“The True Cost” questions your clothes on Jan. 15

That t-shirt you’re wearing, or those boots, or that skirt—who made the fabric? who cut and sewed it? who brought it to market? and how were they all treated and paid?

The True Cost—the first film in this semester’s Global Film Series—asks what stories of the global economy you’re covering yourself with, and whether they are stories of exploitation for profit.

The Global Film Series presents stunning features and documentaries this semester. The series is a collaborative initiative to bring a variety of international and globally-focused films to campus. Interdisciplinary partners across campus select films from current releases, documentaries and classics highlighting the joys and struggles of the global community in which we live. These films also provide a venue for faculty and student organizations to share their global experiences and expertise with a wider campus and community audience.

All films feature an academic introduction and an opportunity for reflection at the film's conclusion. Campus partners include the NCSU Libraries, University Scholars Program, African American Cultural Center, Multicultural Student Affairs, and the Office of Global Engagement. All films are free and open to the public.

The spring 2019 Global Film Series schedule is as follows:

The True Cost
Tuesday, Jan. 15, 6:30 p.m., D. H. Hill Jr. Library Auditorium
The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human and environmental costs have grown dramatically. The True Cost is a groundbreaking documentary film that pulls back the curtain on the untold story and asks us to consider who really pays the price for our clothing. In partnership with the Office of Global Engagement and NC State’s Program in International Studies. College of Textiles professor Dr. Marguerite Moore introduces the film and doctoral candidate Rejaul Hasan leads a discussion afterward. (watch trailer)

Makala
Tuesday, Feb. 12, 6:30 p.m., D. H. Hill Jr. Library Auditorium
French documentary filmmaker Emmanuel Gras won the 2017 Cannes Critics’ Week grand prize with Makala—which is Swahili for “coal.” It tells the story of a charcoal peddler and his wife and child who live in the countryside of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He struggles to make a living by making charcoal and carrying them on a three-day journey on his wobbly bicycle to the market where he can sell them. Faculty introduction by Dr. James Kiwanuka-Tondo, CHASS Director of International Studies. In partnership with NC State’s Office of Global Engagement. (watch trailer)

Capernaum
Date and location TBD
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, Nadine Labaki’s Capernaum “Chaos”) received a 15-minute standing ovation following its premiere there. It tells the story of Zain (Zain al Rafeea), a Lebanese boy who sues his parents for the “crime” of giving him life. Labaki chose novice actors whose experience as refugees informed their performances in this story about the human cost of political conflict and war. In partnership with the Office of Global Engagement, Middle East Studies, and the Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies. (watch trailer)

Bending the Arc
Tuesday, April 9, 6:30 p.m., D. H. Hill Jr. Auditorium
Bending the Arc is a documentary about a team of young people—Paul Farmer, Jim Yong Kim, Ophelia Dahl—whose charitable medical work in impoverished nations 30 years ago ignited a global health movement and founded the organization Partners In Health. Their goal was simple but daring—to make high-quality health care available to everyone, even in the world’s poorest countries, through a combination of medical treatment, cultural sensitivity, and community involvement. Dealing with entrenched diseases, political and bureaucratic machinery, and the complexities of the charity and medical establishments, these crusaders took their work from the village to the world stage, insisting that healthcare is a right for all and that geography should not determine destiny. Part of World Health Day (April 7) and in partnership with NC State’s Global Health Initiative, Office of Global Engagement. Film introduced by Sid Thakkur, Director Global Health at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Associate Director, Comparative Medicine Institute. (watch trailer)