Library staff believe appreciating other cultures can start with watching a movie in another language.
The Lethbridge Public Library is hosting the seventh annual Foreign Film Festival from Oct. 15 through Oct. 19.
The festival is presenting Lethbridge’s first public showings of five acclaimed foreign films that will traverse four different languages.
Sheila Braund, an audio-visual services library tech and organizer of the event, said she believes the perspective offered by these films is important for people to see.
“All of these stories are dealing with their own parts of the world and you’re going to see a different take. It brings to the community an enlightenment of what it’s like to see films in another land and another language. It’s important for people to look at other cultures and communities to get an idea of what it’s like.”
The insight and understanding of other cultures is the main draw for several of the patrons of the festival.
Shannon Morgan, one of the event’s patrons, said having access to events like this in Lethbridge is needed.
“This is an amazing look at how other cultures see themselves. Having an appreciation of other societies and their way of life is important these days.”
Braund said in a small community like Lethbridge, it’s hard to find a place to see foreign market films.
“These are films you aren’t going to see in local theatres. They’re made by producers and directors that aren’t of the American idea of acting. A lot of these films have run at the Toronto International Film Festival and have been nominated for Academy Awards, Golden Globes, or European base film awards.”
The festival kicked off the week Monday night with In The Fade, a Golden Globe-winning German film.
The other films throughout the week include Happy End (French), Menashe (Yiddish), In Syria (French) and The Insult (Arabic).
The Foreign Film Festival runs until this Friday, with showings beginning at 7 p.m. each night.
More information can be found at the Lethbridge Public Library’s website at http://www.lethlib.ca/.
