THIS time last year I presented my then seven-year-old daughter with the ultimate quandary.
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She could join her dad and sister for a meeting at the church or she could come with me to see a Spanish film at the cinema.
The church meeting was unrelated to her and the Spanish film was, well, in the Spanish tongue.
As her sum total of Spanish came from Dora The Explorer, the film might as well have been in Double Dutch!
Summer 1993, however, was rated PG, it was about a girl of similar age to my daughter and it was subtitled.
It was also showing at the Regent Cinemas Albury-Wodonga, which has a Candy Bar.
The deal was done.
We sat away from other cinema-goers in case I had to clarify any translations for her without disturbing anyone else.
There was not a lot of text and she kept up pretty well. I quietly quizzed her between Sherbet Bombs to make sure she was on top of the storyline. She was. However, when we got home she refused to touch her school reader, arguing she'd just done 30 readers' worth of words.
Turned out there was not a lot of text and she kept up pretty well.
I quietly quizzed her, between Sherbet Bombs, to make sure she was on top of the storyline.
She was.
However, when we got home she refused to touch her school reader, arguing she'd already done 30 readers' worth of words in one cinema session.
Fair enough. I wrote down and signed off on her Term 3 Reading Record: Summer 1993 (rated PG) subtitles!
The movie had been a night out, thought-provoking and homework to boot.
Perhaps that's the beauty of seeing the very best foreign films that make it to Australian screens and also the best of what our country is producing in a less commercial realm.
The Border Mail International Film Festival returns to the Regent Cinemas Albury-Wodonga this week.
Almost 40 films from across the globe will come to light as part of the annual festival, which starts on Wednesday and runs until September 1.
Sixty sessions are planned throughout the 12-day program.
MORE MATERIAL GIRL:
The festival opens with the widely anticipated sports film The Australian Dream on Wednesday at 7pm.
Hot on the heels of The Final Quarter by Ian Darling, The Australian Dream explores rampant racism through the experiences of AFL legend and 2014 Australian of the Year Adam Goodes.
Written by Stan Grant, The Australian Dream follows the story of Goodes, who was targeted with racial abuse during a match that soon manifested into ugly public backlash.
It prompts questions about Australia's relationship with racism and its inability to confront its own past.
Director Daniel Gordon says he was instantly attracted to the Goodes story, which he has described as equally engaging and enraging.
Another festival highlight, 2040 is the personal journey of Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film) to explore what the world could look like by 2040 if we embraced the best solutions to climate change already available to us today.
It's structured as a visual letter to Gameau's four-year-old daughter, using the film franchise's trademark big and bold graphics.
Suitable for children 12-plus, 2040 is compulsory viewing.
Among other film festival highlights, cinephiles must make time to focus their attention on Photograph.
Pressured by his grandmother to get married, a struggling street photographer convinces a shy stranger to pose as his fiancee.
By the same makers as the original and endearing Indian film The Lunchbox, Photograph is a coming-of-age romantic drama, thankfully nothing at all like the American genre.
Finally, four Border Mail International Film Festival encore screenings - yet to be announced - will run at Regent Cinemas Albury-Wodonga over the weekend of September 7 and 8.
For more festival details visit regentcinemas.com.au.
