.”

Mutum is Kogut’s first feature film and has been well-received at festivals around the world, winning the best film prizes at festivals in locations as varied as South Africa, Mexico and Israel.

Kogut began her career creating performance pieces and installations in Brazil, France and the United States. These short films have been shown at such locations as the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art.

about Mutum and the entire Global Lens series.

All three talks are open to the public free of charge.

Chagnon, considered the foremost authority on the Yanomamo people of Venezuela and Brazil, will speak March 24 at 8 p.m. in Lecture Hall 105 of the Olin Arts Center on “The Use of Interactive CD-ROM in Anthropological Teaching and Research: The Yanomamo Ax Fight.”

His topic March 25 at 4 p.m. in the same location will be “The Politics of Giving Voice: The Nasty Struggle Over Who Speaks for the Yanomamo.” At 7:15 p.m. the same day in Room 113 of Carnegie Science Hall he will discuss “The End of a Human Era: The Last Sovereign Tribe of the Amazon Basin.”

Chagnon, currently a professor of anthropology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, has been studying the Yanomamo people for the past 32 years, returning to their home region almost every year. Increasing contact with the outside world has brought the 200 Yanomamo villages into regular contact with Western culture, with only a handful of remote villages remaining isolated.

In his talk March 24, Chagnon will address the controversy over who — anthropologists, missionaries or government agencies, among others — has the right to represent the Yanomamo’s interests to the outside world. The problem has intensified, Chagnon says, because the Yanomamo are now among the best- known ancient cultures in the world. The invasion of Yanomamo territory by Brazilian miners in 1987 focused attention on the issue. Chagnon himself has been assailed by all sides because of his refusal to endorse any of them.

Chagnon’s afternoon lecture March 25 will center on his 1974 film “The Ax Fight” and its conversion into a CD-ROM computer disk to be used as a teaching tool. The film is considered a milestone in ethnographic filmmaking, and the CD-ROM project is near completion.

The final talk in the series, March 25 at 7:15 p.m., will focus on the Yanomamo themselves and Chagnon’s research. Illustrated by slides, the lecture will include commentary by Chagnon on his discoveries, current research and plans for future research, as well as on the problems faced by the Yanomamo and their incorporation into the national life of Venezuela and Brazil.

Chagnon’s visit to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is sponsored by the college’s Lecture Committee and Department of Anthropology.