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PLATFORM : Insight Through Film

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<i> AYUKO BABU is the executive director of the Pan African Film Festival, a Los Angeles event featuring films by black directors from four continents. Commenting on the role of the film industry in international relations, he told The Times:</i>

Film can be a key to promoting international understanding because it can be used to give a community some impressions of other people. Most people don’t have an opportunity to go abroad and visit other people. However, we can understand much about others by reading and viewing foreign films.

This kind of understanding has become more important because we now live in a very interdependent world. International cooperation will be necessary to address the major world issues such as environmental problems and trade disputes.

Multicultural understanding is especially important in Los Angeles because this is an international city.

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Hollywood studios tend to be concerned only with the commercial value of a film. In my view, Hollywood can continue to make commercially popular films like “Lethal Weapon 3,” but to earn prestige and promote international dialogue, they should also help finance and distribute foreign films.

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