The film Festina Lente – “Make haste slowly” – takes its inspiration from the very Latin adage and uses contemporary visual language to reinterpret the enduring spirit of the Renaissance. Filmed across Florence, Naples, Palermo, Istanbul, and London, the film blends documentary realism with artistic narration to tell the personal journey of executive producer, writer, and presenter Roy Yu. He lives by Festina Lente as a life philosophy — integrating it into his daily life, travels, aesthetics, and the cultural dialogue between the East and the West that he champions fervently. The film invites viewers to reflect on the relationship between ‘beauty’, ‘time’, and ‘life’, and to rediscover the importance of ‘slowing down’ in a fast-paced modern world. The production received support from the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Direzione Regionale Musei Nazionali della Toscana, in collaboration with leading cultural institutions such as the Museo de’ Medici and the Museo di San Marco.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring:
- Roy Yu — Founder of Festina Lente, the Executive Producer, Writer, and Narrator of the eponymous film, and UBC alumnus in International Relations and French
- Deniz Somuncuoğlu — Director and Editor of Festina Lente
- Professor Joseph Monteyne — Head of the Department of AHVA
- Michela Valmori — Visiting Lecturer of Italian, Department of FHIS, appointed by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
- Ivy Li — Creative Director of Festina Lente, the Producer of the eponymous film, and UBC alumna in Art History and French
Date: Friday, November 21, 2025
Time: 7:00 PM (Doors open and red carpet at 6:30 PM)
Venue: Norm Theatre, University of British Columbia
Dress Code: Business Casual or Business Formal
Event Schedule:
18:30 | Doors Open, Registration & Red Carpet Photos
19:00 – 19:45 | Festina Lente Film Screening
19:45 – 20:30 | Panel Discussion and Q&A
21:00 | Event Conclusion
The Canadian premiere of the art documentary Festina Lente is co-organised with the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory (AHVA) and the Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies (FHIS) of the University of British Columbia, in collaboration with numerous students’ associations of UBC. This event is supported by the Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver and the Consulate General of Turkey in Vancouver.