The Messenger 03.26.08

“Hura Garu” (Hula Girls),” the second movie in the 2008 Modern Foreign Languages Foreign Film Series, is set for 7 p.m. Friday in Watkins Auditorium of Boling University Center at the University of Tennessee at Martin.
“Hula Girls” takes place in the small, gritty town on Iwaki, where the residents rely solely on the prosperity of the Joban mine. The men plunge into the mines on rotating shifts while the women rake the coal debris on the surface. When rumors circulate that the mine will be closed, thus devastating the entire town, the idea is born to make “Hawaii” and thus paradise in this cold, remote town in northern Japan.
But how can one have a Hawaiian resort without hula dancers? A down-and-out dance teacher from Tokyo is brought to Iwaki and they all embark on saving their town from imminent collapse. In a town so removed from the center of Japan, the hula girls must transform from “country bumpkins” into graceful dancers, something no one believes is possible.
Kyoko Hammond, lecturer in Japanese, will introduce the film.
Each film is in its original foreign language and contains English subtitles. All foreign film series movies are free and open to the public. The film series is funded by the College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the Student Activities Council.
For information, contact the Department of Modern Foreign Languages at (731) 881-7420.