Workshops on Ecological Films and Plastic and Panel on Architecture for Life during Second Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival

Santo Domingo, September 6, 2012

Today, September 6, the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF), organized by Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), will offer the workshops: “Ecological Film … Action!” and “Plastic Vortex: Our Oceans, Plastic and Other Trash” and panel presentation: “Architecture for a Good Life.”

“Ecological Film … Action!” will take place at FUNGLODE from 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm.

Panelists: Fernando Báez (Unicornio Films); Evan Abramson (Carbon for Water),
Suzanne Chisholm (The Whale)

The workshop will present the new opportunities for the country made possible by the new film law, and will also discuss the evolution of the Latin American film industry and the growing global sensitivity towards the environment.

Evan Abramson is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer born in New York City. Together with his wife Carmen Elsa Lopez, he writes, directs, shoots, edits and produces. In 2010 they formed Cows in the Field, a production house focused on telling the stories of people impacted by environmental crisis around the globe — and on finding solutions. Their 2011 documentary Carbon for Water, has won nearly 20 film festival awards. Evan’s 2010 multimedia documentary, When the Water Ends won First Prize at the 2012 World Water Forum and was nominated for a Webby, a World Press Photo Award and was a finalist in the Online Journalism Awards.

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 feature film El Rey de Najayo, among others. Fernando Baez holds M.A. degrees in both Cinematography and Film.

Suzanne Chisholm is an award-winning film producer and director, currently living in British Columbia. She was born in Quebec and raised in Nova Scotia. She has produced and filmed news stories and documentaries in Europe, South America, Africa, Australia, the South Pacific and throughout North America.

Together with her husband, Michael Parfit, Suzanne directed, produced and filmed over 20 stories for the National Geographic Channel-US, on a variety of environmental, wildlife, cultural and human-interest stories around the world. They also directed and produced The Search for the Never Never, a one-hour documentary about the Australian environment, which was distributed internationally. Their first film was Letters from the Forgotten People, a story about refugees in Tanzania. Her work has been shown on National Geographic Channel, CNN, PBS, BBC, NHK, France 2, CBC, Al-Jazeera, and in film festivals around the world.

“Plastic Vortex: Our Oceans, Plastic and Other Trash” will take place at FUNGLODE from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

Panelist: Doug Woodring, Ocean Recovery Alliance

The workshop will present solutions to the challenge of plastic pollution in our environment, including cutting edge recycling, rethinking the industry in terms of packaging and materials. The talk will also focus on effective policies and emerging new technologies that aim to reduce the scale of marine debris and its impact on our environment.

Doug Woodring is an environmental entrepreneur, a writer, a competitive athlete, a sports event organizer and a creative innovator on community issues. He is the founder of a newly established non-profit organization, the Ocean Recovery Alliance, which is focused on bringing innovative solutions, technology, collaborations and policy together to impact positive improvements for the health of the ocean.Woodring has a dual masters degree from The Wharton School (MBA) and Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) where he studied Environmental Economics. He has an undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley.

“Architecture for Good Life” will take place at FUNGLODE at 8:00 pm following the screening of the film Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life.

The film showcases buildings that connect people and nature - hospitals where patients heal faster, schools where children’s test scores are higher, offices where workers are more productive, and communities where people know more of their neighbors and families thrive.

Biophilic Design reflects humanity's need for a connection to nature.  Following the screening, find out how local architects in the Dominican Republic are applying the concept of green architecture by using a combination of the latest technology, and the most sustainable materials, to create buildings that are in harmony with the environment and connect us more to nature.  In this informative session, meet with those at the forefront of the green building movement in the country, as they explain the process of designing spaces that conform to internationally accepted standards of environmental and ecological sensitivity.

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