Warm Welcome for Garbage or Resource? A Dominican Republic Experience at 18th United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF)

The audience at the 18th United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF) learned about recycling and ways to use garbage as a raw material to create art and new products and a source of income. The GFDD film, “Garbage or Resource? A Dominican Republic Experience” was chosen to be screened at the festival held in California October 15-25 and was received yesterday with a very warm welcome. The Cubberley Community Center in Palo Alto was the venue to
screen the GFDD movie along with another productions related to environmental issues and socioeconomic development. Miryam López, Communications Manager at GFDD, participated in the Q&A section after the screening along with the founder and Director of UNAFF, Jasmina Bojic.

Lopez also participated with other filmmakers in the Opening Night, last Thursday, at the Aquarius Theatre of Palo Alto with a full house. The opening speech was given by the Mayor of Palo
Alto, Karen Holman.

“Garbage or Resource?” has been screened at over fifteen different international film festivals since its production in 2013, and has won several awards including Best Documentary at the Miami Short Film Festival (MSFF), Best Documentary at the Green Lens Environmental Film Festival, and the Second Place Fan Coral Award at the Reef Renaissance Film
Festival.

A 28-member UNAFF jury agreed that the film was in line with the this year’s theme, RUNNING OUT OF TIME, which continues the ongoing celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and focuses on time-sensitive aspects of the Millennium Development Goals.

About the film
“Garbage or Resource? A Dominican Republic Experience” is produced by GFDD/Funglode and directed by Natasha Despotovic. It
covers the unseen dangers of the 340 open-air landfills that can be found in the Dominican Republic, and the cultural changes which are creating initiatives that convert this "problem" into an opportunity for development.

Through various corporate and educational projects, the viewer observes how– aside from the obvious environmental benefits– recycling enables economic development through the generation of new companies and industries.

About the UNAFF
The UNAFF was founded by Stanford educator and film critic Jasmina Bojic with the participation of the Stanford Film Society and the UNA Midpeninsula Chapter, a community-based nonprofit organization. The film festival celebrates the power of international documentary films dealing with human rights, the environment, the protection of refugees, famine, homelessness, racism, disease control, women’s issues, children, universal education, war,
and peace.

More information:
http://garbage.dreff.org
www.unaff.org
http://www.unaff.org/2015/schedule.html
www.dreff.org
www.globalfoundationdd.org