The Whitten Learning Center is now doubling as an Italian movie theater. The center has become the home base for the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures’ seventh annual Italian Film Festival this October. Once a week, for Italian heritage month, contemporary Italian films are screened on campus, free to students, faculty and community members.

A professor in the Modern Languages Department and UMIFF founder and coordinator, Manny Rossi, carefully selected four movies to screen. He said he tries to screen films that are controversial and spark conversation, but that are also popular and technically masterful.