News

The fourth edition of the DR Environmental Film Festival (DREFF), an initiative of FUNGLODE/GFDD, will be held from September 10-14 in 10 cities: Santo Domingo, Santiago de los Caballeros, Puerto Plata, San Francisco de Macorís, Baní, San Juan de la Maguana, La Vega, Samaná, San Cristobal and Sosúa

and a total of 20 venues and an inviting lineup for schools, universities and communities.

This year’s 5 themes - oceans, biodiversity, green economy, sustainable agriculture and climate change, will be covered in a selection of 35 films.

5 Dominican films: El Lago Enriquillo...A Prelude to Climate Change; Cordillera Central: Oasis del Caribe; Supporting Reef Conservation by Promoting Coral Garden Tourism; People Like You; Turning our Backs to the Ocean.

16 feature films: Angel Azul; Elemental; Extinction in Progress; Growing Cities; Pandora’s Promise; Parrot Confidential; Sand Wars; Thin Ice; Extinction Soup; Last Call; Stop! Rodando el Cambio; Extreme Realities: Severe Weather, Climate Change, and Our National Security; The Human Experiment; Bears; Years of Living Dangerously: A Dangerous Future; Gringo Trails.

8 short films: Burning in the Sun; Field Chronicals: Chingaza- The Water’s Journey; The Earth’s Water; Maxtlitlán; In a Living Being; The Funeral of Don Jején; Circular; Save the Devil.

5 GFDD productions: Garbage or Resource?  A Dominican Republic Experience; Google Earth Tour: Showcasing the Coastal and Marine Ecosystems of the Dominican Republic; El larimar: De la mina a la joyería; Cómo montar un huerto urbano; 5th Educational Expedition to Pico Duarte.

1 retrospective film: The Cove

All 70+ screenings are free of charge and open to the public; foreign films have Spanish subtitles. Talks, panels, workshops and activities will give audiences the opportunity to interact with filmmakers, scientists, and experts.

INAUGURATION OF THE FESTIVAL
Last Call, a film which provides provocative insights into the fundamental reasons behind the ongoing global ecological and economic crises, will open the Festival on Sept. 10 in Santo Domingo at Palacio del Cine in Agora Mall at 5 pm. Get your tickets early – theater capacity is 318. World renowned, award-winning director Enrico Cerasuolo will be there to discuss his compelling film. September 11th inaugurations will be held in other venues around the country.

WHAT TO EXPECT
A sneak preview of four films...
Years of Living Dangerously: A Dangerous Future –This acclaimed Showtime documentary television series explores the human impact of climate change. From the damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy to the upheaval caused by drought in the Middle East, the show combines the blockbuster storytelling styles of top Hollywood movie makers with the reporting expertise of Hollywood’s brightest stars and today’s most respected journalists. In this episode, entitled A Dangerous Future, Matt Damon investigates the impact of extreme heat on human health and mortality, with a focus on research that has uncovered how rising temperatures are creating a worldwide public health emergency. Michael C. Hall visits Bangladesh to explore the prediction that by 2050, a global migration of upwards of 150 million people will produce the single most daunting burden to our future. And Thomas L. Friedman travels to Yemen to conclude his look into how climate stress can push volatile political situations over the edge.

Parrot Confidential  - Renowned ethnologist and UN messenger of peace, Jane Goodall considers that Parrot Confidential “honors those who have dedicated their lives to providing sanctuary for the thousands of parrots who have been given up by their guardians“. Producer, Director, Writer and Editor Allison Argo has been making environmental films for nearly two decades. In this project she takes us on a journey that illustrates the true wonder of wild parrots and explains – using the experiences and voices of parrot owners - the problems and (unintended) cruelty inherent in keeping them in captivity. This moving and beautiful film about parrot captivity is sure to educate and raise awareness about an issue that has for too long remained in the dark.

Sand Wars – Is sand an infinite resource? Can the existing supply satisfy a gigantic demand fueled by construction booms?  What are the consequences of intensive beach sand mining for the environment and the neighboring populations? Based on encounters with sand smugglers, barefoot millionaires, corrupt politicians, unscrupulous real estate developers and environmentalists, this film investigation takes us around the globe to unveil a new gold rush and a disturbing fact: the “SAND WARS” have begun.

El Lago Enriquillo….A Prelude to Climate Change - History and Evolution of the Largest Lake in the Antilles: Its flora, fauna and its legends. This film is an exhaustive investigation into the lake’s rising water level, analyzed by professionals who have researched it for years. The documentary looks at how the rising water is affecting the area’s inhabitants while attracting the attention of the scientific community around the world who view the phenomenon as a window into the effects and consequences of climate change. 

ACTIVITIES, WORKSHOPS, PANELS 
Festival goers meet and speak with invited participants - producers, directors, researchers and explorers through a series of panels, discussion sessions and workshops. The more than 50 national and international environmental panelists include:

Stuart Sender- Producer of Years of Living Dangerously and Oscar nominated Director of Prisoner of Paradise; produced first exclusive interview with Nelson Mandela after prison release. Media consultant for outside-the-box messaging; documentaries on Stevie Wonder, Helen Hunt and more.

Allison Argo - Producer, Director, Writer and Editor, Argo has been making films for over two decades.  She has produced, directed, written and narrated 16 films for National Geographic and PBS.  Her films have won over 100 awards internationally, including six national Emmys (11 nominations), a duPont Columbia Award, and four Genesis Awards.

Dan Susman - Co-founder of Elmwood Motion Picture Company and filmmaker whose focus is on creating documentaries that inspire environmental and social change, Dan was given the most outstanding film award from Dartmouth College for Landmark, his short film that brought together a diverse group of community members to save a forest from destruction. Dan was also selected to attend Working Films’ Reel Change Summit where he honed the engagement and outreach plan for Growing Cities.

Enrico Cerasuolo – A documentary director and screenwriter (Director of Last Call), since 1992 Enrico has been president of the production company Zenit Arti Audiovisive in Turin. He has written and directed many international documentary films which have been awarded by national and European festivals including: From Garibaldi to Berlusconi (2011); The Hidden Face of Fear (2008); Space Hackers (2007); Peter’s Dream (2007); Checosamanca (2006), and The Enigma of Sleep (2004).

Peggy Vail - An anthropologist and Associate Director of the Center for Media, Culture, and History at NYU. She has taught at NYU and Columbia University on Film, Culture, and Tourism. Vail has additionally served as lecturer for Columbia Alumni Travel Study Tours, National Geographic and Soros Open Society and as a judge for the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards. She directed the award-winning short documentary, The Dodger’s Sym-phony. Gringo Trails is her first feature-length documentary.

Philippe Bayard -  President of the Board of Directors and Founding Member of the Audubon Society of Haiti and collaborator with Hedges in efforts to save Haiti's biodiversity. Philippe is a noted Haitian businessman and philanthropist.

Fernando Báez: Founder and President of Unicorn Films and Grupo Unico, has made more than 250 documentary films. He was production manager on several channels of the Dominican Republic, as well as director and producer of the documentary series La Imagen Nacional. He has won numerous national and international awards as a television director. His productions include Tiempo para Cosechar; Un Pueblo con Alma de Carnaval; República Dominicana... Sus Ríos, Saltos y Lagos; and the recently released documentary film El Lago Enriquillo…A Prelude to Climate Change, among others. Fernando Baez holds M.A. degrees in both Cinematography and Film.

Suzanne Harle:  The Founder and Executive of Green Planet Films, a nonprofit distributor of nature and environmental films, Suzanne conceived the idea of Green Planet Films while attending a wildlife film festival in 2002. She registered for the conference to explore how she could become a wildlife filmmaker, only to discover a wealth of award-winning films are produced, but many would never be seen outside of the film festival circuit due to the lack of distribution outlets at that time. Instead of becoming another filmmaker with few distribution opportunities, she returned from the festival with another mission, to promote this genre of films, and founded Green Planet Films in 2003. Suzanne is also the Associate Producer of the Emmy Award winning broadcast series Natural Heroes which can be seen on numerous Public Broadcast Stations in the USA. Suzanne has been a panelist for various film festivals and member events, focusing on distribution methods.

SCHOOL PROGRAM
The Festival is offering a school program in collaboration with Listín Diario’s Plan Lea, the Children and Youth Library of the Dominican Republic, the Perelló Cultural Center, the Tourism Cluster of Puerto Plata, Narciso Gonzalez Cultural Center, Casa de la Cultura de Constanza and Sur Futuro Foundation. Twenty-five screenings for children; 2 community activities (mountain cleanup, cleaning marathon); 2 environmental excursions (Las Salinas & Pico Duarte); 2 workshops on making art from recycled material with Bertha Santana.

THIRD EDITION OF THE GLOBO VERDE DOMINICANO AWARD
This Short Film, Public Service Announcement and Photography Competition provides an opportunity for filmmakers, students and professionals to take part in a relatively unexplored discipline in the DR: production of audiovisual material on environment issues. Winners of the Third Edition will be announced during special shorts program celebrated at FUNGLODE on Saturday, September 13th. Visit us at www.globoverdedominicano.org.

ABOUT DREFF
The DR Environmental Film Festival is an initiative of Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) and its sister organization in the United States, the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD), in collaboration with: Ágora Mall; Children and Youth Library of the Dominican Republic; Casa de la Cultura de Constanza; CEDAF; Centro Cuesta Nacional; Centro Cultural Monina Campora; Centro Cultural Narciso González; Centro Cultural Perelló; Centro Cultural León Jiménez; DGCine; Descubre Puerto Plata; Dominican Academy of Science; EcoFilm Festival; ECORED; FUNDASAZURZA; Green Planet Films; Propagas Foundation; Puerto Plata Tourism Cluster; Palacio del Cine; Siempre Mas Foundation; Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources; Odebrecht; Samana Tourism Cluster; Hotel Villa Serena, Listín Diario/Plan LEA; UNPHU; UCNE; Unicornio Films; and Sur Futuro.

Since 2011, the DREFF has sought to raise awareness and deepen the understanding of environmental issues while serving as a catalyst for projects and programs that promote responsible environmental practices as the result of interaction between young people, the general public, teachers, experts, activists, filmmakers and leaders in the public & private sector.

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