Celebrating 20 years of gathering at Kitchen Stove

The venue has changed but Kitchen Stove has stood the test of time, and is still bringing people together to view films from around the world that you wouldn’t normally see at a small community theatre.

It was two decades ago that a group of film enthusiasts gathered at the PenMar Theatre for the first ever film of the Kitchen Stove Film Series.

“Kitchen Stove started September of 1998, so this is 20 years,” said Brigitte Liapis, who co-ordinates the film series for the Penticton Art Gallery. “People arrive early and they visit with each other.”

For the 20th season, Liapis said the selection committee has stuck to their traditions of selecting a of variety of films for Penticton.

“We’re trying to balance our selections so there is something for everyone in our audience,” said Liapis.

That starts Sept. 20 with a showing of The Bookshop, starring Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy and Patricia Clarkson.

“It’s an incredible cast” she said. “It’s a nice, sweeter film to start the series off with, but still with a considerable amount of depth and an interesting storyline.”

Florence Green (Mortimer) is a free-spirited young widow who shocks her rural East Anglian village by turning a weathered old house into a bookshop. She faces vehement opposition from the locals but finds unlikely support from a bookish recluse (Nighy) who takes up her cause.

When the battle lines are drawn, the fight moves beyond the shop to touch on sociopolitical values and class barriers facing the residents of the town in 1950s England.

Liapis said the film’s storyline, examining the resistance to change in the 1950s small community, but also for the focus on the power of a good book.

“Now it just seemed quite timely, with the fact that bookstores are shutting down everywhere,” said Liapis. “People aren’t even buying books half the time anymore. It’s quite sad really. I would rather have paper from a bricks and mortar shop.”

The Bookshop is directed by Isabel Coixet, and will be screened at the Landmark Theatre on Sept. 20. Tickets are available at the Penticton Art Gallery and The Book Shop (the real one at 242 Main St., 250-492-6661).

The October film is the U.S. documentary Leave No Trace, followed by a Germany/France production, Transit, in November. The January film is Shoplifter, from Japan.

Tickets for the full series are $38 for gallery members and students and $44 for non-members. Pre-purchased single tickets are $13 each, and a limited number of single tickets many be available for $15 at the door.