DeKALB | The Women’s Studies Program will show Deepa Mehta’s “Water” at 2 p.m. today in the Campus Life Building, Room 100. A discussion will follow.

“Water,” recognized as the best picture at the fourth Bangkok Film Festival, is a film about wives and widows in post-colonial India. The film takes place in the year 1938 and centers around Chuyia, a girl not yet in her teens, who is married to a much older man. The man dies shortly after their marriage and she is left with three options: marry her husband’s younger brother if the family permits, kill herself on his funeral pyre or live a life of celibacy, discipline and solitude among other widows.

“I hope [students] come away from it with a better understanding of the situations for women in other countries both historically and currently,” Rebekah Kohli, program coordinator for the Women’s Studies Program, said. “I hope that they are better able to understand their positions as women here in the U.S. through having an understanding of situations in other countries.”

Discussion of the film will begin at approximately 4 p.m. with Meena Razvi and Sarah Erickson as moderators. Erickson is a graduate student in film and literature and she will discuss post-colonialism within the film. Razvi just received her doctorate from NIU in adult and higher education. Her research and teaching interests include international comparative literature and multicultural issues, including issues important in India.

The event is free and open to all students, faculty and staff. Refreshments will be served.

“We are really trying to internationalize the program, trying to make sure that we cover all of the diversity on campus, and this will help with that,” Kohli said.