Foreign Film as a Gateway to Cultural Studies

The purpose of this article is to share an example of how a foreign film has been used as a pedagogical vehicle to understand and study the culture and society of a foreign country. It also explains how this teaching method was used to go beyond just showing the film, through a post-viewing artistic activity that used a medium reflective of the culture portrayed in the film. This article considers the following questions: How was the foreign film used as an interactive teaching tool? How did the foreign film capture and portray the country¡¯s culture and societal issues in a visual manner? What was the role of metaphor and symbolism in the film? What were the viewer¡¯s connections with the images, dialogues and sounds in the film? Did the activity of creating a visual artwork using the materials native to the culture in the film enhance the viewer¡¯s understanding of the foreign culture?