Award-winning film director to launch the event
International cinema and culture will come to Preston next week as the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) opens its 10th International Film Festival.
From Monday 17 – 24 October, UCLan will showcase films from around the world in German, Spanish, Arabic, French, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, all with English subtitles. The festival will be on the 17 October launched by award-winning Italian writer and director Luca Vullo whose film Influx, which reveals ‘the pulse’ of Italy and Italians through the perspective of both well-established and newly arrived immigrants in London, will be shown on the opening night followed by an audience discussion with Luca.
The director commented: “I am really excited to come back to UCLan with my new documentary, Influx. After the wonderful experience with my workshop on Italian Gestures in 2015, it is a great pleasure to renew the collaboration with this prestigious University."
"The theme presented in the documentary is a real hot topic because in such uncertain and unsettled times like now, it tells about the Italian community which is one of the biggest in the UK."
“The worldwide preview in London of the documentary, screened just the day before the Brexit referendum, has been a huge success and I am sure it will spark great interest in the audience at the festival for at least two reasons. The theme presented in the documentary is a real hot topic because in such uncertain and unsettled times like now, it tells about the Italian community which is one of the biggest in the UK. Secondly, it is about a self-analysis of great depth in a film that allows to better understand Italy and the Italian people.”
Other foreign language films; including the hilarious ‘Instructions Not Included’ in Spanish; nail-biting action ‘The Assassin’ in Chinese; and heart-warming family drama ‘The Way Home’ in Korean will be shown throughout the week.
Valeriy Smolienko, Principal Lecturer from the School of Language and Global Studies, said: “We’re extremely proud to host Preston’s International Film Festival for the tenth year running. The festival has grown in popularity year-on-year. It’s become a community event as well as something that students enjoy and value as part of their experience at UCLan.”
"The festival has grown in popularity year-on-year. It’s become a community event as well as something that students enjoy and value as part of their experience at UCLan."
Each film will be screened in UCLan’s Mitchell & Kenyon Cinema in Foster Building with films beginning at 7.00pm. Tickets cost £3 for adults and £2.50 for concessions per film, or people can buy a week-long festival pass for all films for £15. Guests will be offered Italian food delicacies and drinks on the opening night from 6.30pm.
The film festival follows UCLan’s European Day of Languages event which took place in September. The University welcomed more than 100 Lancashire school children through its doors to celebrate and learn more about different languages and cultures.