Cousteau is the Star of Opening Night during Second Edition of the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF)

Santo Domingo, September 5, 2012

The legacy of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, researcher and ocean-explorer, was the focal point of the Opening Night of the Second Edition of the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF), celebrated Wednesday, September 5 in the auditorium of Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

The opening of the Festival, organized by Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), featured the participation of Fabien Cousteau, grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who conveyed the pride felt by his family with respect to continuing the pioneering work of his grandfather and his team, for the benefit of the planet and future generations.

Following the screening of the film My Father, the Capitan: Jacques-Yves Cousteau, honored guest Fabien Cousteau was introduced by DREFF Director and GFDD Executive Director, Natasha Despotovic.

The opening film, produced and directed by son Jean-Michel Cousteau, provided audience members with an intimate look at the life Jean-Michel shared with his father and the legend he has taken upon himself to continue. In so doing, he hopes to shed new and meaningful light on the life and work of a man who inspired millions to reconsider our relationship with the sea and its creatures.

In his address to the audience, Cousteau urged young people and adults to preserve the natural environment, especially the oceans. He expressed that caring for the life that resides in the oceans must be a daily and constant responsibility carried out by all people.

“We care for what we love. A healthy environment is the image of a healthy economy. We know what happens when we don’t do what we have to. However, if we do what is within our reach, we can achieve incredible things,” affirmed Cousteau. “It’s about thinking differently, we need heroes willing to create community change, in a country.”

Opening Remarks by Natasha Despotovic
The director of the Second Edition of the Environmental Film Festival delivered the opening remarks during the inauguration of the event, expressing satisfaction regarding all that has been achieved with the Second Edition of the initiative. She underscored the quality of the film screenings, workshops and panels that will be offered until Sunday, September 9.

She also highlighted the important contribution of DREFF’s partner institutions, which have made it possible for the Festival to screen films and organize educational activities in seven cities in the Dominican Republic: Santo Domingo, San Francisco de Macorís, Santiago, Punta Cana, Baní, Puerto Plata and Sosúa.

The auditorium of FUNGLODE was full to capacity with scientists, activists, business leaders, students and representatives of entities working in the area of environmental protection.

DREFF 2012 will feature a selection of 24 documentary films:

2 retrospective titles: (The Last Lions, Waste Land)

3 Dominican titles: (Terra, Dominicana Bajo el Mar II, Discover La Vega: Pride of My Land)

6 short films: (Anna, Emma and the Condors, Carbon for Water, Loretanos: Designing the Ocean’s Future, Someplace with a Mountain, Wild Wealth, Yasuni: A Wild Idea)

13 international feature films: (Big Miracle, Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life, In Organic We Trust, Life: Challenges of Life, My Village, My Lobster, My Father, the Captain: Jacques Yves Cousteau, Revenge of the Electric Car, Sea the Truth, Surviving Progress, Taste the Waste, The City Dark, The Whale, Vegucated).

The program of screenings is available online on our website at: http://www.muestracinemedioambientaldominicana.org/programa_en.asp

All screenings are free and open to the public and all foreign films are subtitled in Spanish.

The First Edition of the Dominican Republic Environmental Festival was launched in September 2011.

Collaborators
The realization of DREFF 2012 has been made possible thanks to support and contributions from our collaborators:

Centro Cuesta Nacional (Arrecife), Banco de Reservas (Colibrí), Fundación Vida Azul, Panorama Verde, Odebrecht, Uepa.com, Uepa Radio, PUNTACANA Resort & Club, el Proyecto Nautilius, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of the Dominican Republic, Sueños de Colores (Dreams in Color), la Revista Flow (Flow Magazine), el Centro Cultural Perelló (Perelló Cultural Center), the Embassy of Spain in the Dominican Republic, , Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU) (Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University), the Ministry of Culture of the Dominican Republic, Clúster Turístico del Destino Puerto Plata (Tourism Cluster Destination Puerto Plata), la Universidad Católica Nordestana de San Francisco de Macorís (Catholic University Nordestana de San Francisco de Macorís), el Centro Cultural Narciso González (Narciso González Cultural Center), Centro León, CEDAF, Terra and RENAEPA, among others.

Related links:
www.drenvironmentalfilmfestival.org
www.environmentaldictionary.org
www.globoverdedominicano.org