Washington

The last time Miguel Tamburini saw his homeland of Venezuela was in 2013.

On Wednesday evening, though, he finally saw the ocean and the streets he once roamed again.

“It makes me feel proud of being Venezuelan,” he said.

In a one-night-only event, community members teleported to Venezuela for a 35-minute film through virtual reality technology. The experience was created by Japanese American filmmaker Noa Iimura, who had been warned to avoid the country. Instead, he spent six months there, capturing its beauty while also revealing glimpses of the crisis Venezuelans face today as their government spars with the Trump administration.

Initially, the U.S. tour was not scheduled to stop in Spokane, but Tamburini, owner of Jumping Jackalope Axe Throwing, reached out to Iimura a few weeks ag