Home to various artistic and cultural happenings located throughout and around its downtown center, the city of Naperville’s venture into performance appreciation continued during the 9th Annual Independent Film Festival.
Presented in association with Hollywood Palms Cinema, the festival added a second week to its ordinarily week-long presentation. It showcased a series of international films in Smith Hall of Old Main, which is located on the campus of North Central College. The showcase started on Sept. 18 and had its final showcase on Sept. 23.
Founded in 2007, the Naperville Independent Film Festival (NIFF) has presented a series of independently produced films from around the globe at such locations as the Hollywood Palms Cinema since 2008. Providing a platform for directors, actors, and various members of a movie’s production staff to highlight their respective crafts, the festival has gained a considerable amount of attention from varying members of the professional film community over the years.
Noteworthy guests of festivals past have included Illinois-born actors Gary Sinise and the late Karen Black, as well as the renowned film critic Roger Ebert.
This year NIFF added a second year to its ordinarily week-long festival, showcasing films originally presented at The European Independent Film Festival (ECU). Awards given to selected films by the ECU include Audience Award, Best Music Video, Best Actress and Best Dramatic Feature, among others.
Varying in form, length, genre, and — of course — language, each film presented over the two-week period provided local viewers with an opportunity to take in samples of cinema ordinarily not available for viewing. Such a feat continues Naperville’s tradition of providing a variety of arenas in which citizens may indulge in all methods of art and culture. These opportunities are especially important when such art mediums contain messages that are particularly relevant for viewers living in the current social, cultural and political environment they do.
A film originally submitted to the ECU from France, “The Way of Tea” — a film by Marc Fouchard — contains a story whose themes and action are especially poignant in this time. Following the brief, yet powerful interaction between Alex, a young member of the “skinhead” sub-culture — a group of mostly men often broadly characterized by their affiliation with fascist political movements and aggressiveness towards non-white groups—and Malik, a Muslim grocery store owner, the film delves into themes of race, hostility, and acceptance in a poignant way.
A simple offering of tea following an antagonistic act of racism initiates an experience the “skinhead” — here meant to represent the many individuals both within France, a nation with a strong Muslim community, and similar Western nations who hold animosities towards members of the Arab community — comes to view as an act of ceremony, peace and even brotherhood.
Truly, the actual act of preparing the tea is shown with a great amount of care, with Malik ceremoniously washing his head and drawing each required item out with a ritualistic sense of the sacred.
With a message that speaks volumes to the current environment, “The Way of Tea” is one of many instances of art that is able to be provided to Naperville citizens through such endeavors as the Independent Film Festival.
