The Institute for Global Understanding (IGU) and the Center for the Arts at Monmouth University hosted a screening of Between Two Worlds (2021) on Thursday, Nov. 13, in Pozycki Auditorium as part of the ongoing Pearson World Cinema Series.
The event featured a post-screening discussion led by Dr. Manuel Chávez, Director of the Philosophy and Religious Studies Program. Chávez teaches in the Department of History and Anthropology and is affiliated with the Gender and Intersectionality Studies Program as well as the African Diaspora Studies Program. His current research focuses on the intersections of decolonial theory and the philosophy of the self.
Joining him as the evening’s discussant was Marina Vujnovic, Ph.D., A.P.R., professor of journalism in the Department of Communication. Vujnovic previously worked as a journalist in Croatia and later as a PR practitioner before completing her graduate studies in the U.S. She is the author of “Forging the Bubikopf Nation” and co-author of “Participatory Journalism: Guarding Open Gates at Online Newspapers”, with research interests spanning global information flows, journalism studies, and the political-economic and cultural structures shaping media.
“Between Two Worlds”, directed by Emmanuel Carrère and starring Juliette Binoche, is based on French journalist Florence Aubenas’s bestselling nonfiction book “Le Quai de Ouistreham”. The film follows Aubenas’s investigation into the growing precarity in French society, drawing from her experiences living and working alongside hourly laborers in the port city of Caen.
This screening followed last month’s presentation of “Leviathan” (2014), which was accompanied by a discussion hosted by the series’ founder, Thomas Pearson, Ph.D., professor emeritus of history. The series, which highlights global themes and perspectives in cinema, is co-sponsored by the IGU, the Center for the Arts, and the Global Understanding Convention (GUC) 2025.
The series will continue in the spring with “Chile ’76” (2022), directed by Manuela Martelli. The screening will be held on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, at 6:05 p.m. in Pollak Theatre, hosted by Dr. Debora Machado Nunes with Professor Frank Cipriani. As with previous events, the film will be followed by a discussion and refreshments.
