Sundance's Film Forward Program Advances Cultural Dialogue

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 10 December 2010 18:01

Written by Brad Balfour

With the 10 films selected for the inaugural year of the Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue initiative, this cultural exchange program takes the Sundance Film Festival experience to the world. The first Film Forward slate includes five American and five international films to be presented in collaboration with public and private partners throughout the planet. These films and their filmmakers will kick off the ambitious project in New York and Tunisia in December.

The five American films that will tour throughout the United States and abroad as part of the initiative are: 

• A Small Act directed by Jennifer Arnold
  A young Kenyan’s life changes dramatically when his education is sponsored by a Swedish stranger. Years later, he founded his own scholarship program to replicate the kindness he once received.  
• Amreeka directed by Cherien Dabis
  When a divorced Palestinian woman and her teenage son move to rural Illinois, they find their new lives replete with challenges. Cast includes Nisreen Faour, Melkar  Muallem, Hiam Abbass, Yussuf Abu-Warda, Alia Shawkat, Joseph Ziegler.
• Freedom Riders directed by Stanley Nelson
  The story behind a courageous band of civil rights activists called the Freedom Riders who in 1961 creatively challenged segregation in the American South.
• La Mission directed by Peter Bratt
  A traditional, Latino father in San Francisco's Mission District struggles to come to terms with his teenage son's homosexuality. Credited by Latino media as being both authentic and genuine to various aspects of American Hispanic cultures. Cast includes Benjamin Bratt, Erika Alexander, Jeremy Ray Valdez, Talisa Soto Bratt, Jesse Borrego.
• Winter’s Bone directed by Debra Granik
  An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her missing father while trying to keep her family intact. Cast includes Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Garret Dillahunt, Kevin Breznahan -- 2010 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Winner

 The five international films chosen to complete the line up of independent films are:

• Afghan Star directed by Havana Marking
  After 30 years of war and Taliban rule, Pop Idol has come to television in Afghanistan: millions are watching and voting for their favorite singer. This film follows the dramatic stories of four contestants as they risk their lives to sing.  
• Boy directed by Taika Waititi
  When his father returns home after many years away, 11-year-old Boy and his little brother Rocky must reconcile reality with the fantasy dad they created in their imagination. Cast includes Taika Waititi, James Rolleston, Te Aho Eketone.
• Last Train Home directed by Luxin Fan
  Getting a train ticket in China proves a towering ordeal as a migrant worker family embarks on a journey, along with 200 million other peasants to reunite with their distant family.
• Son of Babylon by Mohamed Al-Daradji
  In the days after the fall of Saddam Hussein, a young Kurdish boy and his grandmother venture through Iraq on a quest to find their missing father/son. Cast includes Yasser Talib, Shazda Hussein, Bashir Al-Majid. 
• Udaan directed by Vikramaditya Motwane
  Following his expulsion from boarding school, Rohan returns to the small industrial town of Jamshedpur. After eight years away, he finds himself closeted with an authoritarian father and a younger half brother whom he didn’t even know existed. Udaan explores deep-rooted family dynamics and a triumph of the human spirit. Cast includes Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Aayan Boradia, Ram Kapoor.

Film Forward will travel to six U.S. states and six countries reaching a number of underserved communities in each location.

Among the U.S. locations will be: 

• the Saginaw Chippewa Reservation in Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Piney Woods Boarding School in Jackson, Mississippi
• the Ghetto Film School in the Bronx, New York
• the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville, Tennessee
• the Jacobs Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, New York
• the Puerto Rico Film Society in Puerto Rico

American embassies abroad will play a key role in hosting the Film Forward program and presenting these films to new international audiences.  Locations will include Tunisia, Kenya, Turkey and China.  

The program concludes in September 2011 and the centerpiece of the program will be a gala showcase of all 10 films screened simultaneously on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in May, 2011. The event will be presented in collaboration with the Smithsonian Associates.

Film Forward filmmakers will present their work and lead master classes, discussion panels, Q&As and participate in other engagements between filmmaker and audience.  These activities will be programmed around the screenings in all locations, cultivating engaged dialogue, fostering appreciation of other viewpoints while developing new audiences for independent film.

The films in the initiative represent fresh explorations of universal themes, and the evolving nature of drama in our global community:

• Boy, La Mission, Udaan and Winter’s Bone navigate the transition to adulthood and re-define family in broadly different circumstances
• Amreeka and Last Train Home depict contemporary challenges of immigration for those seeking work and a better life
• Afghan Star explores the story of youthful dreams and the clash of global pop culture in a traditional Muslim society
• Son of Babylon focuses on the enduring nature of family love in a society decimated by war. 
• A Small Act which shows the impact of one individual’s choice to give, within a global context and Freedom Riders depicts the real-life drama of a small group of courageous youth who risked everything 50 years ago, and transformed American life

 The final calendar of locations, venues and dates for the initiative will be announced in the coming weeks.

Film Forward: Advancing Cultural Dialogue -- The initiative is a continuation of the President’s Committee and cultural partners’ efforts to use film to engage diverse audiences in the U.S. and internationally, including a successful four year effort in partnership with the American Film Institute as AFI: Project 20/20. Over the past four years that program has brought together 42 filmmakers representing the United States and 21 other countries as cultural ambassadors, who have traveled to 18 countries and 18 cities within the U.S.

The Sundance Institute will represent the private sector of the program which continues the exceptional public/private cultural exchange effort by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) in cooperation with its federal cultural partners, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), to foster cross-cultural understanding through cinematic storytelling.

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) bridges the interests of federal agencies and the private sector, supports special projects that increase participation and excellence in the arts and humanities, and helps incorporate these disciplines into White House objectives. First Lady Michelle Obama is the Honorary Chairman of the PCAH.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) serves and strengthens our Republic by promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans. The NEH is the nation’s leading supporter of research education, preservation and public programs in the humanities.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is an independent federal grant making agency dedicated to creating strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The IMLS works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development.

Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a global, nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to nurturing artistic expression in film and theater, and to supporting intercultural dialogue between artists and audiences. The Institute promotes independent storytelling to unite, inform and inspire, regardless of geo-political, social, religious or cultural differences. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival and its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Born into Brothels, Trouble the Water, Son of Babylon, Amreeka, An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening, Light in the Piazza and Angels in America. 

For more info: www.sundance.org

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