Documentary featuring Okanagan men to have first Kelowna screening

Photo: Submitted photo

Vernon resident Wayne Emde, left, and his friend, Jack Greenhalgh of Kelowna, are featured in a documentary being screen at Trinity Church on Friday.

A Kelowna church will host the city’s first screening of an award-winning documentary featuring a pair of Okanagan residents.

Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago follows Vernon’s Wayne Emde and Kelowna’s Jack Greenhalgh as they walked the Camino in 2009, a winding, hilly, 800-kilometre pilgrimage across northern Spain.

The centuries-old path has attracted countless pilgrims from around the world, including many from the Okanagan, and the film screening Friday at Trinity Church will also serve as a local gathering of those who have taken the journey or are thinking of doing so.

The screening is being organized by the Kelowna chapter of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims, a group whose purpose is to support those who have walked or are planning to walk the Camino. Net proceeds from the event will go to support a non-profit hostel in Spain on the trail that provides food, shelter and support to pilgrims at a minimal cost.

While the film has been shown numerous times in other communities and has captured awards over the years, there has never been a screening held in Kelowna.

Emde, Greenhalgh and film producer Lydia B. Smith will be in attendance for a Q&A.

“If you’ve ever wondered about walking the Camino, have plans to walk, want to support loved ones who have – or will – walk, or love to be inspired, this film is for you,” said an event announcement.

More details on the screen and tickets can be found here.

A previous story on the film and the two men's experience being involved in it can be read here.