TAMIU's Roadside Cinema Film Festival Shows 'Airbag' April 11

"Roadside Cinema," Texas A&M International University's Spring Film Festival's trip through road movies, continues with "Airbag." The film will be shown Thursday, April 11 at 7 p.m. in Bullock Hall 101. The showing is free and open to the public.

"Airbag" (1997) directed by Juanma Bajo Ulloa, is the bizarre, amusing trip through the Spanish countryside of several friends who lost an expensive wedding ring during a bachelor party.

The film was nominated for the 1998 British Independent Film Award Best Foreign Independent Film. Filmed in a hip, tongue-in-cheek style, Ulloa's style has been described as part John Woo, part Quentin Tarantino. Ulloa says, "It's a lazy, loutish and slightly cheeky film."

In Spanish with English Subtitles, this film not rated, but is for mature audiences.

After the show, there will be 15 to 30 minutes of commentary and questions and answers, led by Dr. Sean M. Chadwell and Dr. William J. Nichols II, series creators and both assistant professors in the College of Arts and Humanities.

The final film, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," will be shown on Thursday, April 18. Hunter S. Thompson's story about a trip through Nevada and a trip through the drug-impaired mind might leave one exhausted and ready to pull over at a rest stop. It features an all-star cast with Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio Del Toro as Oscar Zeta Acosta. Rated R.

For more information on the "Roadside Cinema," 2002 Spring Film Festival, contact either Drs. Chadwell or Nichols by phone, 326.2471, 326.2610, visit offices in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 418C, room 421B or visit the festival's website: http://www.tamiu.edu/~wnichols/road.htm.

University office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at pais@tamiu.edu