In honor of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, the Calvin English department is hosting a semester-long Jane Austen movie adaptation festival. The Jane Austen Film Festival will be taking place every Sunday at 3 p.m. and will include different adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels, including the 1995 and 2005 versions of Pride & Prejudice, as well as the 1996 and 2020 versions of Emma, among many others. 

Outside of the traditional movie adaptations, the film festival will also feature Austenland, a humorous take on modern-day Jane Austen fans who immerse themselves in an Austen resort. At the resort, they can enjoy romantic fantasies, classicism, schemes, and more. The film features Keri Russel as the main character, Jane Hayes, alongside Jennifer Coolidge as Miss Elizabeth Charming. The film Clueless, adapted from Emma, will also be featured. Clueless is set in the mid-1990s at Beverly Hills High School with Alicia Silverstone as the scheming main character Cher, or otherwise Emma, and Paul Rudd as Josh, or otherwise Mr. Knightley. 

Although several adaptations of the same Austen novel will be shown (i.e., two different productions of Mansfield Park), each one represents different ways audiences can interpret Austen. These interpretations, though from stories written 200 years ago, are still important today, as exemplified by the attention they still receive. Austen asks questions about partnership, friendship, class and so much more. Jennifer Holberg, chair of Calvin’s English department, says, “[Everyone thinks] she just writes rom-coms. I just think she’s so much more complicated than that.” Holberg emphasizes that “each novel asks a different question.” 

Holberg chose to host the Jane Austen Film Festival because “there are celebrations of Jane Austen going on all around the world … we should have one too.” Holberg believes the film festival is an opportunity for students and professors to connect “beyond just the classroom.” She also says that “Jane Austen is our sister in Christ; she was a very devout Christian woman, and we get to interact with what she wrote that’s not just through reading or teaching, but through film.” Holberg believes that learning has different modes, and a film festival is a fun way of introducing those other modes.

Austen’s novels and their meanings are still relevant, according to Holberg, as they are ultimately asking how we should live in this world. Holberg points out that “in Dickens, when he doesn’t like a character, he often kills them off … in Austen, in the end, even the bad characters are maybe still in your family.” Austen’s work explores how we can live in communities with people that have done us wrong or we may not agree with. Elizabeth Ayers, a junior pursuing  an art BFA and a minor in literature, points out that, romantic or not, “all the characters have very deep connections … I think everyone wants to have that.” 

Austen uses frustrating characters, unyielding desires and heavy but relatable emotions to continue to pull audiences into her stories. Mansfield Park, published in 1814, features a shy girl facing difficult circumstances, while Pride & Prejudice, published in 1813, features a confident and zippy woman who knows what she wants. Austen’s novels offer us contrasting characters, giving each member of her audience a character to relate to on a personal level. 

Julie deBoo, a sophomore studying Spanish and graphic design with a minor in English literature, notes that in the world of Jane Austen, audiences encounter poor, middle-class and wealthy characters, and act as witnesses to how those different classes interact. DeBoo says, “There are still a lot of gaps between poverty and the richer people … so while it’s not the same … it’s still good to talk about how we interact with people in different social classes.” 

The film festival, while offered to Calvin students, is also offered to the surrounding community, bringing those in their teens, their 60s and everyone in between together to watch a film. DeBoo described this as a “super fun intergenerational experience … no matter if you were in college forty years ago or in it right now, it’s for everyone.” 

Ayers says that “there were parts where everybody in the room was laughing out loud … I like that 20-year-olds and 65-year-olds found the same things funny.” The Austen film experience invites everyone to gain a new perspective on Austen, to learn more about who she was, who students are as individuals and “who she is to you,” according to Ayers. It’s also a wonderful way to laugh and have fun in community — “It can be really good to step away from your own life for a moment,” Ayers explained.

Although the same festival might not happen again, Calvin’s English department hopes to host similar events in the future to encourage community, fun, and learning.