Friday March 8th is the official opening day of this year’s WENIFF. On this day the International Women’s day will be marked with showings and a workshop, there will be a special showing of the opening movie «Life is Beautiful», international short films and an opening party with music and speeches.
The day will start of with a script writer’s workshop with Nadina Helene Bakos and Zymber Kelmendi, before showings of films by female film makers. Kalle Løchen will host a film talk, before the festival’s official opening. Deputy major Monica Molvær wishes everyone welcome and there will be music by Ole Andreas and Adam Cliff before the opening movie. After that the short film showings will start.
This years opening film: «Life is Beautiful»
This year’s opening film is the new and very relevant film «Life is Beautiful (Al Haya Helwa) by the Norwegian / Palestinian director Mohamad Jabaly. In 2014 he visited the film festival in Tromsø when the borders of Gaza closed. He was stuck in Norway, and it took seven years before he could see his family again. This film was also the opening film at Tromsø International Film Festival (TIFF) in January.
International showings, performance and after party
The official opening of the festival starts at 18.00, and there will be music and speeches from the stage before the opening movie and the first five short films. From 20.15 you will see Same Old (Lloyd Lee Choi), The Masterpiece (Alex Lora), Får (Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter), Keep (Lewis Rose) and The Script (Aleksandra Kardalevska). After the showings there will be an after party at the local bar, Happy Elefante from 22.00.
