The Ohio State University at Mansfield will present a screening of the film The Farewell Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. inside Founders Auditorium.
In this comedy-drama, a Chinese family discovers their grandmother has cancer and only has a short while to live. They decide to keep the news a secret, and schedule a wedding to gather everyone together before she dies. An American member of the family questions this plan.
Directed by Lulu Wang, the film is loosely based on her own experiences as a Chinese-American interacting with the culture of her relatives. Yet it depicts something universal: the inevitability of losing our loved ones.
The film is being shown by the Bromfield Library and Information Commons and the Ohio State Mansfield Theatre Program, with support from the Ohio State University’s East Asian Studies Center.
“The film was released in 2019 and has broad public appeal regardless of religious or cultural backgrounds,” said Andrea Wittmer, head librarian at Ohio State Mansfield.
Joe Fahey, professor of theater at Ohio State Mansfield, said the film touches on themes that are common in society and difficult to deal with.
“It’s about grief and loss but also the difference among the cultures and how all of us find ways to deal with situations that are difficult,” said Fahey.
There is no cost to attend the screening. The organizers are planning a post-event discussion centered around grief, the inevitability of death and the film’s approach to both.
The film is being shown through a grant Wittmer received from the East Asian Studies Center. To learn more about the event, Wittmer can be reached at wittmer.7@osu.edu or 419-755-4090.