“If you Reuse and Recycle, Then You Can Really Make a Change” States St George School Student at DREFF Screenings

September 16, 2016

DREFF held two screenings at St George’s School in Santo Domingo in the afternoon of Thursday September 14 as part of the sixth edition of the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF – www.dreff.org). The event included a screening of two films, Garbage or Resource? A Dominican Republic Experience and The Boy and the World on the topics of recycling and sustainable development, in the presence of Gustavo Kurlat, soundtrack composer of The Boy and the World.

Marc Jourdan, GFDD UN Programs & Outreach Manager, provided some words of welcome before engaging the students, their parents and the teachers present in the audience in a conversation about the issues depicted on screen. Analyzing the environmental pollution revealed in Garbage or Resource? A Dominican Republic Experience, the students highlighted the various plastic and paper recycling projects their school had embarked upon and which they had promoted at home.

Following the second screening, the film’s composer Gustavo Kurlat fielded a wide variety of questions about the work he had done in this project including the time it took to take the animated film from the storyboard to production, and the meaning of the film which Jourdan identified as a “poem for sustainable development.”

Karina Pablo, head of St George School, commented on the value of the screenings stating that “it was a wonderful experience personally, and for the students also, to see all these films and documentaries about what is really happening in our world and how we can do something about it”.

Roberto, a student at the school commented that “You need to be the one that starts the change, it won’t just happen”. Diego, his classmate concurred “if you reuse and recycle, then you can really make that change.”

About Garbage or Resource? A Dominican Republic Experience
The Dominican Republic has more than 340 open-air landfills without any type of management or control, which have become highly-concentrated areas of air and water pollution. Fortunately, the country is witnessing cultural changes which are creating initiatives that convert this “problem” into an opportunity for development. The message is clear: trash is no longer just trash, rather it has value. As long as trash can be utilized, it is not trash. The appropriate term is “discarded material,” a resource which is raw material and then turned into a new product. Produced by GFDD/Funglode, the film depicts how recycling has become an important economic opportunity for Dominicans.

About The Boy and the World
Suffering from the lack of the father, a boy leaves his village and discovers a fantastic world dominated by animal-machines and strange beings. An extraordinary animation with many artistic techniques, portraying the issues of the modern world through the eyes of a child.

About the 6^th Edition of the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival
Since its creation in 2011, the Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF) –an initiative of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (Funglode) – has been providing Dominicans with a platform of knowledge and debate on the environment and sustainable development, along with its challenges and best practices, while celebrating the unique beauty and wealth that is the Dominican Republic’s natural heritage.

With a diverse selection of films and numerous panels, workshops, seminars, and community activities, DREFF promotes dialogue and the exchange of knowledge and experience, inspiring Dominicans to adopt actions that contribute to the appreciation, conservation, and sustainable use of their environmental resources.

By bringing together young people, scholars, experts, activists, filmmakers, representatives from the public and private sector, and non-governmental organizations, as well as wide audiences from all walks of life, the Festival serves as a catalyst for programs and projects that contribute to environmental and socio-economic sustainability. Thanks to the participation of more than 70 private, non-governmental and public institutions, every September the Festival reaches more than 10,000 viewers, in 11 cities in the Dominican Republic, with over 100 free film screenings at some 30 venues around the country.