If you don’t know what the Association Internationale des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales is, you’re definitely not alone. The international youth-run non-profit focuses on job internment, at home and abroad, for international students and other future leaders of the global economy.

If AIESEC is an organization for business students, why should non-business students pay attention to any of their upcoming events on campus?

AIESEC Saskatoon is starting a foreign film night that coincides with campus International Week from Nov. 15 to 17 and it’ll definitely be the place to be on Wednesdays in the future.

AIESEC is relatively unknown on the U of S campus and wants to broaden their visibility on campus.

“We’re just looking for a way to get more involved on campus,” says Carson Widynowski, a member of AIESEC who sat down with the Sheaf earlier this week to outline some of AIESEC’s plans for film nights in the future.

According to Widynowski, AIESEC is interested in becoming more involved in the non-business side of the university campus. The film nights are also a way of promoting themselves on campus while offering some excellent foreign films for students to enjoy.

Widynowski states that the idea for a film night started back in March at a culture night with other AIESEC societies across the country. The members thought that film nights would be a way to not only to increase the awareness of the group on campus but also to promote an interest in the global societies that many students on campus are unfamiliar with.

Foreign film “opens your mind to the other cultures of the world,” says Widynowski.

“It allows students to be able to experience these societies first hand, to understand countries that they may never have a chance of visiting.”

Beyond the benefits of expanding a person’s world-view, foreign cinema offers a counterpoint to the Hollywood-made films that flood our megaplexes. The kind of films that Widynowski proposes to show aren’t just interesting examinations of foreign societies, but great stories as well.

It’s often surprising and a little unsettling to find out just how many people have never seen a foreign film. Even if they have, it’s often just an anime film or a Kung Fu movie. These foreign film nights would allow students an opportunity to brush up on their foreign films. And they’re free, so there’s no excuse for not showing up.

Widynowski says that the choices of films will stay contemporary for the first while to encourage more people to come out. As well, the subject matter will stay fairly PG-13, so don’t expect to be watching Battle Royale anytime soon.

The first AIESEC Foreign Film Night will occur on Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. in Arts 241. The film is Amélie, the beloved Jean-Pierre Jeunet film from 2001 starring Audrey Tatou. Widnynowki thinks that Amélie is a “good starting point to draw people out.”

If the first film night is a success, AIESEC plans to have more in the future. Another is being prepped for late November, and more will hopefully follow bimonthly next term with films like Days of Glory and Tokyo.