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March 3, 2014 — The Allegheny College Department of Modern and Classical Languages is sponsoring an international film festival on Thursdays. The series will be shown at 7 p.m. on March 6, 13 and 27 and April 3 and 10 at The Movies, 11155 Highline Drive in Meadville. The films will be in their original languages, with subtitles in English. The cost is $7 for general admission.

“Wadjda” (Saudi Arabia, 2013, PG, 97 min.), directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour, will begin the series on March 6. “In addition to being a terrific garden-variety coming-of-age film, ‘Wadjda’ happens to be the first feature-length movie ever made in Saudi Arabia—all the more notable in that it’s been made by a woman, about a young girl chafing against the religious and social strictures of a kingdom literally shrouded in sexual anxiety, misogyny and severe repression,” wrote Ann Hornady in a review in the Washington Post.

“Populaire” (France, 2012, R, 111 min.), directed by Régis Roinsard, will continue the series on March 13. “‘Populaire’ tells the kind of transcendentally silly fairy tale that has long been a French cinematic specialty,” said Stephen Holden in the New York Times. “With an affectionate wink, the movie conjures a dream world in which getting a job as a secretary is the next-best thing to going to heaven in the minds of young women eyeing career possibilities.”

“No” (Chile, 2012, R, 110 min.), directed by Pablo Larraín, will be shown on March 27. Written by Pedro Peirano and based on “El Plebiscito,” a play by Chilean novelist and former exile Antonio Skármeta, the story takes place in 1988 when a constitutionally mandated national referendum was held to determine if Augusto Pinochet would remain in power. The movie follows Rene as he works with colleagues in the advertising business to create ads to persuade Chileans to vote no.

“The Grandmaster” (China, 2013, PG-13, 108 min.), directed by Wong Kar-Wai, will be shown on April 3. “At first, you might mistake the film for a biopic with the great Tony Leung cast as Ip Man (1893-1972), the martial-arts virtuoso who taught Bruce Lee,” said Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. “But as we watch Ip Man interact with other kung fu fighters in scenes of clashing styles and rigid methodology, we see that Wong is capturing a long view of Chinese history that extends to the world outside.”

“Two Lives” (Germany, 2012, no rating, 97 min.) will close out the series on April 10. Geor Maas directed this film, which was Germany’s foreign-language submission for the 2013 Oscars. Liv Ullmann and Juliane Koehler star as a mother and daughter in Norway whose relationship is shattered when the fall of the Berlin Wall reveals family secrets.