University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu will host a free screening of Angelina Jolie’s Golden Globe nominated war drama In the Land of Blood and Honey on March 22, 9 a.m. at Kapolei Consolidated Theatres. The Best Foreign Language Film nominee was not initially released in Hawaiʻi and comes to the islands before its DVD release thanks to the efforts of Joshua Cooper, UH West Oʻahu political science lecturer.
Cooper first discovered the film and later secured the rights to the release in Hawaiʻi after participating as a panelist at the United Nations Expert Seminar Addressing Adverse Impacts of Climate Change. Cooper was invited to the international seminar to present research on local adaptation strategies based on human rights-based approaches for dealing with climate change.
Much of Cooper’s research focuses on human rights and this theme is woven into his politics and film course at West Oʻahu. In the Land of Blood and Honey, was incorporated as a central component of the course.
Set against the backdrop of the war in Bosnia that tore through the Balkan region in the 1990s, the movie relates to many of the topics covered in the course. When the film was not released in the islands, Cooper began contacting fellow human rights advocates to encourage Jolie to bring the film to Hawaiʻi for his class and the community.
“I was going to just show the DVD to my class when it was released,” Cooper said. “But, since it is the premiere and never showed in Hawaiʻi yet, the production company sent out the original 35 mm film to give Hawaiʻi the real experience of In the Land of Blood and Honey.”
The screening is free and open to the public and will be preceded by a taped introduction from Jolie. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. There are 250 seats in the theater.
