Filmed life in Soap Lake

SOAP LAKE — Kathy Kiefer is bringing the world to Soap Lake and bringing the city to the rest of the world.

Kiefer, through her company, JACOI Filmworks, along with Masquers Theater, is bringing a series of documentary and foreign films to the theater, located at 322 Main Ave. E., in Soap Lake.

She got the idea after going to DocFarm in Arlington, Wash., in 2008. The three day event featured documentary films along with presentations.

“It was just a really neat event,” she said. “I just connected with all of these people, and I said, ‘I want you all to start coming to Soap Lake and showing your films. Would you be willing to do it?’”

She said bringing the films to the city allows people, who might not visit Soap Lake, a chance to see the city and gives residents a chance to watch films they might not get a chance to view otherwise.

“I love Soap Lake, I’m all about Soap Lake. My second documentary was about Soap Lake. It occurred to me what a great marriage to bring films to this wonderful little theater and to bring these filmmakers with their films to meet this town,” Kiefer said.

The next film, “Bab’Aziz — The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul,” starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets cost $10. The film tells the story a blind dervish and his granddaughter crossing the desert, searching for a reunion of dervishes.

“It’s by a man from Tunisia. His films are widely acclaimed for their cinematic beauty,” Kiefer said. “This film is kind of mysterious. It’s mystical … This film is very unlike anything Grant County is probably used to seeing. This is a film about Sufism. It’s about Islam. It’s about mystical Islam.”

Firoozeh Papan-Matin, a University of Washington assistant professor of Iranian Studies, will answer questions after the film.

While the filmmaker won’t be available for this week’s discussion, the next two films this year will feature question and answer sessions with the creators.

The next film, “Another Side of Peace,” will be shown on July 4. The film focuses on an Israeli man who started a support group for Israeli and Palestinian families that lost children in the conflict.

“It’s a sad thing that brings them together, but they form this alliance through their grief,” she said. “Then the filmmaker will be here and she’ll talk about her film afterwards.”

The last film is “Defect” and features mountain unicycling. The film’s director, Dan Heaton, also will come to the theater and do a unicycle demonstration, Kiefer said.

“It’s kind of a film for audiences young and old. It’s a very exciting film. You’re on the edge of your seat watching these guys on mountain unicycles. They’re on unicycles, but their doing crazy things on trails.”

She said the audience participation for the first film, “Fisherman’s Terminal,” worked really well, with questions ranging from making films to people sharing their stories about the area.

“There was a number of people in the audience that either lived near fisherman’s terminal, knew fisherman’s terminal or had an affinity for it one way or another,” she said. “The Q and A period went on for an hour.”

The filmmaker brought two people along to present. Kiefer said they loved Soap Lake.

“They had a ball. They ate at Don’s. They loved Don’s. They loved the town, they loved the hotel. They were blown away that they got the check … I had no expectations, but if I did, it really exceeded any idea of what I thought possible.”

Kiefer is already planning the films for 2010. She said one of them will definitely be about agriculture.