The 2016 film “Window Horses,” which will be screening at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater Monday night, is a look at the cultural legacy of poetry and an exceptional film to boot, Danielle McClelland, executive director of the Buskirk, said.
The film will screen at 7 p.m. Monday evening at the Buskirk-Chumley. The theater is set to screen the 1992 film “A League of their Own” on Thursday.
"Window Horses" explores ideas of culture and heritage as it follows an adventurous young poet learning about her own heritage as she travels to Iran.
Set in World War II-era America, "A League of their Own" chronicles the adventures of two sisters as they join an all-female baseball team.
McClelland said both films, while radically different, will offer audiences important messages.
“I think ‘Window Horses’ is a really wonderful, important film because it explores a part of the world many Americans don’t know much about,” she said. “It explores the cultural background of poetry in a deeper way than a lot of people know, and it’s just a really intriguing, beautiful film.”
The film has a 95 percent critic approval rating on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.
"A League of their Own" racked up Golden Globe nominations for actress Geena Davis and the Madonna song "This Used to be my Playground."
McClelland said while “A League of their Own” is an entirely different sort of film, it also boasts a similar degree of relevance.
“'A League of their Own’ is a super fun film,” she said. “It has a dramatic storyline. There are young women who are pursuing their dreams in a time when they had not previously been allowed to play sports at all.”
The Buskirk’s screening of “Window Horses,” fits into a larger, community-wide celebration of poetry, she said. The festival is called Words! A Bloomington Celebration of Poetry and Spoken Word.
Other notable events in the series include a poetry slam and an event at the Buskirk featuring spoken-word artist Andrea Gibson.
McClelland said the screening of "Window Horses" is sponsored by the Indiana University Center for the Study of the Middle East.
Jennifer Webeck, Assistant Director for the Center for the Study of the Middle East, said in an email she thinks the film is important because it offers viewers new insight into a part of the world whose culture they might not be familiar with.
"'Window Horses' is unique in that it is an animated film that gives us a glimpse into an aspect of Iran that is not what we see or hear about in the news- that of a rich literary history of poetry shown through the eyes of a young Canadian poet of Chinese and Persian descent," she said.
McClelland said she thinks the film informs the celebration’s look at poetry in interesting ways by exploring its heritage and origins in Persia.
“This film, in a really delightful way, explores that past and the way in which a culture that celebrates words and celebrates poetry, lives today in Iran,” McClelland said.
McClelland said, for the Buskirk’s showing of “A League of their Own,” the theater’s staff invited the softball teams of local high schools Bloomington High School South and Bloomington High School North.
“There will be a fast pitch softball pitching demonstration before the show,” she said. “And we’re gonna honor these athletes.”
Webeck said she thinks "Window Horses" can offer viewers something really special.
She said she hoped that for people who see the film, it will show them the underlying similarity between all cultures.
"Seeing our similarities rather than emphasizing our differences is one small way to make the world a better place," Webeck said. "'Window Horses' helps in this process by teaching us a little more about Iran."
