The Cultural Films Committee will be hosting a young rising star in the indie film world when Suzi Yoonessi, director of the festival-loved film “Dear Lemon Lima,” comes to campus this Friday, April 9.
The film follows the life of a half-Yup’ik 13-year-old girl living in Alaska as she deals with cultural differences and her own identity. After making the festival rounds, the comedy captured awards from five different festivals, including an Outstanding Performance Award for supporting actor Shayne Topp from the Los Angeles Film Festival and a Best Narrative Feature from the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.
During the weekend the film with show twice, both times in High Definition– a first for the city. The first of which will take place at 4 p.m. Friday April 9 at the Strand Theatre in downtown Grinnell. The second showing will begin at 8 p.m. on Saturday April 10 in room 152 of the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts. Both showings will feature discussion with the director following the screening. All shows are free with no ticket required and open to the general public.
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to first see the film and then to be able to ask questions directly to the director,” said Cultural Films Committee Head Philippe Moisan, French.
Being able to show the film at the Strand and in High Definition was no small task, as the pieces have been brought together over the past few months.
“The technical side of trying to put together a film event is incredibly complicated. We are having an HD cam rented from Des Moines, we have to make sure it works with our tape,” said Cultural Films Committee Member Terri Geller, English. “It takes a lot of work and a lot of money to make state of the art cinema today.”
Moisan hopes the relationship between the school and the Strand will continue to grow into the future.
“We hope to be able to do it next year, on a more regular basis,” Moisan said. “Maybe once a semester or twice a semester. It is always very difficult because they have distribution contracts to meet for other films.”
The event is part of the Cultural Films Committee’s effort to give just a bit more to the cinematic experience for the audience.
“We are always trying to find new ways to attract more people, last semester we did the music and cinema together. We are always trying to find new formulas to show films, just not a film, but something else,” Moisan said.
Due to the film’s family friendly content and universally relatable themes, Moisan sees an opportunity to bring together the entire Grinnell community.
“We want to bring in students and people from town to the same event, I think this is the most important thing about this project,” Moisan said.