Aniket Vishwasrao portrays Arjun in director Partho Sen-Gupta’s 2004 film Let the Wind Blow.

The Global Lens 2008 film series, a touring program of narrative feature films from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia, continues in Bates College's Olin Arts Center this week with a 7 p.m. screening of the 2004 Indian drama "Let the Wind Blow" on Wednesday, Nov. 19, in Room 104.

The arts center is located at 75 Russell St. The Bates College Museum of Art presents the series in cooperation with the college's Multicultural Center. The public is welcome to all of the films at no charge. For more information, please call 207-786-6158.

The series is assembled and distributed by the Global Film Initiative, a U.S.–based nonprofit organization promoting independent filmmaking in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Founded in 2002 with the mission of promoting cross-cultural understanding through cinema, each year the initiative not only presents the film series but awards grants to deserving filmmakers from around the world. For more information, please visit the initiative's Web site.

Let the Wind Blow is director Partho Sen-Gupta's gritty, apocalyptic interpretation of a story from the Bhagavad Gita. At the height of nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan, Arjun (Aniket Vishwasrao) and his best friend, Chabia, weigh their options for the future against the reality of life on the streets of Mumbai. Enticed by the promise of wealth and opportunity in the Persian Gulf, Chabia is eager to leave his job as a mechanic. But for Arjun, who must finish college and care for his mother, the decision is not so easy.

The Global Lens series, now in its fifth year, premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in January and is traveling around the country to more than 40 locations. Read more about the films and view the series trailer and individual film trailers.

All of the Bates screenings begin at 7 p.m. Here's the rest of the series:

Luxury Car (China, 2006), Wednesday, Dec. 3, Olin 105.

Opera Jawa (Indonesia, 2006), Thursday, Dec. 4, Olin 105.

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