Echoes of War: Remembrance Day Film Festival
This Remembrance Day, we're hosting a mini film festival to explore the lasting impact of the Second World War.
To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the conclusion of the global conflict, we'll show five films from the National Film Board of Canada that will examine the themes of memory, loss, and the legacy of one of the world's largest conflicts. Learn about the 1939-45 war through the diverse stories of Chinese-Canadian soldiers, Canadian air force pilots, an Auschwitz survivor, German POWs in Canada, and an expedition to recover the remains of an RCAF crew's fatal plane crash in Myanmar.
Drop by for just one film, or stay to see them all! Entry by donation.
From the skies over Europe to the quiet corners of the home front, the films explore the effects of the war beyond the battlefield that continue to echo generations later.
📅 Tuesday, November 11, 2025
🕚 12 pm - 5 pm
📍 Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre
🎟️ Entry by Donation
Film Schedule:
12 pm: Unwanted Soldiers
1 pm: Death by Moonlight: Bomber Command
2:50 pm: Martha
3:15 pm: Lost Over Burma: Search For Closure
4 pm: The Enemy Within
Film Details:
Unwanted Soldiers
12 pm | 1999 | 48 min
This documentary tells the personal story of filmmaker Jari Osborne's father, a Chinese-Canadian veteran. She describes her father's involvement in World War II and uncovers a legacy of discrimination and racism against British Columbia's Chinese-Canadian community. Sworn to secrecy for decades, Osborne's father and his war buddies now vividly recall their top-secret missions behind enemy lines in Southeast Asia. Theirs is a tale of young men proudly fighting for a country that had mistreated them. This film does more than reveal an important period in Canadian history. It pays moving tribute to a father's quiet heroism.
Death by Moonlight: Bomber Command
1 pm | 1991 | 1h 44 min
This feature-length documentary focuses on the Canadian pilots who served in the air force bomber command in Britain during World War II. From the outset, it was clear to Britain that air combat would be the key factor in the battle against Hitler's Germany. Told they would be targeting factories and military targets, the airmen were actually ordered to drop their payloads on civilians in an attempt to annihilate the enemy. Using interviews, re-enactments, old footage and photographs, Brian McKenna's film depicts the war from the perspective of the pilots.
** This work contains scenes of violence. Viewer discretion is advised **
Martha
2:50 pm | 2020 | 21 min
Even at a frail 90, Martha Katz has an impish energy that remains undiminished. She chides grandson-filmmaker Daniel Schubert over his choice of shirt during a visit to her Los Angeles home, but there’s trauma beneath the humour. At 14, Martha and her family were torn from their village in Czechoslovakia and shipped to Auschwitz. A visit to a Holocaust museum ignites painful memories, including a haunting personal encounter with one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious figures. For Martha, however, the emphasis is on a tough but rewarding postwar life in Winnipeg, which she fondly recalls in this warm, intimate portrait of an unrelenting survivor.
** This work deals with mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised **
Lost Over Burma: Search for Closure
3:15 pm | 1997 | 46 min
This documentary follows a mission into the Burmese jungle (present day Myanmar) to recover the remains of a RCAF crew of six young Canadians lost during World War II. Their lives and wartime experiences are recalled through the memories of colleagues and families, who attend the emotion-laden funeral near Rangoon, where the men have finally been laid to rest with full military honours.
The Enemy Within
4 pm | 2003 | 52 min
This feature-length documentary looks at German POWs from the WWII who were housed in 25 camps across Canada. Filmmaker Eva Colmers follows her father's story - Theo Melzer - who spent three and a half years in a POW camp in Lethbridge, Alberta. Growing up in Germany, she had always been puzzled by her father's fond memories of his POW life, so when she moved to Canada, she set out to rediscover this story. What she found surprised her. Watch as Theo Melzer, along with other POWs, recount how their lives were changed by the unexpected respect and dignity they received at the hands of their Canadian captors.
