Reel Alternatives’ next movie on Monday, May 19 is The Band’s Visit, an inspiring story of cross-cultural understanding set in the most unlikely of locales. In director Eran Kolirin’s debut feature, a small, uniformed Egyptian police band becomes lost in rural Israel on their way to performing at a concert. They unexpectedly encounter not only tensions and friendships with the townspeople who take them in for the night, but valuable lessons as well.

 Invited to perform at the opening of an Israeli cultural centre, the immaculately pressed members of the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Band arrive at the airport only to find that their hosts are nowhere in sight. They decide to take a bus, but accidentally head in the wrong direction. Stranded in a tiny Israeli desert town, they reluctantly decide to stay the night until the next bus arrives in the morning. Through the connections they forge, the band members and the villagers find their cultural assumptions shaken – with one especially memorable scene taking place in a roller disco.

 The Band’s Visit is good-natured and warm while avoiding sentimentality. Kolirin elicits touching performances from his ensemble cast in this meticulously observed and understated comedy. Though set “not long ago,” the film’s tone is infused with a wistful nostalgia for the director’s childhood, when Egyptian movies and the Israel Broadcasting Authority’s orchestra performances were shown side by side on Israeli national television.

While refusing to glorify the past, Kolirin clearly yearns for time when simpler pleasures — a shared meal, a good tune, an open door — had the potential to bring people together. Rated PG. In English, Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles.

The Band’s Visit is sponsored by Huntsville Festival of the Arts and will be shown at the Capitol Twin Cinema at 7 p.m. on May 19. Advance tickets are $7 at Muskoka Country Furniture and Gifts on Main Street, or $8 at the door if available. For more movie information visit reelalternativeshuntsville.ca.

Reel Alternatives is also proud to sponsor the Huntsville High School’s Short Films With A Message on May 15 at the Algonquin Theatre. Tickets are $10. This special night offers the chance to see films created by students from across Muskoka and Orillia on a variety of subjects. For more information visit www.algonquintheatre.ca.