Foreign Movies Mental Empowerment

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A very sad film about two friends in the Beijing Opera, directed by Chen Kaige.

Foreign movies are foreign to you, but English and French movies are also ‘foreign movies’ in North Africa, Asia or South America.

Before the pandemic, people who love movies and had money to travel went on the festival circuit, which includes Milan, Hong Kong, New York, Berlin and of course, the world famous Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

This is where producers and directors discuss film production in their respective countries: how they raise money; shooting when money dries up; finding costumes; why they shoot in particular locations and government censorship in certain countries.

I’m into foreign movies because they are economy class. I don’t have to buy a plane ticket and book into a hotel. I just sit down and watch a movie about other countries. The sitting down used to be in a movie theatre but we catch movies on computers, now. 

Not just economy class. Foreign movies contribute to my personal development. They give me a speck of understanding of how other humans live.

For example, the importance of the necklace called mangalsutra for Hindu women; the meaning of Chinese girls’ name; the importance of palm wine in Nigerian weddings or the prevalence of Roman Catholic priests in Italian movies.

Foreign movies don’t take anything away from me, they shore me up.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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