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Students of “Global Film for Peace and Development” Meet and Share Views with Oscar Winner at FUNGLODE
Santo Domingo, June 9, 2010

The students attended the screening of the documentary, “Project Kashmir” along with its co-producer, Oscar winner Ross Kauffman and the film’s director Senain Kheshgi. The students saw the film at the FUNGLODE auditorium where they analyzed the content and learned about the process and experience undergone by the filmmakers when making it.

On Monday, students of the “Global Film for Peace and Development” program being offered by the Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), shared the experiences of Oscar winner Ross Kauffman after watching the documentary “Project Kashmir.”

Kauffman was director of photography of the film which was co-directed by Senain Kheshgi, a Pakistani American and Indian American film maker Geeta Patel. Ms. Kheshgi was also present at the viewing with the students from “Global Film for Peace and Development.”

The 30 students, from the United States, Israel, Iran, India, Palestine, Haiti, Senegal and the Dominican Republic, enjoyed the experience of meeting Kauffman who shared an Oscar in 2004 with co-writer and co-director Zana Briski for their documentary Born into Brothels.

Project Kashmir shows the reality of the valley of Kashmir, which is located between China, India and Pakistan and is considered to be one of the most beautiful places on the earth. The film looks at the situation from the point of view of the inhabitants of Kashmir as they witness, or take part in, the battles emerging from the territorial dispute that has gone on for centuries between India and Pakistan and have turned the beautiful valley into a place of death and desperation.

Irving Vincent, executive of One Race Global Film Foundation and instructor of the “Global Film for Peace and Development” program participated in the meeting along with Omar De la Cruz, Director of the Global Media Arts Institute of FUNGLODE.

Kauffman and Kheshgi met with the students of the program and talked to them about how to make a documentary and share their experiences in the field.

Throughout the meeting, they answered questions about the creative process and technical issues. They pointed out that young people involved in the program are receiving the necessary tools to create a project deserving of awards such as was the case with “Born into Brothels.”

The “Global Film for Peace and Development,” program, now in its fifth year, is offering “An Introduction to Audiovisual Production: Film and TV” which the GMAI is developing with One Race Global Films Foundation.
The course began on May 24th and will end on June 27th. Twelve Dominicans are taking the course, having been selected through an open call. The training is being carried out under the direction of Irving Vincent and George Argento, Director and Technical Coordinator of New York University’s Opportunity Programs. The course runs Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The “Global Film for Peace and Development” project seeks to bring together young people from various countries and involve them in a joint learning and creative process through feature films, short films or documentaries that essentially contain a message of peace, family values and development.