The South Western International Film Festival presents THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE--screening at 1:00PM on Saturday, November 4th, 2017 at the Imperial Theatre.

Smart, wry, and utterly droll, THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE is a comically light take on Europe’s current refugee crisis, albeit one steeped in director Aki Kaurismäki’s characteristically delightful sense of humour, wit, and optimism.

Opening with a Syrian man’s escape from Aleppo to Helsinki, the film unites two unlikely characters—our refugee protagonist, and his newfound friend and keeper, a Finnish restaurateur—to both explore and satirize the bureaucratic systems and institutions that insist on deporting refugees.

While the refugee crisis has divided parts of Europe in terms of tolerance, Kaurismaki’s moving, human, fantastically funny film is a welcome, hopeful change from the heated debate on the fate of those seeking nothing more than asylum.

Preceded by SCAFFOLD by director Kazik Radwanski. Q&A with star Sherwan Haji following the film.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtiFG6utst8

Adults - $15

Students / seniors - $12 

SWIFF weekend pass - $79

The South Western International Film Festival presents Shorts Programme 1: Difficult Histories--screening at 12:00PM, 2:00PM, and 5:00PM on Saturday, November 4, 2017 at the Story.

In Canada, it’s easy to pretend our country is immune to the larger problems of the world, like violence against women, the painful fallout of colonialism, and the ongoing conflict in Syria that has razed the country and displaced millions. In this programme of shorts, we start in far-flung regions like the forests of Haiti (THE CRYING CONCH) and a small village in Nigeria (WAITING FOR HASSANA) before coming home, where our immediate connections to global issues are closer—and more imperative—than we think.

We brought the world’s short filmmakers to you—now do something that means the world to them. VOTE for your favourite short film to win SWIFF’s Audience Award, netting the filmmakers a $1000 cash prize. Films are playing for free at the Story (179 Christina St. N) on Saturday and Sunday. 

The South Western International Film Festival presents BABE--screening at 11:00AM on Saturday, November 4th, 2017 at the Imperial Theatre.

100 percent of proceeds donated to Noelle's Gift, and FREE for all kids under 14!

Co-presented by Noelle’s Gift, a charity committed to improving the lives of children in the Lambton area, Babe is the lovable story about a pig who wants to be a sheepherding Border Collie. The 1995 children’s classic comes to Sarnia for a very special SWIFF Fam Jam. That’ll do, pig!

Preceded by the short film DAM! THE STORY OF KIT THE BEAVER. Music composed by Sarnia native Erica Procunier.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKcFSeyYoLg

The South Western International Film Festival presents SWEET COUNTRY--screening at 9:00PM on Friday, November 3rd, 2017 at the Imperial Theatre.

SWEET COUNTRY may sound idyllic, but the Northern Territory frontier of 1929’s Australia is dry, harsh, and unforgiving. This Outback Western takes its narrative from the annals of true crime, following the relentless chase of an Aboriginal man (Hamilton Morris) whose fatal act of self-defence becomes the catalyst for racist condemnation.

Winner of TIFF’s Platform Prize this year, the resulting pursuit provides director Warwick Thornton the opportunity to film the land with panoramic observance, instilling the story—and its cruel, arid backdrop—with a natural reverence and uncommon beauty. With themes of social injustice that echo still today, SWEET COUNTRY is more than a brutally stunning commentary on colonialism: It’s a dangerous tale of law and disorder.

Preceded by a traditional aboriginal Australian performance by Goombine, a Songman who carries traditional songs that have been passed down through his bloodline for thousands of years. He has toured around the world sharing his songs, stories, and dances with audiences across the globe.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYKBG1znk4A

Jim and Della eat potatoes for dinner every night and stuff their boots with newspaper to get by, but everything they want is for each other. They are so head over heels in love they can make a cozy home in the turn-of-the-century New York with little more than the coins in their jam jar. But what is to be done about Christmas? The Gift of The Magi is a delightful Christmas comedy for the entire family.

“The Gift of the Magi” is presented by Upper Stage and hosted by Windsor Christian Fellowship. Show dates are November 24, 25, and 26 at 7:00 PM, December 1 and 2 at 7:00 PM, and December 3 at 3:00 PM. Tickets are $12 each. All proceeds benefit Windsor Life Centre, a recovery home for women recovering from drug and alcohol addictions.

Purchase your tickets at  http://weblink.donorperfect.com/thegiftofthemagi or call our office at 519-972-5986.

The South Western International Film Festival presents BIRTH OF A FAMILY--screening at 7:00PM on Friday, Nov. 3, 2017 at the Imperial Theatre. 

The Sixties Scoop, as it is now called, refers to the period of time when Indigenous children in Canada were taken from their homes by the Canadian and provincial governments and put up for adoption or placed into foster care. An estimated 20,000 children were dislocated from their families as a result of this practice, effectively whitewashing their cultural identity and heritage.

Three sisters and a brother, siblings Betty Ann, Esther, Ben, and Rosalie were just four of these 20,000, separated from their parents as infants and placed into separate families. Meeting for the first time ever in front of director Tasha Hubbard’s camera, the siblings in BIRTH OF A FAMILY share their remarkable story and the meaning of family connection. Q&A with director and local residential school survivors following the film.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/2064796

Adults - $15

Students / seniors - $12 

SWIFF weekend pass - $79

The South Western International Film Festival presents INCENDIES--screening at 4:00PM on Friday, November 3rd, 2017 at the Imperial Theatre.

Director Denis Villeneuve worked for five years to bring Lebanese-Canadian writer Wadji Mouawad’s award-winning play to the screen, and the result was one of the most acclaimed Canadian features of the decade, earning eight Genies and an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Deftly shifting between two timelines, INCENDIES tells the story of fraternal twins, Jeanne (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) and Simon (POLYTECHNIQUE’s Maxim Gaudette), who are trying to fulfill their mother Nawal’s (Lubna Azabal) dying wish to locate two lost family members. Their quest, which takes them from Montreal to an unnamed Middle Eastern country patterned after Lebanon, is intercut with scenes set in the 1970s depicting Nawal’s difficult adolescence in the midst of a religious civil war. The complexity of the plot is offset by the stark, haunting clarity of Villeneuve’s imagery: swimmers moving through a pool, child soldiers being shorn for battle, a school bus in flames against a desert backdrop. 

“Muscular, emotional filmmaking of the highest order” (The Guardian).

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDf-XuYid1A

Adults - $15

Students / seniors - $12 

SWIFF weekend pass - $79

Saturday, December 2nd, 12:30 to 3pm.

Saint Lawrence Anglican Church

Corner of 80 Pine St. & Park St, Brockville

Tea Sandwiches, Desserts & Beverages served in the Tea Room $7.

Free Admission to Sale & Auction

The South Western International Film Festival presents PARIS, TEXAS-- screening at 1:00PM on Friday, November 3rd, 2017 at the Imperial Theatre.

Featuring some of the most iconic images of the American Southwest ever captured on film, Wim Wenders’ masterpiece stars the late Harry Dean Stanton as Travis, an amnesiac who, after going walkabout in the South Texas desert, begins a journey with his son to find Jane, Travis’ wife, who has long been missing.
Winning the Palme d’Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, PARIS, TEXAS remains a massively influential classic for its legendary performances, its human portrait of America, and a script by L. M. Kit Carson and Sam Shephard that redefined the road movie as a heartbreaking emotional voyage that dreams big and delivers even bigger.

Adults - $15
Students / seniors -$12 
SWIFF weekend pass - $79