Annual film festival begins today
‘ISSUES OF OUR TIMES’ THE FOCUS OF THE YEAR’S FESTIVAL
First, southern Albertans will be able to see what’s behind the headlines. Then they’ll be invited to discuss some of the world’s biggest challenges, during the Lethbridge International Film Festival. “This year, we have been able to build our selection of films for the festival around a theme of ‘Issues of our Times,’” says festival president Trevor Page.
“Some of the biggest issues we face, internationally, are climate change, migration, and to a lesser extent, North Korea.”
They’ll be in focus during the week-long festival, which runs today through Saturday in the Theatre Gallery at the Lethbridge Public Library’s main branch, with weekday screenings set for 7 p.m.
The no-charge presentations will also offer an opportunity to learn more through moderated discussion with special guests after each film.
International festival board member Sheila Brand, who is also the Library Film Festival coordinator, says the international festival’s intent is to bring inspiring cinema to southern Alberta.
“Anyone in Lethbridge and surrounding area is lucky to have such a great annual event as LIFF, as the Festival continues to present a unique lineup of some of the world’s top films,” she says.
“And this year it will also provide a short gem produced by local filmmaker Rick Andrews.”
Opening this year’s festival today will be “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.” A decade after the Academy Award winning film, “An Inconvenient Truth” brought climate change to the forefront of mainstream culture, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore continues his tireless fight with this eye-opening followup. It’s directed by Bonnie Cohen and Jon Shen.
Captured in 23 countries, “Human Flow” follows the stories of millions of desperate refugees and migrants forced to escape war, famine, and climate change in search of shelter, safety, and justice across the globe. Scheduled for Tuesday, this “epic film journey” is led by internationally renowned Chinese artist and activist, Al Weiwei.
In “Secret State of North Korea,” the Wednesday selection, director James Jones tells the story of North Korea’s Kim Jong-un — the world’s youngest dictator. Like his father and grandfather, he wants to maintain tight control over what North Koreans see of the world, and what the world sees of North Korea. Smuggled film footage and never-before-told stories from defectors living in South Korea offer a glimpse of how some North Koreans are defying authority.
Food is one of our basic needs, but it’s sometimes surrounded by controversy. In “Food Evolution” on Thursday, director Scott Hamilton Kennedy uses the debate over genetically-modified foods as his entry point to show how easily fear and misinformation can overwhelm objective, evidence-based analysis.
Turning the lens on Lethbridge, Friday, local wildlife photographer and filmmaker Rick Andrews uses underwater and night footage in a documentary that provides unique insights into wildlife behaviour that even frequent visitors to our river valley may not have seen. His documentary film follows the valley’s wildlife through each of the four seasons.
Then Saturday at 2 p.m., the festival will conclude with “The Land Beneath Our Feet,” which includes lost footage from the 1920s showing the impacts of a corporate land grab in the early days of globalization, in the West African nation of Liberia. Directors Gregg Mitman and Sarita Siege raise questions about how Liberians lost sovereignty over their land and their livelihood.
The festival offers free admission, but donations will be gratefully received.
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