Open Air Cinema Foundation: Update from Southeast Asia

There has been a lot going on since January, so we wanted to send out an update so that you can see where we have been over the last few months and where we are going this year. We are all really excited with the direction the Open Air Cinema Foundation is going and hope that you will follow along as we move through Southeast Asia. First off, in December we joined with the Luang Prabang Film Festival in Laos. It was the first festival of its kind in the UNESCO World Heritage City, and by all accounts a great success. We will have more articles coming over the next few weeks with photos and details of OACF's participation in the festival. The LPFF has invited us back for a larger festival next year, along with a traveling roadshow through the provinces. We'll be there, no doubt! Following the film festival, Blaine Johnson (OACF) teamed up with Tiana and Stirling Silliphant from the Indochina Film Arts Foundation (IFAF) on a three day 'reconnaissance' В trip to Ponsavan Province in Laos. We were looking for ways to expand IFAF's ongoing Bombs to Art Project and to make some links with local government authorities on a UXO risk education project that OACF is opening. The initiative would take an Open Air Cinema Foundation team through Lao provinces still affected by the bombs left over from the Indochina Wars. We would work with local de-mining groups and governments to create digital media that would be used to inform local villagers how to report unexploded ordnance that they find in their villages and fields. We would then take the educational shorts on tour through villages to be screened on our inflatable movie screens. If you are interested in learning more about this project, or would like to offer support, please contact us. In early January, an OACF team consisting of David Farmer, Dean Adams and Blaine Johnson flew to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam to assist the Indochina Film Arts Foundation in editing and organizing their massive collection of film and video footage. We also look forward to returning soon to Vietnam to explore more options for outdoor screenings within the country. Some good news: Dean and Blaine have advanced to the semi-final round of the Echoing Green Fellowship. We are very excited about this opportunity and look forward to hearing in late-March whether we advance to the final round. At the moment the OACF is gathering in Bangkok for some planning sessions, then Blaine is off to Cambodia to meet with the director of Cambofest Film Festival. We will then fly to Luang Prabang to prepare the outdoor cinema equipment for our upcoming involvement in another regional film festival in April. We will announce more details once they have been finalized. Stay tuned! (The Open Air Cinema Foundation is an independent 501(c)3 organization that provides training in outdoor cinema technology to help educate, empower, and engage communities around the world. Open Air Cinema works closely with the OACF to advance their mission by providing technical support, training, and volunteer technicians for OACF activities.)

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