CHECKING IN WITH A SISTER >>>

For a month now, Tacoma's sister cities has been feeding the Mouse. And by feeding the Mouse we mean feeding the Blue Mouse Theatre with delicious foreign films and cultural programs. Each Thursday through April 4, the Sister Cities Film Festival highlight's one of Tacoma's sister cities with a program and film that matches the culture of a city that Tacoma calls a sister. Take this Thursday, Gunsan, South Korea has been Tacoma's sister since 1978 and had a curiously parallel course of development to Tacoma - Gunsan is a port city that boomed in the 1890s due to a rail link, and there is even an American Air Force Base in the vicinity. We're still checking to see if Gunsan has a weekly chalk competition in a park or if Guy Fieri has his Camaro towed down its streets.

Anyway, in honor of Gunsan, the film Secret Sunshine will screen at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 7 at the Mouse.

"The movie Secret Sunshine was chosen by the committee members," says Sister Cities coordinator Debbie Bingham. "They compiled a list of movies that their members had reviewed and which ones they were able to get access to show in the U.S. and Secret Sunshine won."

Directed by Lee Chang-dong, the 2007 film garnered some strong attention around its release date. Lead actress Jeon Do-yeon scored best actress at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for her role as troubled Shin-Ae, who is recovering from the death of her husband only to have another major tragedy jump into her path.

Get to the Blue Mouse at 6 p.m. and enjoy the full cultural program, which includes live classical Korean music and introductions by officials from the Korean Consul General's office and City of Tacoma's mayor's office.

BLUE MOUSE THEATRE, THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 6 P.M., $10, NORTH 26TH AND NORTH PROCTOR, TACOMA, 253.752.9500