The First Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival (DREFF) Formally Opens

Santo Domingo, 9/8/2011

Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) and the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) will celebrate the opening today of the First Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival, which President Leonel Fernandez will attend.

The keynote address will be delivered by oceanic expert Sylvia Earle.

The events of this evening will include the screening of the film "Cuba: The Accidental Eden" by writer and producer Doug Schultz.

The Film Festival includes seventeen documentary films especially prepared for this occasion, of which thirteen are feature films and four are short films, and which will be screened in Santo Domingo and in Santiago.

The topics to be presented to the public include climate change, biodiversity, forest and food safety, globalization and consumption, and ocean preservation.

The aim of both organizations with this event is to raise the awareness of the Dominican community and to deepen their current understanding of the environmental issues.

The Film Festival is also dedicated to celebrating the beauty and natural diversity of the Dominican Republic, as well as to offering information and proposals that would help in appreciating and promoting their conservation and sustainable use.

This Film Festival will serve as a catalyst for creating projects and programs that promote good practices in the area of ​​the environment, resulting from the interaction between youth and the general public with teachers, experts, activists, filmmakers and leaders from the public and private sectors.

For this occasion, FUNGLODE and the GFDD have created a different program for each day of the Film Festival, which includes discussion panels that will address the theme of the film being screened.

The Film Festival

The First Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival will underscore issues of concern to the environmental community, among which a story about the efforts to preserve marine mammals in the Dominican Republic will be highlighted. This film will be screed during a special celebration marking the 25th anniversary of the Marine Mammal Sanctuary.

"We will have a keynote address by renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle, who will talk about the importance of marine protected areas and the so-called 'Points of Hope’, among other themes," said Ms. Natasha Despotovic, Director of the Film Festival.

The Dominican Republic Environmental Film Festival will provide youth and the general public, the opportunity to screen more than a dozen of the "best and most beautiful, informative and educational films of the year on the environment, while offering them the opportunity to learn about the urgent issues that global ecology is facing."

Other topics being highlighted in the films are the crisis of biodiversity, sustainable production and consumption, as well as issues related to water, climate change, urban planning, poverty, the state of the oceans and fisheries are among those being addressed by selected films.

The public will also have the opportunity to meet and talk with producers, directors, researchers and explorers of the films to be screened.

Film screenings

The film screenings will take place at FUNGLODE’s auditorium, at the Pedro Mir Library of the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, and at the auditorium of the Centro Leon’s Eduardo Leon Jimenez Cultural Center in Santiago. There will be two special screenings at the Narciso González Cultural Center on Friday, September 9.

The Film Festival also offers a school program with the support of the Ministry of Education, which has been created with the objective of inspiring Dominican youth to adopt practices that ensure the present and future environmental sustainability and health.

There will be five morning presentations devoted exclusively for this purpose, as well as some community activities, among which, beach clean ups and the creation of community gardens stand out.

Throughout the event, which will close on September 11, the public will have the opportunity to enjoy the following film features: "Bag It!," "Parque Nacional del Este: Refugio de la Naturaleza y Cuna de la Cultura," "Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization," "The Polar Explorer," and "Cuba: The Accidental Eden."

Furthermore: "The Last Lions," "Vanishing of the Bees," "Dirt! The Movie," "The Economics of Happiness," "Play Again," "Wild Ocean," "Ocean Voyagers," and "Where the Whales Sing."

The following short films will also be screened: "Plastic Bag," "Luchando por la vida: una historia del mar," "Once Upon a Tide," and "The Story of Stuff."

This event has the support of Esperanza Verde, CEDAF, the Leon E. Jimenes Cultural Center, the Vida Azul Foundation, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the Nautilus Project, Reef Check and RENAEPA.

See Inauguration photos here>