For lovers of cinema, being in Salt Lake City has its perks. Playing host to several movie festivals and enjoying a considerable trickle-down from the wildly popular Sundance Film Festival, Salt Lake City is a variable epicenter for independent film in the mountain west.
Next month, the Global Film Initiative, for the third consecutive year, will team up with the Salt Lake Film Society to present 10 films in its Global Lens film series collection in efforts to promote international and independent films.
The Global Lens film series will showcase 10 award-winning narratives that are feature-length films from countries all across the world, many where filmmaking is still a burgeoning industry.
“Getting Home” (Luo Ye Gui Gen) is a film from China about an aging construction worker who carries the body of his fallen friend for hundreds of miles to a remote and harsh location in China’s Three Gorges region.
“I Am From Titov Veles” (Jas Sum Od Titvov Veles) comes from Macedonia and is set in the historical town of Veles. Three sisters put self-interest above family as they take desperate steps to escape their dying community.
“Mutum,” directed by Sandra Kogut, is about a young boy who is burdened by his parents’ unhappy marriage and his father’s abuse in rural Brazil. The boy grapples with his disintegrating family and uncertainties about the world around him.
“My Time Will Come” (Cuando Me Toque A Mi) is based in Ecuador’s capital city, Quito. A coroner’s fragile emotional state is threatened when he develops a personal interest in his cases.
“The Photograph,” made in Indonesia, tells the story of a prostitute who struggles to support her family. She meets and forms a bond with an isolated portrait photographer from whom she rents a room.
“Possible Lives” (Las Vidas Posibles), is about a woman who searches for her missing husband in remote Patagonia and encounters a man who appears to be her spouse, but has another name, another wife and another life.
“Sleepwalking Land” (Terra Son’mbula) takes place in war-torn Mozambique. A young boy searches the desolate countryside for his family with the aid of an affectionate yet hard-hearted elderly guide.
“Those Three” (An Seh), a film from Iran, follows three conscripts who abandon a dismal army life and head off for freedom through the frozen wilderness of Northern Iran.
“Song From the Southern Seas” (Pesn’ Juzhnykh Morej), from Kazakhstan, is about a Russian man who suspects that his son is the result of an affair between his wife and a Kazakh neighbor.
“What A Wonderful World” is a Morocco-based film that focuses on a prostitute’s best friend8212;a tough traffic cop8212;who falls in love with her best customer, a contract killer.
The film series will start Sept. 13 and run until Sept. 20. Tickets are on sale now and are $10 for all 10 films (individual film tickets are also available). The films will be screened at Broadway Centre Cinemas. Select additional screenings will be held in the OSH auditorium Sept. 13 and Sept. 20. Admission to screenings at the U is free.
The film series will not be here long, but it is a unique opportunity for people to see films that are not recognized often by the mainstream media.