By The Global Film Initiative, on March 27th, 2013%
Screening of TANTA AGUA
NINAH’S DOWRY (Cameroon), SO MUCH WATER (Uruguay) and WHEN I SAW YOU (Palestine/Jordan) are just a few titles among a host of Global Lens films and grant recipients keeping our news feed a-buzzing…
The buzz just won’t stop. From nominations, to awards, to screenings in festivals across the globe, GFI grant recipients and Global Lens films are continuing to impress in a big way. Check out the most recent news:
Continue reading FESTIVALS & AWARDS: Africa Movie Academy Awards, Miami IFF, ReelWorld FF and festivals, festivals, FESTIVALS!
By The Global Film Initiative, on September 24th, 2012%
CRAFT (and SOUTHWEST-coming soon via Global Lens 2013!) at the Embassy of Brazil, WHEN I SAW YOU goes to the Oscars and FAT, BALD, SHORT MAN pays a visit to lovely Vancouver!
Global Lens 2013 (yes, 2013!) film SOUTHWEST (Brazil) is being featured in a showcase by the Embassy of Brazil!
It’s another busy month for both Global Lens and GFI-funded films, with screenings at festivals and venues all over the world! First up, we’d like to mention a special film showcase in the U.S. capital, featuring a sneak preview of one of our newest additions to Global Lens:
Continue reading FESTIVALS & AWARDS: Brazilian Film Week, Academy Awards, Vancouver Latin American FF and more!
By The Global Film Initiative, on March 10th, 2012%
The Brooklyn Public Library
Our public library program is in full swing this spring with the Brooklyn Public Library! San Francisco and Missoula are next, with Memphis and Park City on the horizon…
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: we love public libraries. From their goals of public education and engagement, to the diverse architecture of buildings large and small all across the country—they are cultural icons that hold a physical space in every community, and represent a truly free exchange of ideas that we cherish.
And so, this month, in homage to our ever-growing affinity for public libraries, our friends at the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) will be presenting our most favorite film series, Global Lens 2012, to audiences in one of New York’s most celebrated boroughs.
Why? Because BPL is one of a handful of lucky institutions invited this year to join our Global Lens Public Library Program, which we launched last year to promote education and cultural literacy in communities all throughout the United States (some of you may remember that we partnered with the Association for Rural and Small Libraries to kick off the program).
Continue reading Global Lens Goes Public!
By The Global Film Initiative, on February 16th, 2012%
New appointments add depth in international relations, fundraising and business development as Initiative enters tenth year
 San Francisco, CA - February 16, 2025 - The Global Film Initiative announced today the appointment of Michelle van Gilder, Theda Jackson-Mau and Matthew Tollin to its Board of Directors.
The new appointees join the current ten-member Board in advising the Initiative on ongoing programs and strategic initiatives, including a dynamic multi-channel expansion of the Global Lens distribution platform, and domestic and international exhibition partnerships that promote the Initiative’s global philanthropic mission.
New appointments to the Global Film Initiative Board of Directors:
Continue reading NEWS: The Global Film Initiative Appoints Three New Members to Board of Directors
By The Global Film Initiative, on January 23rd, 2012%
Rob Avila and Iraqi director Oday Rasheed discuss the genesis of inspiration against a backdrop of war, politics and filmmaking
Iraqi director Oday Rasheed talks to Rob Avila during the premiere of Global Lens 2012 at MoMA
Oday Rasheed is one of only a small handful of filmmakers working and producing in Iraq today. His first feature, Underexposure (2005), captured the immediate aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in a fictional documentary-style story about a Baghdad filmmaker trying to make sense of the tumult of this period. Soon after its debut, Rasheed left the growing sectarian violence in Baghdad for Berlin, where he immersed himself in film studies, gravitating to the works of Andrei Tarkovsky, among others, and eventually developed the script for his second feature, Qarantina. He returned to Baghdad in 2008 to make the film, which was completed in 2010.
Qarantina is one of ten awarding-winning films featured in the Global Lens 2012 series, premiering this January at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Oday was able to attend his Global Lens screening in New York as part of a short U.S. tour that includes multiple screenings at MoMA, and a presentation of the film at the Council on Foreign Relations on January 25th, and also at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service on January 30th.
Recently, during the premiere of Global Lens
Continue reading Oday Rasheed on the Making of QARANTINA and Remaking Baghdad in Today’s Iraq
By Santhosh Daniel, on January 23rd, 2012%
How film can be just as good as a handshake when it comes to crossing borders and building relationships
WATCH: Global Lens 2012 director Oday Rasheed speaks with Deb Amos of NPR about QARANTINA and living and working in Baghdad
Ever since our founding, the phrase ‘promoting cross-cultural understanding through cinema’ has echoed with every presentation of Global Lens we sponsor, every grant we award, and every educational screening we host. Our belief is that film, especially world cinema, has the ability to transcend politics and lines of conflict, exposing us to new cultures and new ways of thinking, allowing for better communication as a global society.
It’s a spectacular concept, and hardly the first of its kind—over the centuries, art and literature have always had the same power. However, when it comes to film, for as simple as it sounds, until audiences see this process in action, the phrase rings a bit theoretical, and idealistic. In fact, in a world where the majority of people consider film a form of entertainment, saying it is anything other than that is a hard sell—unless of course we “sell” it within a context other than entertainment.
Continue reading SUPPORT: Art as Diplomacy
By The Global Film Initiative, on January 15th, 2012%
This year’s launch in New York set our universe in motion thanks to a host of filmmakers, friends and more than a little help from MoMA and a one-man army…
Angelica Dongallo, Acquisitions & Granting Dynamo, kicks-off Global Lens 2012 amongst the stars
What can we say-it was spectacular. And for as much as we’d really like to tell you about the launch of Global Lens 2012 in New York, pictures do the job so much better. The stars were out and in alignment, and the year began with a big bang, cosmic kismet and maybe even a few good parties-see for yourself!
Next stop: everywhere. Global Lens 2012 will be playing all across the U.S. and Canada, from Palm Springs to Boston, Latin Wave in Houston and Vue d’Afrique in Montreal-check our calendar!
A special thanks to Jytte Jensen, Curator, and Clay Farland, at the MoMA Department of Film; Consul General M. Levent Bilgen, Consul Ismet Erikan and the Turkish Consulate General of New York; Robert Avila; Gary Ponzo; Gianfranco Sorrentino and our friends at Gattopardo; Carlos Gutierrez; Tom Vick at the Smithsonian Institution; Engin “One-Man Army” Yeniduniya; and Global Lens 2012 directors Bujar Alimani, Tolga Karacelik, Carlos Osuna, Gustavo Pizzi, and Oday Rasheed-none of this would’ve been possible without you.
Continue reading Global Lens 2012 @ MoMA and Beyond!
By The Global Film Initiative, on November 29th, 2011%
Films from the Global Lens 2011 film series are now playing at the following venues and festivals across the U.S. and Canada:
Memphis Public Library (Memphis, TN): Presenting the complete Global Lens 2011 film series Check the film calendar for screening information
Click on the map above to find a Global Lens screening near you!
Palm Springs Art Museum (Palm Springs, CA): Presenting the complete Global Lens 2011 film series Check the film calendar for screening information
Tampa Museum of Art/Gasparilla International Film Festival (Tampa, FL): Presenting the complete Global Lens 2011 film series Check the film calendar for screening information
Kent State University (Kent, OH): Presenting the complete Global Lens 2011 film series Check the film calendar for screening information
The University of Texas-Pan American (Edinburg, TX): Presenting the complete Global Lens 2011 film series
Global Lens now playing on Virgin American flights!
Check the film calendar
Continue reading NOW PLAYING: Memphis Public Library, Palm Springs Art Museum and more!
By Santhosh Daniel, on October 28th, 2011%
Global Lens makes its long-awaited debut at public libraries across the U.S.
 Big books, small books, magazines and catalogs. Shelves that stretch like buildings on a city block. Millions of words by thousands of people, pressed onto paper and compressed into a building…
Ever since I was a child, I’ve had an affinity for libraries. For me, they represent a space without limits or borders, a place of collected knowledge that lends itself to the imagination. In fact, I wrote my first poem in a library (after checking out a book on haiku), and spent many afternoons as a teenager cultivating my then-nascent interest in film, sitting in a corner watching the classics [on a VHS player].
Of course, libraries have evolved since my childhood, and none more profoundly than the American public library; what once began with Benjamin Franklin and a social-activity of lending books to his friends has now evolved into a community institution, media center and learning resource. And also, a crossroads of people and cultures, a place where new immigrants meet old residents, artists share space with academics and every language is within arm’s reach on a shelf.
And so, it’s only natural that we bring Global Lens to that environment.
Continue reading Global Lens Gets a Library Card!
By The Global Film Initiative, on September 22nd, 2011%
 This month marks the 3rd anniversary of our partnership with Virgin America, and in honor of that special occasion, Santhosh Daniel, our Director of Programs, and Alfy Veretto, Manager of IFE Content and Partnerships, took a few moments during the last days of summer to reflect on where it all began—and where it’s all going.
Below is an excerpt of their conversation, which as you can see, reflects the unique style that has come to typify the GFI-Virgin partnership. It’s been a good time for everyone and for those of you who haven’t yet seen what it’s all about, catch a flight and catch a Global Lens film on Virgin RED™!
Continue reading Global Lens on Virgin America has Everyone Seeing RED™
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Africa Movie Academy Awards, AMAA, Amurin Wumnembom, Ana Guevara, annemarie jacir, argentina, Argentina International Film Festival of Political Cinema, Ayam Beirut Al Cinema'iya, Bad Hair, Barranquilla International Film Festival, Beijing Flickers, Beirut DC, Berkshire IFF, BEV, Birds Eye View Film Festival, Cairo 678, cameroon, china, Cinema Days Beirut Arab Film Festival, colombia, Crista Eka, Cristian Pellegrini, Environmental Film Festival, Fat Bald Short Man, FICBAQ, FICG, FICIP, Guadala, IFFLA, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, Indonesia, jordan, Jordan Alexander Ressler Screenwriting Award, Juan Sebastian Jacome, Knight Grand Jury Prize, Leticia Jorge, London, Mariana Rondon, Mbutung Seikeh, Mejor Opera Prima Award, Miami Future Cinema Critics Award, Miami International Film Festival, Modest Reception, ninah's dowry, palestine, Panama, Phoenix, Phoenix Film Festival, ReelWorld Film Festival, Route of the Moon, San Sebastian International Film Festival, Shyamal Uncle Turns Off the Lights, SO MUCH WATER, Sonoma, The Mirror Never Lies, Uruguay, Veronica's Passion, When I Saw You, Zhang Yuan 
