The sound of a Turkish flute filled the dark lecture hall in Maxwell Dworkin, and images of the jagged Himalayan Mountains flashed onto the screen in front.

Harvard's first annual United Nations Week had begun.

Last night's screening of the movie "Baraka," a film that portrays cultural and natural images from around the world, kicked off the weeklong celebration of the U.N., co-sponsored by the International Relations Council (IRC), the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) and the Woodbridge Society of International Students.

Zuzanna M. Olszewska '01, an international student from Poland and a board member of the Woodbridge Society, had seen the film in Singapore and, overwhelmed by its power, brought the movie to Harvard.

"What I most want [others] to get out of the movie is the ideals of the U.N., with the tremendous variety of human experience around the world," Olszewska said.

While attendance was low, with about 30 students watching, the event was designed as a small introduction to U.N. Week, with much larger and more intense events to follow, organizers said.

"[This] film is ideal to start off U.N. Week because it was filmed in 24 countries...and is the best known documentary that captures the nature of the world," said Zhong J. Chen '01, a Woodbridge board member from China.

Harvard's U.N. Week is scheduled around International U.N. Day, Oct. 24, which is celebrated by countries across the world but receives little attention in the U.S.