Harper College will be closed Monday, December 23 through Wednesday, January 1 for Winter Break.
Harper College will host acclaimed filmmaker Samyuktha Vijayan for a variety of campus
events in early May. Her visit will include screenings of her film Blue Sunshine at 2 and 6 p.m. on May 8.
The screenings, part of Harper’s South Asian Film Series, are free, open to the community and will take place in Building E, Room E108 on campus, 1200 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine. The series is presented by Harper’s Office of International Education.
Vijayan, who is based in India, will be present to speak about Blue Sunshine, a film that centers on a high school teacher who transitions from male to female amid family and social pressures in a small town. The filmmaker wrote, directed and stars in the movie, based on her own life. Blue Sunshine, first released in 2023, was an official selection of the Glasgow Film Festival and the International Film Festival of India. It won the Best Feature Jury Award at the Tasveer South Asian Film Festival.
During her visit to Harper, Vijayan is also set to give the keynote address during the 2024 Fashion Jury Show, speak to visual art students and meet with Harper’s PRIDE Club.
Two additional films will screen during Harper’s South Asian Film Series: 2022’s Joyland, directed by Saim Sadiq (2 and 6 p.m. April 24), and 2017’s Ajji, directed by Devashish Makhija (2 and 6 p.m. May 1). As with Blue Sunshine, the screenings are free and open to all.