LONG BEACH — The CSU Long Beach Anthropology Department presents its annual film festival, Visual Anthropology Showcase, featuring a film about the efforts to preserve Historic Wintersburg, on Friday, May 24, from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Historical Society of Long Beach, 4260 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach.

“Land Called Wintersburg” will make its film festival debut at 6:30 p.m.?

For several months, a group of CSULB anthropology students have been following the progress of the preservation effort for Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach for a class project.? Their final assignment was a 10-minute ethnographic film.

Dr. Steven Rousso-Schindler, assistant professor of anthropology and co-organizer of the showcase, noted that Wintersburg is the site of the first Japanese American church in Orange County. “The story is about whether it is possible and desirable to preserve this important Orange County building, given its historic value.”

“This year we will be presenting a number of student-produced augmented photo essays and ethnographic films that explore the ways in which images and sounds can be used to engage and represent sociocultural worlds — in collaboration with film subjects and communities,” the Anthropology Department said.

The projects cover a range of topics, including gender in “World of Warcraft”; jazz, improvisation and the creative process; Prumsodun Ok’s revitalization and modernity through classical Cambodian dance; the role of food, music and art in the Occupy Movement; an augmented reality tour of Cambodia Town in Long Beach; reclaiming the original meaning of Dia de los Muertos; Jewish tattooing and the Holocaust; and steampunk culture.

The public is welcome. For more information on the event, click here.

For more information on the Wintersburg preservation effort, click here.

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