For the first time in two years, the Creston Valley Public Library will be hosting an in-person event for film buffs.
National Canadian Film Day, presented by REEL CANADA on April 20, is a massive one-day, coast-to-coast celebration of Canadian cinema.
The 2022 Spotlight Films focus on the theme of “Celebrating Indigenous Voices”.
Next Wednesday, the library will participate in the festival by hosting a double feature with “Monkey Beach” showing at 2 p.m. and “Blood Quantum” showing at 7 p.m.
“Monkey Beach” (14A, run time 105 minutes) is a charming supernatural mystery. Lisa (Dove), a young Haisla woman with clairvoyant abilities, returns to her hometown of Kitamaat and tries to come to terms with the fact that her brother Jimmy (Oulette) has gone missing at sea. Soon, she finds herself drifting between her life in Kitamaat and the spirit world, in an attempt to save him. A heartfelt and often funny look at grief and the importance of family that is set in the stunning natural landscape of the Pacific Northwest, Monkey Beach draws on Haisla symbolism and culture. Based on the celebrated novel by Eden Robinson, “Monkey Beach” received international acclaim and a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Canadian Screen Awards.
“Blood Quantum” (18A, run time 96 minutes) is a brilliantly provocative horror film set in an isolated Mi’qmaw community, where the Indigenous population remains immune to a raging zombie virus infecting the surrounding white population. The term “blood quantum” refers to a colonial system enforced on Indigenous peoples in North America which determines their individual status and rights based on their “percentage” of Indigenous ancestry. It is a tool of control, assimilation and erasure of Indigenous peoples. Blood soaked, fast-paced, and darkly comic, “Blood Quantum” is a wild ride using the zombie genre as a vehicle to explore white supremacy, colonialism, genocide and Indigenous self-determination.
Come join us at the Creston Valley Public Library as we dust off the popcorn machine and get comfortable together again!