For the Spring 2026 semester, Murray State University Cinema International is featuring films celebrating the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence, with movies depicting the relationship between the United States and the rest of the world, and their reaction to the formative document.
The debut film of the semester is “Past Lives,” which tells the story of a South Korean woman who navigates her professional life as a playwright and a love triangle on a journey of self discovery in New York City.
Cinema International co-director Tamara Feinstein said the film is semi-autobiographical, dealing partially with the director’s own life but also includes fictional elements.
“It is based on the director's life experience. She's from Korea, originally immigrated to Canada, and then came to New York to start her career within the entertainment industry, starting with plays, and then moving on to movies,” she said. “This is her first big feature film, and it got a lot of buzz. So it's sort of between two different worlds, like her world, from her origins in Korea and her new life that she's building in New York.”
Feinstein said that the lead character, Nora, is living between two different worlds in the film: her origins compared to the life she led in New York City.
“It's almost like she belongs in both but there's one side of her that each person she’s made connections with in that country doesn't understand. And she has these two sort-of love stories in her life, one from when she was a child, this childhood sweetheart, and then the new love that develops once she's finding her pathway about how she wants to express herself creatively,” said Feinstein. “She meets this guy at an artist residency, and finally is sort of realizing her dreams. And so it's how those two connect to different parts of her life, and her coming to terms with the what ifs, and accepting, the life that she's chosen.”
Cinema International co-director Ben Post said that the film made perfect sense for Valentine’s Day because it deals with Nora as she develops and grows her understanding of love through time periods highlighted in the film through reflection.
“It shows you these 12-year increments of her life. You see her as a 12-year-old and as a 24-year-old, and then as a 36-year-old. So you don't really see what happens in between those moments. You don't see the process. You see these slices. And so for each slice, there's all these possibilities of how you could get to the next slice,” Post said.
Feinstein said she hopes the films give the audience a different perspective on love and the different eras of love people experience.
“When you're a child, you have a different kind of innocent type of crush that is represented by her Korean friend, and then how that sort of morphs what types of relationships you have when you are older have a very different flavor to them and mean something different,” she said. “It’s a romantic drama. There's a lot of beautiful shots and like reflective moments, where it opens up some space for you to think about, like what does love mean? How do you evolve as a person over time?”
Post said that this semester’s lineup varies by genre but he is excited for audiences to see the films, which he said were carefully selected.
“We've got documentaries that are very international and focused like “‘Soundtrack to a Coup d'etat,"’ which is about the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” Post said. “We've also got documentaries that are profiles of famous Americans like Rachel Carson and Mother Jones, as well as a famous Puerto Rican, Roberto Clemente, who was a great player for Major League Baseball.”
Cinema International is screening “Past Lives” on Feb. 12 and 14 at 7 p.m. in Faculty Hall room 208 on the main campus of Murray State University. The event is free and open to the public.
