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Elk Valley Furniture Studio to host ‘classic movie night’ fundraiser

Proceeds will go to Fernie Friends of Refugees
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Jody Krienke and Joseph Gatt, co-owners of the Elk Valley Furniture Studio. The pair are hosting a ‘classic movie night’ fundraiser with proceeds going to Fernie Friends of Refugees on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022. The movie will be projected onto the blue wall behind them. (Joshua Fischlin/The Free Press)

Community members in Fernie will have a chance to take a cinematic trip to old Sicily on Saturday (Nov. 26) for a ‘classic movie night’ in support of refugees.

The event will be held at the Elk Valley Furniture Studio starting at 7 p.m., and will be able to host about 50 people to sit back in comfortable couches and recliners to watch the 1988 Italian film, Cinema Paradiso, projected onto one of the building’s high walls. A Facebook post from Nov. 22 said they only had a few tickets left.

Joseph Gatt, co-owner of the shop alongside Jody Krienke, said it will be the first a classic movie night hosted by the business.

“It’s good for the community, we believe,” Gatt said.

They will be offering popcorn and adult beverages, with tickets going for $10. All ticket proceeds will go to Fernie Friends of Refugees.

“We’re helping out a little bit,” Gatt said about the charity organization.

He spoke about the conflicts in Ukraine and Afghanistan, especially highlighting the latter.

“Sometimes, we think that Afghanistan is sort of forgotten, since last year, but there’s still refugees coming to Canada,” he said.

Speaking about the movie Cinema Paradiso, he said it’s an excellent film about a young boy in 1945-46 Sicily who was fascinated with movies.

“In those days in Europe, the only entertainment there was was the movie house. One movie house for the whole village,” Gatt said.

The little boy in the movie befriends a projectionist, and the film addresses the theme of life in Sicily in the mid-20th century. Gatt said the movie comes from a time when “movies were still being filmed, not computerized.”

He said the classic movie night was inspired by the ‘magnificent old building’ in which the Elk Valley Furniture Studio sits, because it has a high ceiling upon which a movie can be projected and lots of comfortable seating. They thought it would work well for a fundraiser.

“The building inspired us to do something different,” he said.

“I understand (the building is) over 100 years old, and the structure is amazing.

“We love it in here.”

READ MORE: Elk Valley Furniture Studio celebrates grand opening


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josh.fischlin@thefreepress.ca

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