9:00 a.m.: Innauguration and Welcome
Dr. Elizabeth Say - Dean of the College of Humanities
Dr. Beatriz Cortez - Central American Studies Program
Dr. Sheena Malhotra - Gender and Women's Studies Department
Followed by Casa de los Babys
Country: United States
Year: 2003
Director: John Sayles
Duration: 95 mins
Casa de los Babys is the story of six Amerian women who travel to South America to adopt babies and find that they have to live there to meet local law requirements for adoption.
Presenter: Dr. Beatriz Cortez, Central American Studies
11:00 a.m.: Hijos de la Guerra. Followed by a Q&A
Country: U.S. & El Salvador
Year: 2007
Director: Alexandre Fuchs
Duration: 81 mins
Hijos de la Guerra ("Children of the War") is a feature-length documentary film about the world's largest and most violent street gang: the Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13. The MS-13 gang spans the Americas with an estimated membership of 100,000 people across the United States and Central America. The FBI has declared the MS-13 to be the fastest growing street gang in the U.S.
Presenter: CAUSA
12:45 p.m.: Trading Women
Country: Burma, China, Laos and Thailand
Year: 2003
Director: David A. Feingold.
Narrated by Angelina Jolie
Duration: 77 mins
Narrated by Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie, the documentary investigates the trade in minority girls and women from the hill tribes of Burma, Laos and China, into the Thai sex industry. Filmed on location in China, Thailand and Burma, Trading Women follows the trade of women in all its complexity, entering the worlds of brothel owners, trafficked girls, voluntary sex-workers, corrupt police and anxious politicians. The film also explores the international community's response to the issue.
Presenter: Dr. Tracy Lachica Buenavista, Asian American Studies
2:15 p.m.: Student Shorts
Country: United States
Year: 2008
Director: CSUN Students
Duration: 30 mins
The COH International Film Festival is proud to screen shorts by CSUN students. The shorts will be followed by Q&A with the student directors.
2:45 p.m.: Made in L.A. Followed by Q&A 
Country: United States
Year: 2008
Director: Almudena Carracedo & Robert Bahar
Duration: 70 mins
Winner of a 2008 Emmy Award, Made in L.A. follows the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from trendy clothing retailer Forever 21. In intimate observational style, Made in L.A. reveals the impact of the struggle on each woman’s life as they are gradually transformed by the experience. Compelling, humorous, deeply human, Made in L.A. is a story about immigration, the power of unity, and the courage it takes to find your voice.
Presenter: Dr. Jose Luis Benavides, Journalism
4:15 p.m.: Wal Mart - The High Cost of Low Price
Country: United States
Year: 2005
Director: Robert Greenwald
Duration: 95 mins
WAL-MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE is a feature length documentary that uncovers a retail giant's assault on families and American values. The film dives into the deeply personal stories and everyday lives of families and communities struggling to fight a goliath. A working mother is forced to turn to public assistance to provide healthcare for her two small children. A Missouri family loses its business after Wal-Mart is given over $2 million to open its doors down the road. A mayor struggles to equip his first responders after Wal-Mart pulls out and relocates just outside the city limits. A community in California unites, takes on the giant, and wins!
Presenter: Dr. Marta Lopez-Garza, Gender and Women's Studies
4:30 - 6:00 p.m.: RECEPTION
6:00 p.m.: John and Jane Toll Free
Country: India
Year: 2005
Director: Ashim Ahluwalia
Duration: 83 mins
In a vast fluorescent-lit room at an anonymous office compound in India, hundreds of men and women make virtual contact with the American Dream. Welcome to the world of overseas call centers: Indian by day, American by night, many of the 1-800 operators have come to identify completely with their American aliases - and to reject their own cultural values.
Presenter: Dr. Sheena Malhotra, Gender and Women's Studies
7:30 p.m.: Babel
Country: United States, Morocco, Japan, Mexico
Year: 2006
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Duration: 143 mins
Four interlocking stories from around the globe. all connected by a single gun, interweave and converge to reveal a complex and tragic story of the lives of humanity around the world. In Morocco, a troubled married couple are on vacation trying to work out their differences. Meanwhile, a Moroccan herder buys a rifle for his sons so they can keep the jackals away from his herd. A girl in Japan dealing with rejection, the death of her mother, the emotional distance of her father, her own self-consciousness, and a disability among many other issues, deals with modern life in the enormous metropolis of Tokyo, Japan. Then, on the opposite side of the world the married couple's Mexican nanny takes the couple's two children with her to her son's wedding in Mexico, only to run into trouble on the return trip. Combined, it provides a powerful story and an equally powerful looking glass into the lives of seemingly random people around the world and it shows just how connected we really are.
Presenter: Dr. Kathryn Sorrells, Communication Studies