When my friend Craig told me that he wanted me to meet Soo Choi to talk about her upcoming film festival idea, I had no notion that meeting her would be such a breath of fresh air!

Soo is a fun and effervescent twenty-something millennial, who is poised to bring some much-needed life into Yakima's film scene. Soo was raised in Yakima and went to university at NYU, and she says that upon her return to Yakima, she was very happy to see that the city is quickly becoming a cooler, more metropolitan-style town. But she feels that something else is missing.

"You know, we have that big film festival in Ellensburg every year, and I kept wondering, 'Why don't we have a huge one here in Yakima?' " Soo told me over a delicious lunch at Ballesteri's Cafe on a sunny afternoon.

**Tune in tomorrow (Oct. 18) for our radio interview with Soo on this station, where she will give us more details about Yakima's newest and biggest film festival yet!**

Yakima has had film festivals before (such as the Latino Movie Film Festival) at the old Allied Arts building at Gilbert Park (before it was torn down), but nothing on the large scale and magnitude of the upcoming Sagebrush Hills Film Festival on Nov. 11-13 at the Yakima Valley Museum.

Soo and her film festival partner-in-crime, Clayton, decided to be the change they wanted to see, so they joined forces to create a non-profit film organization, Sagebrush Hills Film Festival. Last year, they held small movie screenings in rooms at the Yakima Valley Museum, but this year, they are going all out with a bigger, grander film festival that is three days long.

Soo and Clayton have curated five culturally diverse films from the USA, Mexico, Spain, Holland, and Great Britain. This film festival will delight, surprise and enlighten adults and children, panel discussions, as well as a red-carpet gala on the opening night.

On Sunday, Nov. 13, the film festival will be free to the entire public, thanks to one of Sagebrush Hills Film Festival's generous sponsors, Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital! There will be a kids film on Sunday, with a simultaneous showing of the movie in English in one room and in Spanish in another room. Parents, this is awesome because now you can attend the event and not have to worry about finding a baby sitter.

If you want to attend the Red Carpet Party or buy day or weekend passes and get ticket price information, click here. And you can buy tickets here. Parents, please take note of each movie's rating before you attend with young children.

Sagebrush Hills Film Festival
Nov. 11-13
Yakima Valley Museum
2105 Tieton Drive
Yakima

  • '71 (Great Britain)

    Friday, November 11 at 6:45pm

  • Wildlike (United States)

    Saturday, November 12 at 3:35pm

  • Güeros (Mexico)

    Saturday, November 12 at 5:45pm

  • Nocturna (Spain)

    Sunday, November 13 at 2:00pm

  • Lola On The Pea (Belgium)

    Sunday, November 13 at 4:30pm * Please be advised: This children's movie will be shown in subtitles

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