The world premiere of a documentary movie about the evolution of self-identity and intergenerational healing will lead a one-day film festival that opens the Sechelt Arts Festival on Oct. 13.
Coming Home for the Children is a new feature by Gibsons-based filmmaker Charlene SanJenko. The movie charts SanJenko’s journey of reclaiming her Indigenous identity after being raised in a non-Indigenous foster home.
The Sechelt Arts Festival film showcase will include eight other works including another world premiere: Game Changing Aging. Its creator Ivana Capelletto leads a crew of older Sunshine Coast dancers into fierce dance competitions on a mission to change the narrative of aging. Capelletto battles time and the human condition on a quest for self-esteem, better health, and mental strength.
Two submissions from Vancouver’s Run n Gun 48-hour film competition will have their Sunshine Coast debut. Gloria’s Chronicles, directed by Marc Buzzell, is a humorous counterpoint to Thomas Affolter’s healing parable Jeffrey. Jeffrey earned four top awards at the competition in May, including Best Film and Audience Choice Award.
Actor and director Steven Schwabl, who will also appear in theatrical performances during the two-week Sechelt festival, will screen his film W for the first time in North America. The movie follows the relentless pursuit of high achievement to the very peak of Mount Everest. It won the Special Jury Prize at the Ulju Mountain Film Festival in South Korea.
Director Matthew Talbot Kelly’s movie Blind Man’s Eye was called a “a short masterpiece” by the London International Animation Festival after its release in 2007. Two works by Roberts Creek-based filmmaker Gordon Halloran — The Weather Report and Slow Motion Falling — explore human responses to intractable challenges of climate change and dementia.
Ladies of the Inlet, a film by Annie Frazier Henry, will also be shown at the festival. In 2000, Henry was named British Columbia Film Aboriginal Producer, Writer, and Director of the Year. Her documentary tells the story of a journey by sea of six shíshálh Nation female elders as they head to their homelands located up Jervis Inlet.
The full schedule of Sechelt Arts Festival events and productions is available at secheltartsfestival.com.
