By The Global Film Initiative, on April 3rd, 2013%
 “Beijing Flickers looks deep into the psyches of this generation that doesn’t know quite what it wants, and finds at least flickers of hope that they can, together, make their own future.” – Vancouver International Film Festival
The accolades continue to roll in as Global Lens 2013 enters the Spring! This month in the spotlight: BEIJING FLICKERS, which recently played at both Chapman University’s Busan West Film Festival and the Miami International Film Festival, where it won the Miami Future Cinema Critics Award.
Continue reading NOW PLAYING: Bright Lights on BEIJING FLICKERS
By The Global Film Initiative, on March 27th, 2013%
Angelica Dongallo speaks to students and teachers at last year’s screening
World Cinema Week is just around the corner, and with it comes our second annual educational screening with our neighbors at Ninth Street, TILT…
As March draws to a close, it’s impossible not to notice a change in the San Francisco air. The weather is getting warmer, the birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and here at The Global Film Initiative we know that this can only mean one thing: World Cinema Week is right around the corner!
Continue reading EDUCATION: TILT and GFI-A Match Made in Film Education Heaven
By The Global Film Initiative, on March 6th, 2013%
 Founder and Board Chair Susan Weeks Coulter traveled to Vienna this past week to take part in the UNAOC panel on media and intercultural dialogue…Continue reading FEATURE: Global Migration-More Than The Birds
By The Global Film Initiative, on February 27th, 2013%
THE PARADE brings the global conversation on gay rights into focus in Serbia, France and Canada…
This month, THE PARADE is highlighted in a screening at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in Toronto, Canada. Srdjan Dragojevic’s darkly humorous film turns a lens on a very real issue being debated right now in Serbia and the rest of the world.
Joël Coppens, a former intern and native Belgian, came across a clip of THE PARADE being discussed on the major French talk show On est pas couché. Joël translated some of the conversation, and weighed in with some of his own thoughts:
Continue reading FEATURE: THE PARADE @ Human Rights Watch FF Toronto
By The Global Film Initiative, on February 8th, 2013%
If a film is a mirror of the culture that bares it, there is a wealth of information in the images it shows us. A scene from GREY MATTER.
Former intern Andrea Moran on bringing film in the classroom and why a plan for international education is so important…
A few months ago, U.S. Department of Education released its first ever plan for international education. The 16-page report, titled “Succeeding Globally Through International Education and Engagement” is a 4-year strategy for increasing American students’ knowledge and engagement with world affairs.
Continue reading OPEN MIC: Teaching Global Citizenship Through Film
By The Global Film Initiative, on January 21st, 2013%
In BORDER CAFE a woman earns economic independence and wins the love of this man with her cooking.
Kathy Warren, uses two Global Lens films to create unique online learning tutorials on Sophia.org
The Global Film Initiative asked Ms. Warren to describe the educational website and her inspiration for creating a tutorial with some of our award-winning Global Lens films:
GFI: Tell us a little bit about this website?
KW: Sophia.org is a website developed by Capella University, where I am working toward a Ph.D. in online learning design.
It is a free resource available to anyone, anywhere, to develop and run “tutorials” or lesson plans. The website has more than 28,000 tutorials, and lessons can contain videos, audio, links and other resources, for a class at school, or for a group discussion, or for just about any other learning opportunity.
Continue reading EDUCATION: Watch, Explore, Contribute: Global Lens-Based Tutorial Now Online!
By Santhosh Daniel, on December 27th, 2012%
Global Lens 2013: Change the Way You See the World
Our tenth anniversary opens with China’s Sixth Generation, Sebastián Silva, the biggest film you’ve ever seen from Brazil (literally), and a host of Global Lens alumnus.…
It’s our tenth year and we’re kicking off Global Lens 2013, January 10th-26th, with ten films at the Museum of Modern Art! It’s going to be some celebration…
BEIJING FLICKERS will open the series on January 10th with a week-run at MoMA and director Zhang Yuan and actor Li Xinjun in attendance, to launch the festivities (a must see: Zhang is the acclaimed director of Beijing Bastards, and part of the gritty Sixth Generation ethos—who in the ‘90s, pushed Chinese filmmaking out of an overly-romanticized lens into the alter-reality of its edgy, urban psyche).
Also in New York for the GL13 opening: Suman Ghosh for the North American premiere of SHYAMAL UNCLE TURNS OFF THE LIGHTS, on January 11th. This film is something to indeed be experienced with the director, as he runs his fingers through the tangled hair of Kolkata’s bureaucracy; an inspired and insightful work that carries a subtle charm, similar to another Global Lens standout.
Continue reading NEWS: Global Lens 2013 @ MoMA!
By The Global Film Initiative, on December 26th, 2012%
T he imprisoned director’s stunning visual journey into tradition and the struggle for individual freedom in Iran-available on DVD Janaury 8th.
The Global Film Initiative is pleased to announce the Global Lens DVD release of the award-winning critics’ pick, THE WHITE MEADOWS by Iranian director, Mohammad Rasoulof
Originally featured in Global Lens 2011, THE WHITE MEADOWS gained worldwide attention last year following the arrest and prison sentencing of Rasoulof and fellow filmmaker Jafar Panahi (editor of THE WHITE MEADOWS) for “film-related activities” against the Iranian government. In support of Rasoulof, the Initiative presented the film in over fifty U.S. cities as part of Global Lens 2011 and also in select showcase exhibitions, including a special presentation hosted by actor/director Peter Coyote at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and a “protest” exhibition at the 2011 International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Continue reading NEW ON DVD: Mohammad Rasoulof’s THE WHITE MEADOWS
By The Global Film Initiative, on December 22nd, 2012%
A retrospective look at Global Lens via the images and ideas that took our signature series from infancy to adulthood…
As writer Robert Mckee said, “Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today.”
We agree.
Stories are the basis of humanity. They teach, they entertain, and they shape how we see the world. As humans, we are wired to connect and bond with others.
GFI was created with this purpose: to create global understanding, empathy and connectivity through the powerful medium of film, and to promote and support the vibrant growth of global filmmaking. To date, we have distributed 96 independent films from over 38 countries to North American audiences, and hosted screenings in every U.S. state except North Dakota. (Anyone in North Dakota want to help us with our 2013 New Years Resolution? Contact us!)
Through these films, we hope to inspire people to keep learning about other perspectives and ways of life. In celebration of Global Lens’ 10th year anniversary in January, we take a look at some of our films and the themes they contain from the past decade…
Continue reading INDUSTRY: A Decade of Film
By James Stowe, on November 23rd, 2012%
A scene from BUNNY CHOW by dir. John Barker
“What was that about?” asks GFI’s James Stowe as he explores the makings of the titular dish in our South African romp, BUNNY CHOW….
Have you ever seen a Global Lens film and wondered, “Hey, what is this custom or practice that seems fairly common to the characters but is completely foreign to me?” Every now and then, this happens to me. As someone who’s never had the opportunity to travel outside of the US, I tend to notice things in films that might have gotten lost in translation for someone unfamiliar with the cultural background of the film.
Continue reading OPEN MIC: James and the BUNNY CHOW
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Beijing Flickers, Busan West Film Festival, CAAMFest, Chapman University, FilmFest DC, global lens, Global Lens 2013, Miami International Film Festival, minneapolis-st. paul international film festival, now playing, Screen Daily, Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival, Vancouver IFF, Zhang Yuan 
