Column: It’s a wonderful world in your neighbourhood . . . take a look

By Bryony Vander Wilp

If your idea of having a multicultural experience is watching the Sopranos while sipping Guatemalan coffee, perhaps you should take a look at Ottawa’s arts community.

The world is just down your street.

Canada has long prided itself on being a multicultural society, a place where the world feels at home.

Whether it’s the Iceland Dance Company or a celebration of World Theatre Day artists from various cultures and nationalities are lighting up our arts community.

Every day, we can experience the diversity of which we are so proud.

If the box office sales of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are any indication, there is an openness for trying new things.

So, my challenge to you is to step away once in a while from mainstream artistic endeavors.

Learn to accept and enjoy different cultural influences on art.

You will be able to view your old favourites with a new perspective.

You may find a new art form to love. Even if you return to more common artistic expressions, you will find yourself enriched by the experience.

I will never forget the first time I saw Chocolat.

No, not the Oscar best picture nominee but the 1988 film directed by Claire Denis.

Chocolat is set in a French colony in West Africa in the days when colonialism was beginning to lose its grip.

It’s a movie about the rules and conventions of a racist society and how a strong sexual attraction can flow between two people who barely touch.

The film is a subtle as it is beautiful and denies the audience a sugar-coated melodrama of love beating the odds like most Hollywood dramas.

Chocolat is now one of my favourite films.

It’s time to look past the Sopranos, the Nutcracker or Crocodile Dundee I, II and III, and begin a real exchange of cultures.

Just last week, the third annual Ottawa Film Festival was held in various locations around the city. Sixty international films from 15 countries were shown.

Canadian works, such as Denis Villeneuve’s Maelstrom, winner of best director and best screenplay at the Genie Awards in January, and other successful films from around the globe were on hand to be sampled.

What an excellent opportunity to see what other cultures have to offer. When the festival rolls around next year, bring your family to see a couple of international films.

Or start right now by skipping over the new release section of your local video store and checking out the foreign film section.

Too often we attend easily- digestible, easily- accessible art.

I’m not saying mainstream art is not worthwhile consuming. But if we become accustomed to how a medium is presented, the art loses its impact.

Art is made to challenge us, impress us or at least to make us think.

How much more do you think Canadians will understand and appreciate each other if we not only learn about the various cultures which make up our country, but actively participate in the expressions of those cultures?

I challenge you to be Canadian, to embrace the different art forms that come out of the mosaic of nationalities here in the capital.

The world is just down your street. Go take a walk.