Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The New York premiere of my feature documentary, Faces of Change, will
be screening on December 8 at the Schomburg Center in Harlem. The film
has only recently started the festival circuit and has already won
several awards. Please see the press release below for more
information on the film and screening time. And spread the word to
your network of friends.
I hope to see you all at the screening.
michele
For Immediate Release CONTACT:
New York City, U.S.A. Michèle Stephenson
The
Rada Film Group
718-
222-4041
Emai
l : michele@radafilm.com
FACES OF CHANGE
A new documentary by Michèle Stephenson
New York City Premiere Screening at the Schomburg Center
The African Diaspora Film Festival is honoring the documentary film,
FACES OF CHANGE, as part of its Women?s Indie Night Gala screening,
and reception. The film will screen on Thursday, December 8 at 8:30pm
at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. For more
information on the screening check the ADFF web site at
www.nyadff.org.
FACES OF CHANGE highlights the lives of five activists from five
different continents who relay unique video dispatches from their
respective corners of the world, telling individual stories through
images unlike anything audiences have seen. The film interweaves their
engaging narratives and close encounters with racism and
discrimination. With their cameras in hand these community activists
walk us through their lives, experiences and societies, as we see the
world through their eyes.
The activists in FACES OF CHANGE are highly focused and passionate.
They are fallible and conflicted, yet not without humor and wit. They
are: Elodia, an African-American woman organizing her neighborhood of
homeowners living on a condemned toxic site in, pre-hurricane Katrina,
New Orleans, Louisiana (since Katrina Elodia has lost everything she
owns); Mohamed, a man from Mauritania, West Africa campaigning to end
slavery in his country via an underground political movement; Ivan, a
Roma (Gypsy) attorney and doctor struggling with discrimination and
his own self-esteem in Eastern Europe; Kathir, a Dalit (Untouchable)
man fighting to eliminate caste discrimination in South India; and
Nara, an Afro-Brazilian woman working to instill self-empowerment in
black teenage girls. Through this whirlwind journey into their lives,
the audience gets a glimpse of how much like the rest of the world we
all are.
"Video can be a powerful tool to engage a broad audience around racial
issues. Images stir people's emotions' and evoke empathy," explains
director, Michèle Stephenson. Working with the production company,
Firelight Media, Stephenson trained each activist to use video cameras
and create a story that would best capture the meaning and power of
their work. With support from The Ford Foundation, the documentary
followed the activists to the UN World Conference Against Racism in
Durban, South Africa and documented how they each discovered the
stunning commonalities of their history and experiences.
FACES OF CHANGE premiered domestically at the distinguished SILVERDOCS
Documentary Film Festival in June 2005, which marked the national
premiere for the documentary produced and directed by
Haitian-Panamanian filmmaker Michèle Stephenson. The film was also
an official selection of the Locarno International Film Festival in
August 2005, the Rio International Film Festival in October 2005 and
has won numerous human rights awards.
FACES OF CHANGE is available for all US and international distribution
opportunities.