FLM FWD festival

02/11/2023

Settung up for tonight (that’s our ‘sponsor’ screen. Wait til you see our movie screen!) See you at 4:30!

02/11/2023

Saturday night's alright! Especially if you come to check out the FLM FWD Empathy film festival at the middle school tonight. The entire school will be turned into a venue. The auditorium will host 23 films, including lots of short films and several animations, something for the whole family including all of the final film selections being G-rated equivalent.

Register for your free tickets now on eventbrite.com or on our site flmfwdfestival.org.

The student union, aka the cafeteria, will be completely transformed into a giant 'piazza' . In the center there will be tables covered in black tablecloths & candles, surrounded by art vendors, a live jazz/funk quintet called the Groove Merchants (in the pic) will play followed by a Dj plus the book nerd, Pita Pocket, Barrington Pizzeria and Sarcastic Sweets. There's also a silent auction to benefit FLM FWD full of delightful items with Valentine's Day right around the corner. And all of the entertainment is free! Just register for a ticket on eventbrite or our site: flmfwdfestival.org.

We regret having to let the community know that due to staffing shortages, the YMCA will not be able to provide child care, however we will have a large table set up with all sorts of art supplies, puzzles and activities for kids in the music venue.

Don't miss this special edition of FLM FWD!

02/11/2023

Amongst 23 film shorts we are showing tonight at FLM FWD's Empathy Festival, we are screening a (subtitled) Spanish-language film on the subject of bullying. Shot and produced in the United States, this compelling and polished production talks about the pervasiveness of bullying of school-aged children around the world and the effects of ignoring it.

02/09/2023

02/09/2023

Another of the thoughtful films we will share on Saturday, 'Before' is an animation that hails from the Philippines. It's the story of a family living on an idyllic remote Filipino island and how their lives change once they've been overrun by western tourists. And it's G-rated equivalent.

02/09/2023

Do you like numbers? We do! They tell the back story of the festival! We were amazed to receive over 1800 submissions to our film festival in two rounds (one this summer and one over the winter).

Twenty community reviewers, including five students from BHS helped us narrow the selection down to 19 films that we will screen Saturday at the festival plus another 7 honorable mentions that we’ll save for a ‘rainy day’ . 10 of the new films we will screen are from the USA, while nine are international. Two of the nine student films we chose ended up being from very nearby (Swansea, Mass and Narragansett, RI) which is remarkable considering that we got submissions of films from over 70 countries!

02/08/2023

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 11: 430-730 PM. FLM FWD TAKES OVER THE BARRINGTON MIDDLE SCHOOL FOR A FABULOUS FILM, MUSIC AND ART FESTIVAL !

Check out the list of films that we will be showing this Saturday at the beautiful auditorium at the Middle School! Plus, if you have missed them, we're showing the top films from the last two festivals including the internationally award winning "Reviving Rivers' about using traditional practices to reverse drought.

Don't miss out! Get your reserved free ticket on Eventbrite or through our site. And tag your friends who you think should join us for this incredible lineup.

List of films for the February 11, 2023 FLM FWD Festival at Barrington Middle School, in the order that they will be presented.

Film/Director
Synopsis/duration

A Remnant directed by robin iff and Cedrick Spinassou.
It’s the year 2050, a young girl finds something unusual on the beach. (Selected film from the 2022 FLM FWD Environmental Festival)

Reviving Rivers directed by Christopher J Carter, Raleigh E Latham
Can desertification and drought be reversed? Exploring a successful example. (Winning film from the 2022 FLM FWD Environmental Festival)

These Truths directed by Don Mays
Written in the wake of the George Floyd murder, this film documents protests in 2020. (Invited Film to the 2021 FLM FWD Empathy Festival)

Bubby and Them directed by Hazel Field, Je'Jae Cleopatra Daniels
A docufictional about a college student, their adoptive grandmother and how they take care of each other. (Winning film from the 2021 FLM FWD Empathy Festival)

New Selections for the 2023 FLM FWD Empathy Festival, finalists out of 1840 submissions.

Santa Woman directed by Ari W.
A young woman wants to be Santa. (8 mins).

Still Typing directed by Jonah Creaney (Swansea, Mass resident!)
A day in the life of a texting teenager experiencing the highs and lows of young love. (3 mins).

Dammit! directed by Narragansett native Stanley McNeiece
An animated film about being a good sport and friendship. (2 mins).

[ PenUltimate ] - Cayden's First Day. directed by Katie Brooks
Animated film about a high school student feeling like an outsider at his new school. (4 mins)

BULLY directed by Alejandro Mendoza Llopis
Professional PSA-style short with a sensitive and polished data-informed look at bullying viewed from many perspectives. (10 mins).

Different. directed by Alexsys Giraud.
A narration. The self awareness and self consciousness of an adolescent. (2 mins)

ThankYou Riju. directed by SD Dey.
The love, sacrifice and frustration of a young man who is the full time caretaker of his adult autistic brother. (14 mins)

Look at you, black sheep! directed by Milica Denkovic.
Highly acclaimed short film takes insults and slurs and presents them as a poem. (2 mins),

Threads & Bangles, directed by Uzair Surhio
Rahat, a young artisan, hides his true identity and mourns his lost love. (3 mins)

Dak dia jai (A story of humanity ) directed by Dabasish Kishor
The person who receives the least empathy ends up demonstrating the most. (5 mins).

Calm Remains, directed by Chap Edmonson
An experimental film that seeks to evoke the emotion utilizing historical footage from the American civil rights movement. The film explores a duality of consciousness. (3 mins)

If There Is No Struggle directed by Jared Katsiane
Film by an award-winning filmmaker. A young photographer celebrates historical figures via Boston’s public art. (14 mins)

Another Swell Day directed by Evens Yurvie Angulo-Duvil
An animation about how optimism can help overcome the affects of chronic illness. (3 mins)

Imaginings directed by Anja Hiddinga
A group of accomplished deaf poets express their feelings of isolation. (13 mins)

Solpor (Sunset) directed by Susana Alba
A father's pride prevents him from accepting help to address his precarious living situation. (15 mins)

On the Other Side of Rainbow directed by Milica Spasojević
A sensitive portrait of a trans woman recounting how she maintained hope in various stages of her journey. (9 mins)

Seek directed by Mong Vang. A woman is awash in long-term grief over the death of her husband until she realizes she's met the living recipient of his heart. (9 mins)

Malamore directed by Pierluigi Braca
Being in love with someone is the ultimate empathy. (4 mins).

Before directed by Arlo Jhan Bayot
Animated film about environmental justice showing the tragic results for humans and animals when natural habitats are exploited. (8 mins)

02/08/2023

Over the weekend we announced our selections for the film festival! For the rest of the week, we'll share info about some of the winning films.

'Solpor' (Sunset) directed by Susana Alba is a Spanish short film (15 mins) about a father who ends up living out of his car. He doesn't want to depend on his family and avoids taking their offers of help as long as he can.