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From Thursday to Saturday, February 5-7, Carson City, Nevada will be home to the second annual International Film Weekend. After last year’s successful first edition, organizers prepared a lineup that will “celebrate cultural diversity through films,” in the words of Linda Bellegray, member of the organization, to EuskalKultura.com. ‘Obaba,’ directed by Navarrese filmmaker Montxo Armendariz, will be shown the last day.

Carson City, NV. It's a modest festival with the high goal of helping “our community to know more about other cultures,” says Bellegray. That’s why, together with the films, attendants to the Carson City’s International Film Weekend will also enjoy with food, music, and pictures from the countries the films are from, and a pre- and a post-movie discussion.

As explained by the spokeswoman, acclaimed Basque writer Bernardo Atxaga, author of the novel ‘Obabakoak,’ on which Armendariz’s film is based, was invited to attend the festival: “We talked to him but he declined regretfully because it was too far for him to travel. And we understood. But he was very grateful for including his film in the festival.”

On the first day, February 5, the festival proposes a journey to New Zealand. ‘Boy’ is a 2010 film set on the east coast of the country, in the year 1984, that tells the story of a rendezvous between an 11-year-old kid and his father. The film was awarded in Berlin, Germany, and nominated in Sundance.

Friday will be the day of ‘Himalaya,’ the first Nepalese movie ever to be nominated for the Academy Awards. Released in 1999, the flick shows the life of the people of the region of Dolpa, at an altitude of five thousand meters.

And on Saturday, the festival will come to an end with ‘Obaba.’ But beforehand, pintxos made by chef Pete Coscarart, owner in Carson City of Villa Basque Deli, and wine will be offered to the public.

All the films will start at 7:00 p.m., at the city’s Community Center.

Independent films

This year, the International Film Weekend also includes a section with “independently made films,” that are scheduled for viewing on Thursday and Friday afternoon, at the Marlette Hall of the Western Nevada College. These films will start at 3:00 p.m., so that attendants can also participate in the main events at the Community Center.

On Thursday, February 5, two short-films will be shown back to back: Kari Barber’s ‘Baking Alaska’ and Gabriel Lopez-Shaw’s ‘Great Basin pipemakers.’ The former is a documentary about two Oklahoma sisters who travel to Alaska to open a bakery, and the latter a film about a Northern Paiute tribe artist living at the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, teaching pipe-making skills to his apprentice. The next day, there will be time to watch ‘Rocking at the Red Dog,’ an hour and a half documentary about psychedelic rock, directed by Mary Works.

Program

Marlette Hall, Western Nevada College (3:00 pm):

Thursday, 2/5: ‘Baking Alaska’ and ‘Great Basin pipemakers’
Friday, 2/6: ‘Rocking at the Red Dog’

Carson City Community Centre (7:00 pm):

Thursday, 2/5: ‘Boy’
Friday, 2/6: ‘Himalaya’
Saturday, 2/7: ‘Obaba’

*All events are free

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