The Okanagan International Film Festival, which runs throughout the month of March, tackles the topical theme of migration.
The festival, co-sponsored by UBC’s Okanagan campus and Okanagan College, presents Takes on Migration, a series of films that showcase the stories of immigrants in different countries and their struggles to make sense of their new lives.
“For the millions who face fresh lives, they experience the trials of coming to terms with their new environments, the perils of negotiating across cultures, and the anxieties of living the uncertain,” said UBCO assoc. prof. Bernard Schulz-Cruz. “Many times having to make sacrifices and confront the past even as they embrace the new.”
The festival runs concurrent Tuesdays until March 22 and continues with Germany’s Kebab Connection March 8.
The film follows a Hamburg resident of Turkish descent, who wants to direct the first German kung-fu movie.
March 15, La Misma Luna (Mexico/U.S.), tells the parallel stories of a boy and his mother, whose hopes of providing a better life for her son, has her working illegally in the U.S.
Kabukicho Love Hotel (Japan) March 22 features a young man from the countryside, who comes to Tokyo with dreams of running a five-star hotel, but works as the manager of a short stay “love hotel” in Kabukicho.
All films will have English subtitles and will be introduced by UBC Okanagan faculty of creative and critical studies Martin Blum, Schulz-Cruz, and Nina Langton.
The film festival is free and open to the public. The films will be shown at Okanagan College Theatre, 1000 KLO Rd., at 7 p.m.
The festival is sponsored by UBC Okanagan’s French, German, Japanese, and Spanish programs, along with the faculty of creative and critical studies and Okanagan College’s modern languages department and international education department. Be advised that these movies may contain adult subject matter including nudity, sex, violence, and coarse language.
For more info., contact Bernard Schulz-Cruz at 250-807-9379, bernard.schulz-cruz@ubc.ca or Cynthia Hernández 250-762-5445, ext: 4930, CGarcia@okanagan.bc.ca.