Sunday was the last day of the Omaha Film Festival, but a featured documentary will leave a lasting impact on the community.
Jan Jensen and husband Mark Davis are showing "The Bear and The Owl" today. In the film, seven-year-old Joni receives homemade cards from a stranger every day for two and a half years as she sits in the hospital.
"My dad saw an article in the local newspaper and decided to send her a card so for the first probably two months or so she was getting a card every day," explained Jensen. "She love bears and my dad loves owls so there was always this banter back-and-forth with the cards."
"It's amazing to be able to say that this isn't just something on the screen, but this is something that you personally can do," said Erika Roberts of the Leavenworth High School theatre program in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Before the showing, Roberts and her fellow students made cards for the kids at the Madonna Rehabilitation Center. They were in town for the OFF Academy.
"One of our goals with our theater program at Leavenworth High school is community service...That theater is about giving back to the community and making an impact," said Jennifer Morgan, the director of the theatre program.
The students were eager to make these cards a part of their film festival adventures.
"I'm very excited to see the documentary. I personally like to draw and stuff and so to be able to have seen this trailer and know that it's showing later today, I'm very excited," said Roberts.
Thirty years later, Joni has one surgery left, and still has the hundreds of cards sent in by Jan’s father.
"It's a very intensive surgery. So that's another reason why we wanted to do with this documentary as a gift to my family and her family before she goes in for that last surgery," said Jensen.
You can find out more about the film by visiting 3 the Facebook page or http://thebearandtheowl.com/.
