Sundance Institute’s Film Forward Begins Soon!
Sundance Institute, in collaboration with the Puerto Rico Film Society, announced today that the Film Forward: Advancing Culturual Dialogue initiative will host free film screenings, workshops and artist roundtables in Puerto Rico for the second consecutive year. These programs will take place September 19 through 22 in San Juan and Caguas.
Film Forward, a touring program that offers film screenings, workshops and discussions designed to foster dialogue and cross-cultural understanding, is an initiative of Sundance Institute and The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The program kicks off in San Juan on September 19, with a reception and screening of Unfinished Spaces at University of Puerto Rico’s School of Architecture. The program will conclude with a special Closing Night screening of Grbavica followed by a Q&A with writer/director Jasmila Zbanic at the Caguas Museum and Center for Humanistic Studies.
Alysa Nahmias, co-director and producer of Unfinished Spaces, and Jasmila Zbanic, writer and director of Grbavica, will host screenings of their films and participate in Q&A sessions and filmmaking workshops with local students, filmmakers, activists, architects and community members. Workshop topics include narrative and documentary filmmaking as well as the intersection of film and architecture.
In addition to Grbavica and Unfinished Spaces, films screening in Puerto Rico are: Bran Nue Dae, by Rachel Perkins; The Green Wave, by Ali Samadi Ahadi; Somewhere Between, by Linda Goldstein Knowlton; and On the Ice, by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean.
All Film Forward screenings and events in Puerto Rico are free and open to the public with special emphasis on local filmmakers and artists, rural youth, architecture and film students, and women’s groups.
“Sundance Institute is pleased to collaborate once again with the Puerto Rico Film Society to present Film Forward,” said Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam. “Both organizations believe in the power of storytelling to unite audiences and celebrate diversity, it is our hope that this collection of films and events inspire audiences to explore worlds they might not otherwise.”
“For our society it is an honor to be part of this wonderful initiative on its second consecutive year,” said Guillermo A. Vázquez-Machargo, Founder and Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Film Society. “Once again, Film Forward unites us as human beings, inviting us to reflect on fundamental issues through an extraordinary selection of films”.
Puerto Rico will mark Film Forward’s eighth and final stop this year. Recent destinations include Oklahoma, Colombia, China, India, Morocco, Imperial Valley, California, Mexico and Tucson. Film Forward Associate Director, Meredith Lavitt, Film Forward Manager Brittany Ballard and Sundance Institute Feature Film Program Manager Ilyse McKimmie will be in attendance. For a complete list the films screening at Film Forward read the full press release here.
