Grand Valley State University's psychology department aims to expand the minds of students with Projection, a psychology film series.

When Brian Bowdle, a professor of psychology at GVSU, arrived to the university in 2005, he fell in love with the university immediately, but wanted to see more cultural and artistic events being offered to students on campus, so he decided he wanted to start a film series on campus.

Inspired to make that idea a reality, Bowdle created Projection, a psychology-based film series.

Projection officially began in the fall of 2007, and Bowdle has since been joined on the project by three psychology department faculty members, Mihaela Friedlmeier, Todd Williams and Tessa Jordan.

This semester the series will also be joined by Matthew Anderson, a GVSU film student, who will show and discuss a couple of the movies.

One of the goals of the film series was to offer students a chance to watch films that they may not have come across on their own.

"Just as reading classic works of fiction can enhance your appreciation of modern literature, watching classic movies can enhance your appreciation of contemporary filmmaking," Bowdle said.

Another of Bowdle's goals was to tie the film series into the overall theme of psychology by following each movie with an open-ended discussion of the psychological issues and concepts represented in the movie.

While the series is centered around psychology, any student, whether they are a psychology major or minor or not, is welcome to come to the viewings and participate in the discussion.

Although some of the films to be shown this semester will deal with a specific psychological disorder, all of the films chosen cover a variety of aspects of the human condition.

Additionally, the films are chosen to create a diverse set of screenings for each semester that consists of a mix of domestic and foreign films of various genres.

This semester, the movies chosen will examine issues such as prejudice, discrimination, drug addiction, dreams, religion, the psychology of social media and the human need to belong.

The films chosen for Projection work to capture this exploration of psychology through an expressive art form.

"Psychological science can be enriched by paying attention to the perspectives and insights of artists," Bowdle said.

Due to the enthusiasm of the people involved with Projection, each week students are provided with an opportunity to have a scientifically and artistically interesting experience.

There is a showing every Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Room 174 in Lake Superior Hall. The upcoming showings in February are:

Feb. 10: "The Purple Rose of Cario"

Feb. 17: "Searching for Sugar Man"

Feb. 24: "La Haine"

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