Sudburians will be treated to a screening of the environmental documentary “Little Yellow Boots” March 25 through a partnership between Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival and Water Docs Film Festival.
The screening is part of a program called Cinema Sit-in, inviting audiences to attend a one-of-a-kind, dual-location screening event in celebration of the planet and to expand environmental and climate literacy.
Cinema Sit-in launches during the 9th Annual Water Docs Film Festival (March 25-29) in Toronto, and in Sudbury hosted by Cinéfest.
The feature film, by award-winning Helsinki-born documentary filmmaker John Webster, is a cinematic letter to a future great-grandchild that weaves together a story of family, personal loss, and the positive difference each of us can make in the world.
The screenings kick off in Sudbury on Wednesday, March 25 at 7 p.m. at SilverCity Sudbury Cinemas (355 Barrydowne Rd, Sudbury, ON), followed by a screening at the Water Docs Film Festival in Toronto on Friday, March 27 at 6 p.m. at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema (506 Bloor St. W).
“Water Docs’ mission is to stir and inspire people deeply through documentary film, and we’re excited to collaborate with Cinéfest to build on the remarkable work of 'the young ones' led by Greta Thunberg, and move the dial on public opinion by hosting unique documentary experiences that inspire individual and collective community engagement and action to reduce carbon emissions and protect water locally,” said Stan Gibson, executive director, Ecologos Environmental Organization.
“Cinéfest Sudbury is thrilled to partner with Water Docs to present this important and engaging film and to encourage an avenue for individuals to share in discussions about how they can make a difference in today’s world,” said Tammy Frick, executive director, Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival.
At the centre of Cinema Sit-in are cinemas themselves – an ideal place to sit with like-minded individuals, families, and community organizations to share in storytelling while learning how to personally contribute to creating the best possible world for future generations.
“Little Yellow Boots” poses the question how can one help one’s grandchild, or great-grandchild, 50 years from now? What do we pass on to those who come after us, for both good and for bad? And what difference can one person make in the world?
These are the universal questions that drive “Little Yellow Boots,” a cinematic letter to filmmaker John Webster’s great-grandchild, a girl who will be born in the 2060s, and whose little yellow boots will walk on a very different shoreline to the one we knew.
Drawing from Webster’s personal experience of loss, viewers are taken on an emotional and physical journey from Finland across Russia to the coal mines of Siberia, to the Marshall Islands in the Pacific, and across the U.S. to New York.
The story seamlessly weaves together past, present and future into a beautiful, moving, and hopeful documentary about the power of each of us to make a difference.
Tickets to the Sudbury screening cost $7.50 for general adult admission, and are available online at Cinefest.com or at Cinéfest box office (40 Larch St., Suite 103).
