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We Love Documentary Film Festival returns to Penticton

Documentary film festival explores resilience around the world
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A surfer in the documentary Gaza Surf Club cataches a wave. The film is one of six being featured at the We Love Documentary Film Festival Oct. 13 to 15. Photo courtesy of Andrew McConnell

Six documentaries, one weekend — the sixth annual We Love Documentary Film Festival returns to the Shatford Centre Oct. 13 to 15.

“For this year’s theme of ‘resilience’ we have put together a selection of inspiring and moving documentaries that look at the challenges that we face around this planet we share,” said Jane Shaak, executive director of the Shatford Centre.

Festival curator, Pepita Ferrari, has a strong Penticton connection. Her sister, Jacinta Ferrari, is the wife of local architect Cal Mieklejohn. Pepita is a Canadian filmmaker and has helped organize the We Love Documentary Film Festival for the past six years.

“Her picks are always moving, informative and inspiring. Because, as one filmmaker puts it, ‘real life is so much more interesting than anything you can make up,’” said Shaak.

The film festival kicks off on Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. with the showing of Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World. This film exposes a critical missing chapter of rock history, revealing how Indigenous musicians helped shape the soundtracks of many generations.

On Oct. 15 three films will be screened. The Babushkas of Chernobyl (1 p.m.) is described as an affectionate portrait of a group of women who, after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and evacuation, returned to the exclusion zone surrounding the nuclear power plant and have resided there — semi-officially — for years. The Gaza Surf Club (3 p.m.) focuses on how in a country locked between Egypt and Israel people are drawn to the beaches. The youth, in the daily ‘state of emergency’ seek meaning and perspective to their lives through surfing. The final film for the day is Strangers on the Earth (7 p.m.) which is about wayfarer Dane Johansen, an American cellist, in Europe’s Camino de Santiago. He ventured to ancient paths of the area with instrument on his back, performing music for his fellow pilgrims along the way. He discovers the paths we travel through life are often uncomfortably magnified by the reality of life on the Camino.

The final day of the festival includes the films Leaning into the Wind (1 p.m.) and Shiners (3 p.m.). Artist Andy Goldsworthy is followed on his exploration of the world and himself through ephemeral and permanent workings on the landscape, cities and with his own body in Leaning Into the Wind. In Shiners, we meet the men and women who make their living cleaning shoes. From New York to Tokyo and beyond, Shiners travels the world to give viewers an insider’s view of the overlooked profession.

Shiners_Trailer from Stacey Tenenbaum on Vimeo.

Former CBC journalist, radio morning show host and TV news anchor Bob Nicholson will emcee and host the festival.

Tickets are $12 per film or $45 for a full weekend pass. For Okanagan School of the Arts members tickets are $10 per film or $40 for the whole weekend. Tickets are on sale now at the Shatford Centre located at 760 Main St.