Sundance Institute Announces Year ree Of FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue

Sundance Institute Announces Year Three Of FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue Collaboration Continues with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities and Institute of Museum and Library Services

Posted Nov 1, 2012

Through the act of watching a film about Cuba, in Chinese or in English, we are one audience. We are finding a space for one dialogue. I left China with a renewed belief in art as a way to find common ground for constructive discussion.

Benjamin Murray, Co-Director for Unfinished Spaces (FILM FORWARD China 2012)

Los Angeles, CA Sundance Institute and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities announced today the program details for the third year of FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue, an international touring program that offers film screenings, workshops and discussions with filmmakers. In eight locations across the U.S. and internationally, and in collaboration with local organizations, a program of eight independent films will be accompanied by workshops, filmmaker appearances and discussions.

FILM FORWARD uses the power of cinema to inspire curiosity, foster dialogue, promote broader cultural understanding and enhance awareness of shared stories and values across generations, language, education and borders. The program is an initiative of Sundance Institute and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, in concert with U.S. Embassies and domestic presenting institutions.

The films selected for the third year of FILM FORWARD are: Beasts of the Southern Wild, by Benh Zeitlin; BONES BRIGADE: An Autobiography, by Stacy Peralta; Chasing Ice, by Jeff Orlowski; La Misma Luna (Under The Same Moon),by Patricia Riggen; The Light in her Eyes, by Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix; The Loving Story, by Nancy Buirski; Town of Runners, by Jerry Rothwell; and Valley of Saints,by Musa Syeed. Common themes explored in the films include issues surrounding family, friendship and community, as well as the intersection of tradition and modern culture. Film synopses and links to trailers are listed below.

Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, FILM FORWARD highlights film as a powerful medium for storytelling that brings people of different cultures, viewpoints, and backgrounds together in a shared dialogue. The first two years of FILM FORWARD connected films and filmmakers with audiences they might have never reached resulting in some remarkable and rich events; we look forward to building on these shared experiences in the third year of the program.

Rachel Goslins, Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, said, This program just gets better and better every year. The Presidents Committee and the programs federal partners, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, are thrilled to once again bring the FILM FORWARD initiative to communities, both in the U.S. and around the world, who might not be otherwise exposed to these kinds of compelling stories and universal themes.

FILM FORWARD will travel to eight locations this year: Imperial Valley, California and Mexicali, Mexico; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Maine; Washington State; Bosnia and Herzegovina; China and Taiwan; Colombia; Jordan. This is the third year FILM FORWARD will host events in China and Puerto Rico and the second year returning to Imperial Valley, California; Mexicali, Mexico and Bogota, Colombia. FILM FORWARD's primary audience is communities without ready access to independent films, students, and the local filmmaking community in each region.

Dates, venues, partners and program schedules for the third year of the initiative will be announced at www.sundance.org/filmforward at a later date.

FILM FORWARD Year Three Films:

Beasts of the Southern Wild (Director: Benh Zeitlin) In a forgotten but defiant bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, a six-year-old girl exists on the brink of orphanhood. Buoyed by her childish optimism and extraordinary imagination, she believes that the natural order is in balance with the universe until a fierce storm changes her reality. Desperate to repair the structure of her world in order to save her ailing father and sinking home, this tiny hero must learn to survive unstoppable catastrophes of epic proportions.

Bones Brigade: An Autobiography (Director: Stacy Peralta) A gang of disenfranchised kids reject mainstream culture, channel their controlled desperation into a loser activity and redefine winning in the process. Mentored by a former world champion skateboarder, the Bones Brigade became historys most influential skateboarding team. Their countercultural impact continues to affect change with best selling video games and books and millions of kids who embrace skateboarding around the world.

Chasing Ice (Director: Jeff Orlowski) Acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog was once a skeptic about climate change. But through his Extreme Ice Survey, he discovers undeniable evidence of our changing planet. Chasing Ice reveals Balogs hauntingly beautiful, multi-year time-lapse videos of vanishing glaciers across the Arctic, all while delivering fragile hope to our carbon-powered planet.

La Misma Luna (Under The Same Moon) (Director: Patricia Riggen) Even across thousands of miles, the special bond between a mother and son can never be broken. It gives hope to Carlitos, a scrappy nine-year-old boy whose mother, Rosario, has gone to Amer

LINK:	http://www.sundance.org/press-center/release/sundance-institute-announ...
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