Oxford Film Festival Creates Dialogue of Unity Through Screening of ‘Shalom Italia’

Photo courtesy of Oxford Film Festival.

Oxford Film Festival presents ‘Shalom Italia’ on Monday, Nov. 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the Burns Belfry Museum and Multicultural Center—located at 710 Jackson Avenue East—as the final ‘Monday Movies’ screening this year.

Award winning director Tamar Tal Anati’s expresses emotional humor and historical truth in the film Shalom Italia. The journey of three Italian Jewish brothers who are recently reunited and in search of the cave they hid in as young boys to escape the Nazi’s. Struggling to combine their very unlike personalities, the brother’s work to discover more about their childhood memories during the Holocaust.

Melanie Addington, executive director of the Oxford Film Festival, said the organization chose to showcase a diversity series for this year’s ‘Monday Movies.’ The series included different cultures, religions, support of female filmmakers and more, which opened up conversation about cultural diversity and how society can learn and appreciate one another.

“[Society] must first have a level of understanding about each other,” Addington said. “We feel film is an important tool to help open up dialogue.”

Addington said that with the recent Pittsburgh shooting, society needs to keep having dialogue and showing films that educate and entertain.

Hottytoddy.com staff report