CASCADIA International Women’s Film Festival is set to kick off in downtown Bellingham on Thursday, April 24, bringing world-class films from some of the most talented and cutting edge women in the industry to the upper corner of the Pacific Northwest.
Since its inaugural festival in 2017, CASCADIA has showcased feature films, documentaries, short films, animation and experimental films from more than 280 women directors around the globe.
Producer/director Yvonne Russo is this year’s honored guest, and will present the Pacific Northwest premiere of her new film “Viva, Verdi!” The film focuses on “life’s third act” in a unique retirement home in Milan, Italy housing elderly former opera singers and musicians who mentor young music students.
Russo, who is a member of the Sicangu Lakota Tribal Nation, has acted, directed and produced in television and film for years, and will give a talk during “An Evening with Yvonne Russo” at 7 p.m. Friday, April 24 immediately following the film’s showing.
CASCADIA executive director Cheryl Crooks said the film is a touching story about the power that art possesses.
“The movie is so uplifting. It’s so inspiring,” Crooks said. “[Russo] is very story-oriented, very issue-oriented. She felt when she learned about this place, this was something that we in the States needed to know about.”
The festival includes not only films, but also an art gallery featuring on-sale works from dozens of local women artists.
The “Women Rising” gallery opened on April 4 at the Dakota Art Gallery, 1322 Cornwall Avenue in Bellingham, and will run until Saturday, May 24. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
“There’s something for everybody at this show,” Crooks said of the art gallery. “They’ll be supporting these women artists, and I think they’ll go back a few times because there’s just so much to take in.”
With dozens of films to showcase from directors hailing from Finland to British Columbia, Crooks said the festival wanted the films to have an overarching theme of hope. Hope and empathy is desperately needed nowadays, Crooks said, and something film is particularly equipped to provide.
“The tenor of the times. People are stressed out. There’s a lot of uncertainty, anxiety in response to what’s happening here in our country,” Crooks said. “Through all these films, there’s a kind of thread of hopefulness of, ‘We can get through this.’”
Crooks recommended a trio of films by Scandinavian filmmakers set to play at Pickford Film Center: “The Missile” by Miia Tervo playing at 3:35 p.m. Friday, April 25,“Folk Tales” by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady playing at 6:20 p.m. Saturday, April 26, and “Butterflies” by Jenni Toivoniemi, playing at 6:15 p.m. Sunday, April 27.
The festival runs from Thursday, April 24 through Sunday, April 27, with an online festival May 1-11.
For tickets and more information, visit cascadiafilmfest.org.
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