Next Tuesday, Dec. 10, the Williams Lake Film Club will be screening its last film for this year at the Gibraltar Room.
The Color of Paradise is a film from Iran with English subtitles.
The subtitles are white on black and very easy to read.
Academy Award nominee Majid Majidi is the director.
The story is beautiful and smart and just as interesting for adults as it is for the younger audience.
We get to know Mohammad, a gifted blind boy who attends the Institute for the Blind in the big city of Teheran.
Summer holidays are beginning and he is waiting for his father to pick him up to spend the holiday with his family in a small village in the country side.
Mohammad does not know that his father has decided to marry again, a local widow with a large dowry.
And that his father is ashamed of him, his own son with such a severe handicap.
He wants to hide Mohammad, or you could say he really wants to get rid of him.
As the wedding is quickly approaching the father has to come to a solution just as quickly.
And he thinks he has found one.
See for yourself how the story unfolds.
It is fascinating to watch how much in tune Mohammad is with the world around him.
You come to believe that he really does see the “Colour” of Paradise, that he sees the children, the people around him, and especially the animals with his heart.
He is full of joy to be alive and to experience life in all its “colours.” His father, however, has shut his heart toward the joy in life his son sees.
He has become hard and greedy, only open to his wants.
The story is quite simple but so very well done and the lush countryside is a wonder to behold.
As the New York Times says: “Stunningly beautiful. A gem.” That describes the film perfectly.
We are also very excited that we have the opportunity to present our first cheque of $2,000 to our new partner for the LDA, the Cariboo Chilcotin Child Development Centre.
We have been hard at work to set everything up and the LDA office will be running again next week.
Their new telephone number is 250-392-4489, ask for Sydney.
Sydney Wolstenholme will be at our film screening to introduce herself and to accept the cheque.
Nancy Gale, executive director, is out of town, but will introduce herself to you at a later date.
She is just as excited about our partnership as we are.
As this is the last film for this season, we once again will have a little Christmas Social after the film, with mulled apple cider, hot chocolate and other treats.
Wouldn’t it be fun if you share some of your Christmas baking with us?
We are really looking forward to that!
As this is the time for sharing, let us also bring something for the food bank.
This is our largest collection of the year, and probably the most important one.
The film will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Gibraltar Room. Back doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Admission is $9 regular, $8 for Williams Lake Film Club members, and $6 for seniors (65+) and students, HS and TRU. Children under 12 are free.
See you next Tuesday, Dec. 10! Happy Holidays!