Sundance Institute Announces Four Year of FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue

Sundance Institute Announces Fourth Year of FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue Touring Program of Film Screenings, Workshops and Discussions to Visit Michigan, California, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Colombia, Indonesia, China and Taiwan

Films Include Circles, Dancing in Jaffa, Fruitvale Station, If You Build It, The Rocket, The World Before Her, Twenty Feet From Stardom and Valentine Road

Innovative Public/Private Collaboration Continues with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanitiesand Institute of Museum and Library Services

Posted Oct 31, 2013

Park City, UT Sundance Institute and the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities announced today the program details for the fourth year of FILM FORWARD: Advancing Cultural Dialogue.

FILM FORWARD, a partnership of Sundance Institute and four U.S. federal cultural agencies, is a touring program that offers film screenings, workshops and discussions designed to foster dialogue and cross-cultural understanding. It uses the power of cinema to promote broader cultural understanding, inspire curiosity and enhance awareness of shared stories and values across generations, religion, ethnicity and borders. The partnering federal agencies are the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities and The Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The films selected for the fourth year of FILM FORWARD are: Circles by Srdan Golubovic, Dancing in Jaffa by Hilla Medalia, Fruitvale Station by Ryan Coogler, If You Build It by Patrick Creadon, The Rocket by Kim Mordaunt, The World Before Her by Nisha Pahuja, Twenty Feet From Stardomby Morgan Neville and Valentine Road by Marta Cunningham. Common themes explored in the films include communities in conflict, overcoming adversity and the transformative power of art.

FILM FORWARD domestic program locations include: Detroit, Michigan; San Diego, California; Jackson, Mississippi; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. FILM FORWARD international program locations include: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Colombia, Indonesia, China and Taiwan. In each location, FILM FORWARD seeks audiences that are new to independent film, students and the local filmmaking community.

These films are an extraordinary representation of universal themes that will inspire and challenge audiences to look at their community and our world in a new way, said Keri Putnam, Sundance Institute Executive Director. FILM FORWARD uses the powerful medium of film and storytelling to bring people of different cultures, viewpoints, and backgrounds together in a shared dialogue.

In today's turbulent world, it is more important than ever to identify and share stories that bring us together rather than drive us apart. FILM FORWARD is a compelling example of a program that builds bridges and then crosses them, revealing the bonds between diverse cultures and peoples, said Rachel Goslins, Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Along with our federal partners, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, we are proud to share FILM FORWARD with more new audiences around the world.

FILM FORWARD is a unique program that allowed me to travel to remote places around the world to connect with audiences who are hungry to chase their own dreams and overcome their own cultural obstacles to becoming a filmmaker, writer or artist, said Stacy Peralta, filmmaker and FILM FORWARD Year Three Participant. Many along the way thank us profusely for coming to their town to connect and share ideas. For me though, this is a heartfelt example of what you give, you get back ten-fold. I am the richer for being part of FILM FORWARD.

Dates, specific venues, partners and schedules for the fourth year of the program will be announced at www.sundance.org/filmforward.

FILM FORWARD Year Four Films:

Circles (Directed by: Srdan Golubovic )

Five people are affected by a tragic heroic act. Twenty years later, all of them will have to confront the past through their own crises. Will they overcome the guilt, frustration, and the urge for revenge? Will they do the right thing, at all costs?

International Narrative

Dancing in Jaffa (Directed by: Hilla Medalia)

Renowned ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulaine, takes his belief that dance can overcome political and cultural differences and applies it to 11 year old Jewish and Palestinian Israelis. What occurs is magical and transformative.

International Documentary

Fruitvale Station (Directed by: Ryan Coogler)

The true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.

US Narrative

If You Build It (Directed by: Patrick Creadon)

If You Build It spends a year in the life of one of America's most innovative classrooms. Designer/activists Emily Pilloton and Matt Miller, together with their high school students, unleash the power of humanitarian design to help their struggling community in rural North Carolina.

US Documentary

The Rocket (Directed by: Kim Mordaunt)

A boy who is believed to bring bad luck leads his family and a couple of ragged misfits through Laos to find a new home. After a calamity filled journey through a land scarred by war, the boy sets off to prove he's not cursed and builds a giant rocket to enter the most lucrative but dangerous competition of the year: the Rocket Festival.

International Narrative

The World Before Her (Directed by: Nisha Pahuja)

Moving between two extremes the intimate verit drama of the Miss India pageant's rigorous beauty bootcamp and th

LINK:	http://www.sundance.org/press-center/release/sundance-institute-announ...
	See more stories from sundance

Most recent headlines