By Maïna Durafour, Belmont Voice correspondent
It all started 25 years ago with Naomi Ellenberg-Dukas and a movie,”Babes in Arms.” Now, the International Film Festival, presented by Belmont World Film, has become a staple for the community, embracing movies and multiculturalism.
The festival’s opening ceremony took place on March 30, presenting the season’s first movie, “Colors of Time.” For the past 25 years, the festival has united the international community of Belmont and surrounding towns.
This year, the festival will be presenting 11 movies; eight are part of the festival’s program and two extras as part of the Pride and World Refugee Awareness Months Observance. While all movies come from different countries, they share a common theme. This year, the theme is family.
According to Ellen Gitelman, executive director of Belmont World Film, Ellenberg-Dukas built the festival from the ground up, learning as she went.
“She didn’t know anything about a film festival, but [they realized] how many people from other countries were in the area and realized that this would be a way for people to come together,” Gitelman said.
“It’s nice to run into people; it’s just like the farmers market, I go there, I know people,” attendee Juliet Jenkins said. “But I also get to see movies that I otherwise wouldn’t have known existed and wouldn’t have necessarily put on my radar.”
In Jenkins’ mind, it’s a better experience to see the movies in a room with other people.
“During the refugee months, I went to a couple of those, and they’re not always easy stories, but they’re enlightening and really usually visually very interesting,” Jenkins said.
One movie that has particularly marked her was “Souleyman’s Story,” by Boris Lojkine. The movie explores 48 hours in the life of an immigrant before their asylum application interview. She said it was one of the movies that really opened her eyes.
According to Gitelman, Lojkine’s film was popular with festival goers.
Showing international movies is one way to encourage people to think about other cultures, but the Belmont World Film has taken a step further by inviting guests to discuss the films and any elements that might need clarification.
The discussions are offered by film critics, journalists or experts in the field depicted in a movie. The point is to offer insight into the movie and what it says, but also to have an open conversation where both attendees and guests are encouraged to share their opinions.
“If you’re from Nepal, you’re going to have a different impression of a film from France than someone from France is going to have because of your geography, your religion or whatever your world perspective is,” Gitelman said.
For Gitelman, showing movies that depict different life experiences is a way art can spark conversation.
“The goal is to create community, to engage people, and by engaging people in discussion, to learn about other cultures in an effort to be more tolerant, more understanding,” she said.
Erin Trahan, an art and culture journalist, said she has enjoyed the opportunity to meet new people and to have conversations with them about movies. Again this year, she is invited to participate and will be talking about the movie “The Incredible Snow Woman,” which is playing on April 27.
“It was such a great audience. It was smart, curious, critically-thinking people who also wanted to just watch a movie,” she said.
She has always seen movies as a way to transport herself to other worlds, sometimes changing her perspective on things and learning.
For Trahan, this festival is important because the movies they are showing “bring you to think about situations and things in life.”
Going to the festival is not just about watching an enlightening movie; it’s about living a common experience with friends, family, or complete strangers.
Movies will be shown every Monday at 7 p.m. through May 18 at the West Newton Cinema. A complete list of the movies can be found on the festival’s website: belmontworldfilm.org.
