Next month’s Lake Champlain International Film Festival will take you back in time and all around the world.
The 4th annual film festival at the Strand Center Theatre in Plattsburgh will transport you to the year 1924, with the very first film ever shown at the Strand. It’s the Harold Lloyd silent comedy Hot Water, accompanied by live music. From there the festival features a variety of films from different countries, and the North Country.
One issue festival organizers wish to highlight this year is the problems refugees face when they are displaced from their home countries. You can see a series of short films made by young girls living in a Syrian refugee camp.
Festival artistic director Jason Torrance says many screenings include a chance to meet people who helped create the films.
Director Adam Kritzer will present his film Good Funk, a story of Afro-Caribbean immigrants living in Brooklyn. A block of horror movies includes “Lake Nowhere,” a film by Syracuse filmmakers, made to look like a 1980s VHS movie you might pop in for a scare.
Among the many regional movies this year are three films made by different organizers of the festival.
The film “Angkor Awakens” vividly treats the political unrest in Cambodia. Torrance says in an era when many movies have a reputation for being bland, it’s rewarding to seek out challenging and engaging motion pictures.
Student projects are also among the more than 40 films scheduled this year. The Lake Champlain International Film Festival runs from November first through the fifth at the Strand Center Theatre. Head to www.lcifilmfest.com for schedules and ticket information.
Don’t forget to stop by the Plattsburgh Public Library on your way to the festival, to see the new tile mural from Outside Art. It’s based on a book by Plattsburgh author Kate Messner titled Up in the garden and Down in the Dirt.